English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Inholms Copse

Early-attested site in the Parish of Stedham

Historical Forms

  • Inholmes 1642 SRS14,128
  • Innome 1327 SR
  • Inhome 1415 Ct

Etymology

Inholms Copse is Inholmes in 1642 (SRS 14, 128). This name must be taken along with various examples of Inholm(e)s and Lock Inhomes , s. n. Lockstrood infra 203, 267, 302, 304, 306.Mr Budgen notes also Inholms Fm in East Grinstead and references in 1546 (FM ) to 1 Innome , 5 Innomes , Court Innomes in that parish, the name being of constant occurrence in the Wealden area. We also have Innome (p) in 1327 (SR), Inhome 1415 (Ct ). The general evidence would suggest that the holme - forms are pseudo-etymological spellings for hom (e ). The word must clearly be connected with the word innam or innom (NED s. v. innam ) used of a piece of ground 'taken in' or 'enclosed.'That word has hitherto been noted only in the North and is taken to be a derivative of ON  nám , 'taking,' the compound denoting what is often called an intake . It looks as if there may have been a similar native English word formed from OE  nām , 'seizure,' hitherto only recorded in the sense 'seizure of a pledge,' for it is very unlikely that a Scandinavian loan-word would have made its way to Sussex in the 14th century. For such a derivative of niman , 'to take,' cf. Ninfield infra 487 and Nimmings (PN Wo 280, 346). v. Addenda xliv.

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site

Other OS name

Major Settlement