Shipton
Major Settlement in the Parish of Overton
Historical Forms
- Hipton 1086 DB
- Hepeton' 1167 P
- Hieptuna 1154–89 MaryH6d 1308 Ch
- Hyepton (Yheptona) 1176 P
- Yhupton 12 RegAlbii.16d
- Hupton' 1231 Ass 1244 Fees
- Supton' 1244 Ass
- S(c)hupton 13 MaryH122d 1541 Dugdiii.570
- Scuppeton 1295 YI
- Schippeton 1295 YI
- Shipton 1328 Banco 1522 FF 1577 Saxton
- Schiptun 1405 HCY
Etymology
The etymology of this name is OE heope 'briar, bramble,' and tun; cf. Heptonstall (Moorman, PN YWR s.n.).
The phonology of this name is peculiar and the problem is treated more fully in RES i. 437 ff. There it is shown from other place-names such as Shap (We), Shawm Rigg 122infra , etc. that OE hēo - and hēa - in certain cases became ME shē - or shō -.In addition there is a Y dialect-word shoop , 'dog-rose,' which is derived from OE hēope . So far the evidence seems to indicate that the change took place only in Scandinavian England but how far it was due to Scandinavian influence it is impossible to say. It certainly cannot be explained by the later Norw sound- change of ON hj - to sh -, for that did not take place till long after Scandinavian connexions with England had ceased. The phonetic development of the name is that OE hēo - became hyē - (or with stress on the second element of the diphthong hyō -), and that hy -, being acoustically near to sh -, became sh in the 13th cent. The variant forms Shup - and Ship - are due to shifting of the stress from one element to the other of the original OE diphthong ēo , héo giving Shi - and heó - giving Shu -. Shipton (YER), Epton 1086 DB, Shupton 1316 Vill, is probably of the same origin.