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.

Pyworthy

Major Settlement in the Parish of Pyworthy

Historical Forms

  • Paorda 1086 DB
  • Peworthy 1239 Ch
  • Pewrthe 1261–8 Exon
  • Pewrthi 1287 Cl
  • Peywrth 1249 Ass
  • Pyworthe 1291 Tax
  • Pyworthy 1310 Ipm
  • Pyworthi 1341 Ipm
  • Piworthi 1330 SR, Exon
  • Pyheworthi 1309 Exon
  • Pieworthy 1434 Exon
  • Puworthi 1401 Pat
  • Pyworthy al. Pury 1547 LP
  • Pyworthy oth. Puworthy oth. Pury 1786 Recov

Etymology

Blomé (153) takes the first element to be OE  pīe , 'insect.'Professor Ekwall would take it to be the same word used as a nickname. He notes the neighbouring Hopworthy as containing OE  hoppa , 'grasshopper,' which might similarly be used as a nickname. Cf. OGer  Huppo (Förstemann PN 936).