Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Pamphilla 1168 P

• Pamphill 1524 WimCW 1774 Hutch1

• Pemphull(e) 1323 Pat 1407 Wim

• Pempe Hill 1598 DLComm

• Pemphill 1654 Wim 1663 Hutch3

• Peympehull' 1332 SR

• Peymphull(e) 1340,1407 Wim 1459 ib

• Pymphill(') 1496 Hutch3 1579 Fry 1603 WimCW

• Pympe hylle 1518 ib

• Pympehill 1591 DLMB

• Pympe Hill 1598 DLComm

• Pymphyll 1524 WimCW 1525 Wim

• Pymp Hill 1591 DLMB

• Pimphill 1653 WimCW

• Pempe c. Ed 1 Hutch3 3 269

• Peympe 1327 SR

• Peympe 1332 SR

• Peympe 1347 HarlRoll

Etymology

This is a difficult name. On the basis of the single 12th cent, form (in the MS Hug ' de Pamphilla ), Ekwall (Studies2 145 and DEPN) proposes that the first el. of this name (together with Panton and Ponton L) is an OE  word *pamp 'hill'. However the complete absence of a -spellings (and o -spellings) among the 14th and 15th cent, forms adduced, as against the constant spellings in -e -, -ey -, -y -, is to be noted. These spellings suggest rather an OE hill-name *Pempe , a form with i -mutation used alongside *Pamp . It is perhaps less likely that Pamp - is only a relatively late development, and that the isolated early form Pamphilla is to be explained as due to AN influence, with AN a for e , cf. Zachrisson IPN 112, Feilitzen 49. Pamphill then is possibly 'hill called *Pamp or *Pempe ', v. hyll 'hill'. Pamphill is described by Hutch3 3 236 as 'a hamlet situated on an eminence'; the hill itself, in the S of the present par. around Pamphill Green infra , is a low hill reaching c.170′ overlooking the valley of R. Stour.

However, there is also the possibility that the first el. of Pamphill is a pers.n. A ME  byname Pe (y )mpe occurs in this and surrounding pars., e.g. Peter Pempe , Henry Pempe c. Ed 1 Hutch3 3269 (witnesses to deeds concerning St Margaret & St Antony's Hospital in this par., v. St Margaret's Almshouses infra ), Alice Peympe 1327SR (taxed in Preston in Tarrant Rushton par. 4 miles NW), Henry Peympe 1332 SR (taxed in Horton par. 5 miles NE), Peter Peympe 1347HarlRoll (Wimborne M.). This may reflect an OE  *Pempa , a form with i -mutation of an OE  *Pampa (as Professor Löfvenberg points out, this would correspond to the ON  byname Pampi , which also enters into the Norw farm name Pamperud, v. Lind, Norsk -isländska personbinamn från medeltiden , col. 275), cf. also a str. form *Pamp postulated for Pampisford Ca 111, DEPN, Studies2 146.Alternatively, therefore, Pamphill may mean '*Pampa's or *Pempa's hill'. Professor Löfvenberg prefers this etymology.

The f.n. Pemphamm 'infra may contain the same first el.