English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Colmanora

Early-attested site in the Parish of Wootton

Historical Forms

  • colmanora c.1200 BCS906
  • (on) Colmenoran 985 KCD1283 c.1240

Etymology

Colmanora (lost), colmanora n.d. (c. 1200) BCS 906, (on ) Colmenoran 985 (c. 1240) KCD 1283. As pointed out by Grundy (ArchJ 28) this was the name of the N. and N.W. slope of the W. end of Boar's Hill.Grundy also suggested (ArchJ 31) that the first el. was 'charcoal- burner', and this is plausible, although the compound *col-man is not recorded in OE. The second el. is ōra 'slope'. The forms are wrongly cited under Cumnor in DEPN.