Kirby Misperton, Kirby Overcarr
Major Settlement in the Parish of Kirby Misperton
Historical Forms
- Chirchebi 1086 DB
- Kirkeby, Kyrkeby, Kyrkebi 1094–9 YCh 1408 For
- Kirkabi 1308 Ch
- Kirkby 1414 Test
- Kirby 1665 Visit
- Mispeton 1086 DB
- Misperton(a), Mysperton(a) 1137–61 YCh
- Kirkebye Overkare 1549 YChant
- Kyrkby Overcarr 1573 FF
Etymology
'Farm by the church' v. kirkja , by .
The first element in Misperton is not clear but Dr O. K. Schram suggests that there may have been an OE word mispel or mispeler denoting the medlar-tree. LL mespila is found in LG and HG as mespel (OHG mespila ) and there is a side-form mispel from MHG mispel (e ). Both forms are found in the LG dialects, and Frisian mispel (beam ) is well-evidenced.
LL mespilarius var. mispilarius appears in Dutch and Flemish as mespelare and is found in the Belgian p.n. Mespelaere in the form Mespilarios in 899. (Vincent, Les noms de lieux de la Belgique , § 181.)
Hoops (Waldbäume 606) suggests that there may have been an OE form of LG mespila . The word actually occurs in late ME as mespile , by the side of mespiler (NED s.v.) but these are probably late borrowings from Latin itself.
OE mespiler-tun might readily become misp (l )erton and if that is the history the name means 'farm with the medlar-tree.'Such might well grow in the low-lying ground, or carr , from which the place takes its alternative appellation. v. kjarr .