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.

Purps

Early-attested site in the Parish of Shaugh

Historical Forms

  • Purpris 1291 Dartmoor 1408

Etymology

This is the OFr  pourprise , 'a close or enclosure,' properly the past participle of OFr  pourprendre , 'to take away entirely,' v. NED s. n . It was a legal term used in the case of encroachments upon the property of a community or of the crown. Cf. Purprise, PN SWY 234.