Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• ad Saxebi 1086 DB

• ad Saxeby 1209–35 LAHW 1220–34 Welles 1254 ValNor 1300,1305 Ipm

• Saxlabi c1115 LS

• Saxlebi c1115 LS 1155–60,eHy2 Dane

• Saxelebi 1143–7,1155–60,1160–66 Dane 1202

• Saxeleby l13 Percy

• Saxolebi c1150 Dane eHy2 Dugdvi 1195–6 Dane

• Saselby 1172 Gilb 1407

• Saxelbi 1190–5 Dane

• Saxelby R1 Ch 1318 Cur 1228 RRG 1235 SR 1327,1332 1335 Works 1349,1375 Peace 1383 Pat 1388 SP 1632 LindDep 1658

• Saxelbye 1326 Inqaqd

• Saxelb' 1236 RRG

• Saxselby 1268 Ch

• Saxilby 1275 Cl 1279 Gilb 1409 Ipm 1313 SR 1327 Ch 1330 1335 NI 1341 Works 1349 Peace 1374,1385 Fine 1389 Dugdvi 1536–7 Pat 1556

• Saxilbe 1516 AD

• Saxilbie 1554 InstBen 1576 LER

• Saxilbye 1557 Pat

• Saxylby c1279 RRGr

• Saxby 1305 Cl 1428 FA

• Saxsulby 1395 Peace

• Saxulby 1455 Cl

• Saxulbye 1551 AASR 1553 CA

• Saxhylby 1523 AD 1547 Pat

• Saxhilby 1539 AOMB

• Saxthylby 1539 LP

• Sapylby 1545 LPxx

Etymology

The usual explanation is that Saxilby is a compound of the Scand pers.n. ON  Sǫxólfr , ODan  Saxulf and bȳ, with the sense 'Saxulf's farmstead, village' (DEPN; SPNLY 228; DLPN 106). The name is identical with the Lei p.n. Saxelby, East Goscote Hundred, PN Lei 3 108.ON  Sǫxólfr occurs sporadically in Iceland in the settlement period and later (Lind 1024–5). In Danish, Saxulf occurs as the first el. of three p.ns. in þorp , Västra Sallerup and östra Sallerup in Skåne and *Saksulfstorp on Sjælland (DGP I, 1203; Svenskt ortnamnslexikon , ed. M. Wahlberg (Uppsala, 2003), 373, 395). In England, the name is attested independently in Yorkshire in Domesday Book (Feilitzen 352). An alternative etymology for Saxilby and Saxelby has been proposed by Gillian Fellows-Jensen (SSNEM 66), namely that we are concerned with an Anglian river-name *Saxel , a derivative of OE  (Angl ) sax n. 'knife, instrument for cutting' formed with an -el -suffix. She bases this explanation on the absence of early forms for Saxilby containing -f - (i.e. [v]) and points out that this is not the case in other L names in bȳ containing pers.ns. in ON  -ólfr , OE  -wulf , citing Thealby (Manley Wapentake LWR, PN L 6 44–5, ON  þjóðólfr + bȳ ), Thurlby (3x, Calcewath Wapentake LSR; Graffoe Wapentake Kest; Ness Wapentake Kest, DLPN 127, ON  þórólfr + bȳ ) and Usselby (Walshcroft Wapentake LNR, PN L 3 168–9, OE  ōs (w )ulf + bȳ ). However, OE  ōs (w )ulf and ON  þórólfr (EScand þōrulf R ) are well evidenced in late OE and early ME sources (see SPNNf 74–7, 422–4; for Usselby, PN L 3168–9) and this would militate in favour of the persistence of spellings in -olu -, -ulu -, etc. in p.ns. containing these pers.ns. as first elements. It is true that ON  þjóðólfr does not occur independently in English sources, but its ContGerm  equivalent Theodulf (cf. OSax Thiadulf ) is attested in independent use in England (see Forssner 233 and cf. þeodulfo , dat., 1012 (m13) S 929 and the moneyer's name đ EODVLF (Eadmund, Eadred, æthelred II (Lincoln)), for which see V. Smart, Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles 41: Cumulative Index of Volumes 21 –40 (Oxford, 1992), 103) and would doubtless have contributed to the retention of forms in -ulf - and -olf - in the early spellings for Thealby (Tedulfbi 1086 DB, Tedolfbi c1115 LS, cf. DLPN 124). Loss of [v] between [l] and a labial consonant is attested in ME (Jordan §216.3 Anm. 1). Hence the development of an ODan  *Saxulfbȳ > ME  Saxelbi (with <-e-> in the second element standing for [ə] in the unstressed syllable). It would appear that the pers.n. here is uninflected with an adjectival function, the p.n. then having the sense 'farmstead, village associated with Saxulf'.We should however note that cases of the loss of -s have been noted in genuine genitival formations in Denmark. For example, the Sjælland *Saksulfstorp occurs in the forms Saxolfsthorp 1177–1201, Saxolfthorp 1178, Saxolstorp ? 1211 (Danmarks Stednavne II: Fredriksborg Amts Stednavne (Copenhagen, 1929), 45–6). Since ON  Sǫxólfr , ODan  Saxulf is extremely rare in England, it would be entirely plausible to suggest that a p.n. formed with this name could easily become an opaque compound. In such a case, the loss of [v] between [l] and [b] would be unremarkable. OE  Sæx (w )ulf , Seax (w )ulf is only attested in Bede (HE IV. 6, 12) as the name of the founder of the abbey of Medeshamstede (Peterborough) and later bishop of the Mercians (see also Charters of Peterborough Abbey , ed. S. E. Kelly, Anglo-Saxon Charters 14 (Oxford, 2009), 107–8). It belongs to a pre-Viking layer of OE nomenclature and can be ruled out as an alternative etymology for the first el. of Saxilby and Saxelby.