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Archiver > BUCKS > 2002-07 > 1026300732


From: "caro" <>
Subject: Re: [BKM] Little Horwood Swanbourne
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 12:36:11 +0100
References: <008e01c2279f$84ee7aa0$0100007f@g2q8z3> <fc.00249f74013f28e93b9aca00a6553ad0.13f2ac5@first-class.open.ac.uk>


Hi Kevin,
That's fascinating, and I do like the idea of swan being a swain, and of
course peasants can be as gainly as swans can be ungainly!
It's a shame your book doesn't cover Dorset, because I live in a village
called Drimpton, I understand the 'ton but not the Drimp!
Regards,
Carol


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin A. Quick" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: [BKM] Little Horwood Swanbourne


> writes:
> >Hi Kevin,
> >I can understand the meaning of Bourne it seems to mean the same in
> >whichever county you are in.
> >But the meaning of swan to be peasant, how is that?
> >It really goes beyond all my understanding of the word swan :- graceful,
> >white, regal, magestic, surely nothing to do with peasant. From where do
> >you
> >get this meaning?
> >Not wishing to be argumentative, just wishing to understand the meaning
> >:-))
> >Regards,
> >Carol
>
> Further to my last message, because most places acquired their names so
> long ago, the exact meanining of a name of a given place has been lost in
> the mists of time. Derivation of place names is therefore generally based
> on a study of the meanings of the component parts of a place's name and
> this can frequently lead to a number of alternative hypothese.
>
> So, in the case of Swanbourne, the book "The Place-Names of
> Buckinghamshire", Mawer A. and Stenton F.M. , primarily gives the name
> derivation as "peasants stream", but also gives as a second, alternative
> explanation, as 'swans stream'. The authors of the book go on to explain
> that they feel the latter explanation the least likely due to the very
> small size of the stream at Swanborne (i.e. too small for swans to use)
> etc.
>
> Kevin
>
>
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