Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Wade 1086 DB 1194 CurP 1213 Abbr 1303 Cl

• Wada c.1115 LS 1212 Fees

• Uada c.1115 LS

• Wadde 1203 FF

• Wadhe 1231 Ch 1231 Cl

• Waða 1177 P

• Waþe e13 HarlCh

• Wathe 1196 ChancR c.1200 R c.1330 Cur 1203 RBE 1210–12 Cl 1229 Fees 1238–41,1242–43 ValNor 1254 Ass 1272 QW 1281 AD 1282 Cl 1282 Tax 1291 Ch 1294 FA 1303,1316 Pat 1320 Orig 1320 SR 1327 Haigh 1681

• Watha 1275 RH

• Wath' 1202 Ass 1204 P 1207 FF 1349 Cor 1375 Peace

• Wath eHy3 Gilb 1409 Fine 1294 Orig 1294 AD 1297 Pat 1309 Cl 1322,1325 Pat 1338 Ipm 1362 Haigh 1716

• Wath al Waith 1723 SDL

• Wayth 1406,1408,1415 Cl 1526 Sub 1555 Pat 1638 Terrier 1666 Haigh 1715 et freq

• Waythe 1529 LPxiv 1745 Terrier

• Wayeth 1673 Haigh

• Waith p1561 1623 Hill 1675 Em 1679 Terrier

• Wayte 1553 Pat

• Waite 1653 ParlSurv

Etymology

The earliest forms in -d - suggest that Waithe is derived from OE  (ge)wæd 'a ford'. By the later 12th century the -d - had been replaced by -th -, either because of the Scandinavianization of -d - to -th -, as in Louth (LSR), earlier Lude , or by the replacement of (ge)wæd by the cognate ON  vað. In either case the meaning of the name is 'at the ford', which must have been over Waithe Beck, where a minor road crosses the stream half a mile east of the church. Dr Insley points out that early forms with final -e indicate an oblique case with locative function. Early forms in Waþe etc. stand for a pronunciation [wa:ðə] from the latter part of the 12th century onwards due to open syllable lengthening in disyllabic words. The forms indicate loss of final [ə] in the 14th century at the latest, and this would have been accompanied by the devoicing of [ð]. Cf. also Wath PN NRY 52, 219, Wath upon Dearne PN WRY 1, 118.