Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Hosa, La Hosa 1211 Cur

• La Hose 13th ReadingC(2)

• (crofta que vocatur) La Hose 1349–50 RentSur

• Le Hose 1401–2 ib

Etymology

These two Berks examples must be considered in conjunction with a number of names in other counties. A f.n. Hose occurs three times in Ess (Ess 464), the forms being La Hose (14th), Le Hose (1487), the Hose (1534), and there is also a Hosefeld (1544) in the county. In D 294 a personal name atte Hose is associated with Hosefenne (modern Hawson Court) and Hosebroc , though it is not clear from the article whether the names occur in the same vicinity. Other examples occur in Ostbridge Gl 3, 120–1, Horsebridge Ha (Hosebrig 1236Ass ), hose graf in Wickhambreux K (BCS 869), Hos (s )ebrugge 1535 and Le Hose 1540 in Tewkesbury (Gl 2, 69), and various f.ns. in Gl (Gl 3, 151, 157, 184, 191, 194).

In Ess 464 the source is said to be OE  hōs 'bramble, thorn', which is the sense assigned to the word in BT. The meaning and form of this word are more accurately given in BTSuppl (hos sing., hossas pl. 'shoot, tendril').

The K, Ha, D and Ess names are cited under this word in Elements, and in PN Gl Ostbridge is interpreted 'bridge by the shoots'. Such an el. would be synonymous with hys(s)e, occurring in Hurstbourne Ha, Husborne Bd, Hycemoor Cu. It does not seem altogether satisfactory as the source of the simplex name, ME  Hose , to which the definite article was frequently prefixed.

Other possible OE sources for these names given by Wallenberg, KPN 278, consist of hōs 'company, band' and hosa -e , 'covering for the leg: husk, sheath'. The first is formally unlikely, as none of the names has any ME  spellings with -ou - or -u -. The second seems more promising, both formally and as regards meaning, and it is possible that it was applied in the sense 'stocking' to a long, thin object, such as a stream or, in the case of the example from Hurley, a lane. This use would be somewhat similar to that of pīpe , which occurs in charter bounds with reference to a small stream. The modern sense of hose 'flexible tube for the conveyance of water' is not recorded until 1495–7, when it occurs in Naval Accounts referring to hoses for ships' pumps. Another example of the p.n. may be Hose Wd St, 5 miles N.E. of Stone, which lies on either side of a small stream.

Professor Löfvenberg considers hosa 'stocking' a likely source of some of the p.ns. discussed here, but thinks that hos 'shoot, tendril', perhaps 'sapling' may occur in some of them. He suggests as another possibility an OE  *hās , which may have existed beside hǣs 'brushwood, a young wood of beech or oak'.