Wheldrake
Major Settlement in the Parish of Wheldrake
Historical Forms
- Coldrid 1086 DB
- Coldric 1167,1194 P 1200 1204 YCh 1207 Cur 1230 P 1285 Pat
- Queldrich 1193 P 1269 Ebor
- Querdriche 1198 P
- Queldrik(e), Qweldrik(e), Qweldric, Qweldryk(e) 12th 1190–3 P 1208 Ass 1400 Test
- Qweldrick 1246 FF 1272 Warter
- Queldriz c.1200 For
- Queldrig' 1289 Ebor
- Cloderic 1214 Abbr
- Coudric 1218,1219 FF
- Coldrig 1221 FF
- Codriz 1228 Pat
- Weldrik 13th Percy
- Wheldrik 1531 Test
- Wheldrake 1535 VE 1828 Langd
Etymology
The second element of Wheldrake, as suggested under Escrick supra 267–8, is an OE word *ric , here used of a narrow strip of land or a narrow road; there is a small stream some little distance from the village to which ric might also refer. The origin of the first element is also rather obscure, but there are two possibilities. The first of these (and perhaps the more likely) is that Queld - of the early spellings is from OE cwild (Anglian cweld ) 'death, destruction,' and the name would mean 'strip of land (narrow road, stream) where a death had taken place,' an idea certainly expressed by other place-names such as Deedle Hill supra 116, Nabum infra 274, Manslaughter (PN NRY 331), morð crundel (ib. 1216) 'murder pit,' cwealmstowe (ib. 479) 'place of death or execution,' etc. The second possible source of the first element is an OScand word kveld or kveldr which lies behind the Norw place-name Kvelde (NoGN vi, 353). The meaning of this word in the Norwegian place-name is not clear, but it is related to Swed dialect kvall 'a rise on a flat surface, something swollen' and to OScand kvilla , ME kuelle (cf. NED s.v. cwell ), Ger quellen 'to spring forth,' as well as Dan kvæl (d ), Ger quelle 'spring, well' and possibly the OE cwylla of BCS 779 (cf. KPN 253). The common sense seems to be 'well, spring,' or the like, and this may have been the meaning of OScand kveld (r ). If this word is compounded with ric in Wheldrake it is worth noting that near the village are two wells, Low Well and Foulkeld Well. In neither case does the first element throw any light upon the precise significance of the second element.'Strip of land (road, stream) where a death took place' or 'strip of land (etc.) near a spring or well.'
The different spellings of the name can all be related to an original Cweld-ric . Cold - (and the AN variant Coud - and the unusual metathesised Clode -) is paralleled by the occasional use of corn for OE cweorn 'mill,' and to a less degree by the development of an older Swin - to Sun - in Sunthorpe supra 16; -riz is an AN spelling for -ric (as for -rith , -rid , hence the inverted DB spelling -rid ). Later initial wh is a development of original cw well evidenced in northern place-names such as Whenby (PN NRY 30) and Whernside (WRY), etc. The 1272 spelling Quelderyke is noteworthy as showing the division of the two elements into cweld and ric .