Skirwith
Major Settlement in the Parish of Skirwith
Historical Forms
- Skirewit 1205 FF 1215 ClR
- Skyrewyth 1279 Ass 1338 FF
- Skirwith 1215 CWxxii
- Scyrwith c.1270 BM
- Skirwiht 1288 Ipm
- Schirwyt c.1220 BM
- Schirewith 1268 CWvi
- Schirewyth, Schirewyt 1279 Ass
- Scherweyt 1278 Ass
- Schereweyt 1279 ib
- Scirtwith 1278 Ass
- Skirthwyht, Skirtwyth 1391 GDR
- Skyrwath t.Ed6 March
- Shirwyth 1585 FF
- Shirwith 1596 ib
Etymology
The second element here is clearly ON viðr, 'wood.' The first element, as in Skirlaugh (PN ERY 49–50) is best taken as a Scandinavianised form of OE scīr . This word has become restricted to the sense 'shire,' but it originally had the wider meaning 'district,' and in particular, district in charge of an officer, lay or ecclesiastical.A name like Skirwith, like Sherwood (PN Nt 10), with which it is identical in meaning, denoted a wood used in common by the men of a whole district, in contrast to a wood which was merely used by the inhabitants of a single village or small group of villages.