Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• La Kove 1242 Fees789

• aqua de Cove 1249 Ass

• La Cova 1285 FA

Etymology

The sense of cofa in p.n.'s is difficult to determine. The only recorded sense in OE is that of 'inner chamber' and the like, but in dialect the term shows a wide development of sense and is used of (1) a shed, (2) a deep pit or cave, (3) a recess in the side of a hill (NCy) and (4) a hollow. The last sense would perhaps suit best here as there is a well-marked hollow in the hills, but in North Cove, South Cove and Covehills (Sf), three independent places, and in Cove (Ha), there can be no question of any 'hollow,' and there the term may be used of a shed, building or the like. So also in Coven (St) we probably have a dat. pl. of the word in that same sense, cofa is found once in an Anglo- Saxon charter (BCS 948) in a land-mark called mædena coua , but the bounds of the charter have never satisfactorily been worked out and we must remain in ignorance as to whether these particular maidens lived in a hollow or in a building of some kind.