Shebbear
Major Settlement in the Parish of Shebbear
Historical Forms
- Sceft beara, of Sceft beara 1050–73 Earle
- Sepesberia 1086 DB
- Seftƀia 1167 P
- Scheaftberia 1177 P
- Seftesberg 1219 Ass
- Schafbera 1180 P
- Schafberia 1194 P
- Shaftebeare 1319 Ch
- Syeftbere 1262 Exon
- Sheftbeare 1291 Tax 1353 Ipm
- Sheftbiare 1322 Ass
- Shieftbeare 1358 Exon
- Schebbeare 1425 Exon
Etymology
This is evidently a compound of OE sceaft , 'pole, shaft,' and bearu, but the exact sense of the compound is uncertain. Blomé (47) suggests that the name may have referred to a wood which furnished material for spears.
This name furnishes the only example in Devon of an OE form for one of the very numerous names in -beer , -bear or, independently, Bere , Beere , Beare , Beara , Beera . The early form of this name puts it beyond question that the source of that element is OE bearu. That word is a wo -stem in OE and it is curious that we find no trace of the inflected dative bearwe , which elsewhere in England has yielded Barrow (L, etc.). It would seem that in Devon the word bearu early went over to the declension of wudu , so closely allied to it in meaning, and that the dative was beara . This is further illustrated by the compound ifigbearo found in the Crediton charter (Crawford i). There we have on ifigbearo …of ifigbeara , a clear case of dative in a (cf. Stevenson's note, p. 50). The later phonological development illustrated by occasional bare -, more common bere -, and numerous biare , byare , beare spellings is curious. This element is often confused with beorg and even with the dative byry or bery from burh .