Hook Norton
Major Settlement in the Parish of Hook Norton
Historical Forms
- (æt) Hocneratune 917 ASC c.925
- (æt) Hocenertune 913 ASC c.1000 ASC 913 c.1070
- Hokenertona 1140–2(c.1197),1153–4(13th) Os
- Hokenertun' c.1195 Bodl
- Hokenertone 1199 FF 1203–6(13th),1206 Os
- Hokenertune 1320 Ch
- (æt) Hocceneretune 913 ASC c.1075
- Hochenartone 1086 DB
- Hokenarton' c.1100 EHRxlviii late12th Ipm 1292
- Hokenortona c.1130–50,1219–23 Os
- Hokenortone 1285 Ass 1509–10 Os
- Hokenorton 1302–3 FA 1509–10 Os early18th ParColl
- Hoke Norton 1568 ParColl
- Hochenert' 1143,1143–7 OxonCh
- Hochenertune 1233–4 WellsR
- Hoc(h)anertona 1164–6 OxonCh
- Okenartona 1186–91 Os
- Okenarton' 1246–7 Ass 1263 Fine
- Okenardton 1263 Ipm
- Hocnert' late12th AOMB
- Hocnertone a.1196 Os
- Hoconortun' 1220 Fees
- Hogenartone c.1228 Os
- Hogenerton 1231 Cl
- Hogenarton 1242–3 Fees
- Hogenorthon 1251 Cl 1476 AD
- Hogemorton' 1275–6 RH
- Hegenortone 1285 Ass
- Hognorton 1305 Cl 1435 Ch
- Hogesnorton 1381 Cl
- Hognotton 1428 FA
- Poke Norton 1285 Ass
- Hook Norton early18th ParColl
Etymology
Cf. Ekwall (DEPN): “The first element is clearly the genitive of a folk-name. It may be suggested that the original name was Hoccan ōra , 'Hocca 's hill slope,' from which was formed Hoccanēre , 'the people at Hoccanōra .' Hook Norton would then mean 'the tūn of the people at Hoccanōra .'” In the appendix he mentions the name Hokernesse , which appears c. 1260, c. 1270 Os. This is evidently the eminence in question, the second element being næss , 'headland.'
The humorous corruption to Hogs Norton, recently employed by Mr Gillie Potter, goes back at least to the 16th century, when the village had become proverbial for rusticity and boorishness, and the form from 1381 Cl suggests that it is a good deal earlier. E. H. Sugden (A Topographical Dictionary to the works of Shakespeare and his fellow dramatists , Manchester 1925) quotes a number of literary examples of the joke. There was evidently a jingle about “Hogs Norton, where pigs play on the organ.”