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.

Staine Hundred

Hundred in the County of Cambridgeshire

Historical Forms

  • Stane 1086 ICC, InqEl
  • Stan(e) 1185 P 1523 SR
  • Stanes 1086 DB 1268 Ass
  • Stanas 1086 InqEl
  • Stone 1268,1272,1285 Ass
  • Stayne 1553 EAvii 1592 BM

Etymology

'Stone' or 'stones,' OE  stān or stānas . Anderson (EHN i, 100) notes that Skeat's suggestion that the modern form is due to Scandinavian influence is scarcely possible, for there is no trace in the early forms of the diphthong we should expect from ON  steinn . Cf. Staines (PN Mx 18) where the ai is similarly late in appearing, though in that name there is no trace of any o -forms at all. He suggests that it is probably an inverted spelling due to the falling together of ā and ai in early ModE. This name cannot be associated with such names as Old Steine (PN Sx 292) and Steane (PN Nth 57) where we have early forms like Stene (s ) in the 13th century, from OE  stǣne , 'stony place.'Cf. also Long Stanton (infra 184) which occurs as Stainton in 1438.