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.

Scraithegil

Early-attested site in the Parish of Loweswater

Historical Forms

  • Sorachegil 1254 StB
  • Scraithegil 1256 ib

Etymology

The meaning is 'ravine in which there has been a landslide.' The second element is gil, the first is ON  skreið , standing in ablaut relation to skriða , 'landslip,' which is recorded as an Icelandic place-name (Kålund ii, 225). The word skreið seems to occur in Scrafield (L), for which there are numerous medieval forms showing -ei - in the first element. See also under Burnhope Seat (supra 176).