Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Clisbi 1086 DB 1199 P 1238–43 Fees

• Clisby 1268 NCot 1342 Cl 1380 Fine 1383 Peace

• Clisby “by” Gresby 1320,1321,1342 Pat

• Clisby juxta Grosby (sic) 1333 Orig

• Clisby juxta Gresseby 1341–2 IpmR

• Clisby juxta Gresby 1342 Orig

• Clysby 1303 FA

• Clysby juxta Gresby 1321 Orig

• Clysby “by” Gresby 1333 Pat

• Clissebi 1177 P 1202 Ass

• Clisseby 1242–3 Fees 1247,1259 Ipm 1259 FineR 1270 Pat

• Clisseby alias Clixseby 1273 Ipm

• Clisseby 1276 1384 Pat

• Clisseby iuxta Gresseby 1293 Ass

• Klisseby 1281 QW

• Clysseby (iuxta Gresseby) 1292 FF 1298 Cl 1332–3 IpmR 1354 Cor 1368,1369 Ipm

• Clyseby 1226–8,1244 Fees

• Clipsebi 1196 ChancR 1203etpassimto1214 P 1230,1231,1232,1234,1253 Cl 1256 FF

• Clipesbi 1206,1230 P

• Clypesby 1231 Cl

• Clifsebi c.1115 LS 1202 Ass

• Clifsbi 1150–60 Dane

• Cliffeby 1210–12 RBE

• Clessebi 1192 P

• Clesby 1504 Ipm

• Clestebi (sic) 1209 P

• Clestesbi (sic) 1210 ib

• Clixby 1300 FF 1311 Fine 1311 Orig 1316 Cl 1316 Fine 1327 SR 1338 Banco

• Clixbi 1548 Anc

• Clixbye 1576 Saxton

• Clyxby 1368,1382 Pat 1398 Fine 1401–2,1431 FA 1453 Fine

• Clixheby 1275 RH

• Clixeby 1275 1312 Ipm

• Clixebie 1276 RH

• Clyxeby 1276 ib

• Clexby 1369 AD

• Clexbe 1539 LPxiv

Etymology

This is a very difficult name. Ekwall (DEPN s.n.) takes the spellings in -ps -, -pes - as indicative of the original form and assumes the name to be identical with Clippesby Nf and means 'Klypp's farmstead or village', v. bȳ . The first el. would then be the Scand. pers.n. Klyppr , which he assumed occurred here in the 10th century as the name of a moneyer in the form Clip . Dr Fellows-Jensen (SSNEM 41), however, points out that Klyppr is not found independently in L. She takes the forms in -fs (e )- to reflect the original spelling and suggests that the first el. is “Scand  klif n. “steep slope or bank”, perhaps replacing OE  clif n., used of the steep slope on which C. stands”, though, in fact, the slope is steeper at a number of places with names in bȳ along the scarp slope. It may be objected that there are fewer such instances in the large collection presented above than in -p (e )s -, and that it is certainly possible that -fs - is an error for -ss -, due to the similarity of f and s in medieval script. It should also be noted the form with -ss - is very common from the 12th to the late 14th century in the spellings for Clixby, and are most likely to be explained as the result of the assimilation of -ps - to -ss -. The -ff - form in RBE looks very much like an error for -ss -. In his discussion of ON  Klyppr , Insley 533–36 notes first that the name is “sparsely attested and seems to have been a side-form of ON  Kleppr (personal name and byname)”, and points out that the Scandinavian evidence “might be taken to suggest that ON  Klyppr is, in fact, merely a scribal variant of ON  Kleppr ”.He goes on to suggest that it might be better to regard Clixby and Clippesby, as well as Clipston (PN Nt 232, PN Nth 111) and Clipstone (PN Nt 73, and Bd, PN BdHu 122) as containing an OScand  pers.n. *Klippr , corresponding to ON  Kleppr in the same way as the Danish appellative *klip (p ) corresponds to ON  kleppr , ODan  klæp (p ) 'a lump', used also to denote the top of a hill.Insley, further, takes Clip , the name of a moneyer of the reign of King Edward the Elder, as being derived from *Klippr , since, as he rightly points out, it appears in an OE source at too early a date for the late OE unrounding of [y] to have taken place. Following Insley, we may then suggest that Clixby in fact means 'the farmstead, village of Klip', v. bȳ , the first el. being the Scandinavian pers.n. Klippr .