Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Artureth 1171–5 CWiii 1333 ADiii 1368

• Arturet c.1182 Weth 1349 FF

• Arturede 1203 ib

• Artured 1292 Ass

• Arturett(e) 1307,1332 Pat

• Hartred 1276 Ass

• Hartered ib. (p)

• Artreth 1528 LP

• Artereth 1609 DKRxxxviii

• Arcturet 1209 FF

• Arcturheth 1576 LP

• Arthureth 1276 Ipm 1279 Ass 1400 FF 1528 LP

• Arthuret 1278 Ass 1282 Ipm 1596 Border

• Arthurette 1278 Ass

• Arthured 1279 1300 Ipm 1552 CW(OS)vii

• Arthurede 1338 Ass 1454 Pat

• Arthurehede 1434 ib

• Arthurhed(e) 1517,1521 LP 1771 Map

• Arthure heth t.Hy8 DuLa

• Arthurheath 1517 LP

• Arthreed 1596 Border

• Artheret 1278 Ass

• Art(e)ret 1306 Ass

• Artret 1368 ADiii

• Artreth 1332 Pat

• Artereth 1348 1441 Fine 1517 LP

• Artrede 1357 Ipm

• Arthred 1399 Pat

• Artruthe 1576 S

• del Crosse de Artureth 1339 GDR

Etymology

“The Name of Arthuret (or Arthur's-head) was appropriated originally to yt Ascent whereon the Church and Parsonage House are placed; nor is there yet any Village or Hamlet that bears that Name” (1703 NicVisit).

We summarise a discussion of this name with which Professor Sir Ifor Williams has most kindly furnished us.

If, as seems likely, Arthuret is to be associated with the name of the battle fought in 573, Ekwall's interpretation (DEPN) of the first element as Welsh  ardd , 'height' or 'high,' is untenable. The earliest form of the name of the battle contains Arm -, as Bellum armterid in Annales Cambriae 573 (MS Harley 3859 of c. 1100). Later Welsh  forms are gueith arywderit in the Black Book of Carmarthen (c. 1200) and gweith arderyd in the Red Book of Hergest (c. 1400). Arm - could be the Old Welsh  (from Latin arma ) corresponding to Modern Welsh  arf , 'weapon,' but in the other battle references in Annales Cambriae bellum is followed by words like Camlan , which are real place-names.Hence, it is preferable to take Arm - as Old Welsh  corresponding to Old Irish airm , 'place.' The second element may be the OldW corresponding to Modern Welsh  terydd , so that Armterid would give ModW  *Ar (f )derydd ; Arthuret appears to show metathesis to Ardderyd . “Davis 1632 has agilis , velox , for terydd , but he quotes acer from an earlier (16th century) Welsh bard. Richards in the 18th century follows Davis, 'nimble, swift, sharp, smart.' In the Book of Taliesin (c. 1275), in a religious poem much earlier in date, I found terydd used of the cry of the damned on their way to hell (or on arrival), terydd en gawr . In another reference, terydd is used either of Taliesin himself or of his song—it depends on how you connect the word, backwards or forwards! In Canu Aneirin the phrase baran tan teryd , 'the fury of terydd fire' is given in an earlier version as tebihic tan teryd (the rout of the enemy is 'like tân terydd ' through something or other, or when it burns). You can be certain that terydd is an adjective used of tân , 'fire,' and that is all.I have instances of terydd with aer , 'battle'; with tir , 'land'; of an enemy, of a shield, of a boar, and even as an adverb to strengthen claf , 'sick.'” But it seems safer to leave the interpretation of Armterid an open question.