Weekaborough
Early-attested site in the Parish of Berry Pomeroy
Historical Forms
- Wykebergh 1305 Ass
- Wekeborough 1567 PembSurv
- Wickaborough 1827 G
Etymology
This may be from OE wīca - beorg , 'hill of the farms,' though no such compound of wic has hitherto been noted. Weekaborough has sometimes been identified with Wicganbeorg (ASC s. a. 851) where the men of Devon defeated the Danes. A battle in the neighbourhood of the estuary of the Dart is not unlikely but the identification is difficult on the formal side. The vowel development would be curious, though not impossible, and the change from voiced cg to unvoiced k would be very difficult to account for, unless folk-etymology has been at work under the influence of the common wic (Devon week ). We get a late change from g to k in Bickaton infra 509, in one of the early forms of Wigford supra 306 and in the pronunciation of Wiggaton infra 607 as [wikətən].