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.

Denham

Early-attested site in the Parish of Quainton

Historical Forms

  • Dunindun c.1220 Marst
  • Dunindon 1237–40 Fees
  • Dundon 1242 Fees874 1569 ADv
  • Donydon 1247 Ass
  • Duningdon 1247 Ass
  • Dunigdon, Dunydun 1256,1258 FF
  • Dundham 1766 J
  • Denham Hill c.1825 O

Etymology

OE  Dun (n )ingdun , 'Dunn's hill,' the ing in -ingdun having the same sense as that recorded for it in -ingtun . The change of vowel in the modern forms is curious. un must have become in , at least in pron. as in Dinton infra , and the form Dinham seems then to have been assimilated to that of the more common name Denham . The loss of the second d must be due to assimilation, nd becoming nn .

Places in the same Parish