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.

Dearsden

Early-attested site in the Parish of Warter

Historical Forms

  • Dioresdun 12th,13th Warter
  • Vtterderesdun(e), Haymderesdun(e) ib.

Etymology

Dearsden (6″) is Dioresdun 12th, 13thWarter , Vtterderesdun (e ), Haymderesdun (e )ib. 'Dēor 's hill,' v. dun . The prefixed elements are ME  utter 'outer, more distant,' and OScand  heim 'home' (presumably in the contrasting sense 'nearer'), as in Hollows infra 170. This use of heim (except in Hollows itself) has hitherto not been noted. It has its English parallel in such names as Homewood (PN Sx 258) and Holmwood (PN Sr 271) and a Scandinavian parallel in the Dan place-name Hemfenner (DaSN (Sj) iii, 253).