Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Sinks Cover 1833 Yarb

• Sink Wood 1869 ib

Etymology

, Sinks Cover 1833Yarb , Sink Wood 1869ib , cf. Sencmare , Sencchermare , Senkemare Hy3HarlCh ( v. (ge)mǣre ) , Sinks 1777, 1833Yarb . It is Fox 's Cover 1824, Fox Cover 1830 Gre . This must be the same as dial . sink ( EDD s.v. 13 ) ' a gutter, drain, sewer ' recorded from North L and found in Bell Sinks in Goxhill f. ns . ( b ) . The word is also recorded ( as ME sinke ) in NED s.v. from c. 1440 as ' a pool or pit formed in the ground for the receipt of waste water ' and from 1499 as ' a conduit,drain … a sewer ' , v. also PN YW 7243 . Etymologically NED takes the noun sink to be from OE  sincan ' to sink ' , but the early spellings here suggest that this is ME  senk from OE  sencan of similar meaning . The forms would then show the raising of - e - to - i - before a covered nasal ( Jordan 34.2 ) . The Covert lies low beside Skitter Beck and a small stream flows through it . It should be noted that Smith , PN YW 5 189 , interprets the f.n. Cramuill Sengk 1278 as being from a surn . and ON  *senk ' a hollow wherewater collects ' .