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.

Mulducks

Early-attested site in the Parish of Emberton

Historical Forms

  • Mulhediche 1241 Ass

Etymology

The second element in this name seems to be dic and the modern form to be corrupt. The first element is quite uncertain.Possibly it may be the OE  adj. mylcen , 'milken,' the epithet being applied to a ditch whose waters were milky in appearance. mylcen-dic might well appear as above in ME. Professor Zachrisson suggests that the h may be inorganic and the compound really be myln-dic , 'mill-ditch,' a term in very common use. (The h might even be a miscopying of a justice's clerk for n .)

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site

Major Settlement