Swanland
Major Settlement in the Parish of North Ferriby
Historical Forms
- Suenelund 1189,1190,1191 P
- Swaneslund 1237 Cl c.1265 Bodl 1303 KF
- Swaneslond 1280 Ass 1285 Abbr 1305 YI 1339 FF
- Swanysland 1301 YI
- Suanneslund, Swanneslund 1293 Ch 1296 BM 1333 FF
- Swanneslond 13th Melsa 1285,1294 YI 1342 SR
- Swannesland late12th Rievaulx
- Swanlund 1303 YI 1329 FF
- Swanlound(e) 1303,1415 YI
- Swanlond 1285 KI 1298 Baildon 1462 Pat
- Swanland(e) 1302 Ebor 1342 SR 1559 NCWills
- Swannelund 1304 Ebor
Etymology
'Svan 's wood,' v. lundr . Some of the early spellings such as Swanes - look like the gen. sing. of OE swan 'herd, swine-herd' or a pers. name Swān , whilst the P spellings in Suene - might be variants of the cognate OScand sveinn . The frequency of forms with medial nn is, however, against this derivation, more particularly as OE swan is not usual in Northern place-names except where it is an anglicising of OScand sveinn . We should therefore associate the first element of Swanland with the OScand pers. name Svanr , which occurs in Iceland and (as a nickname) in Norway. An OSwed Swan is to be inferred from Swedish place-names such as Svansboda (Lundgren-Brate 251).