Winestead
Major Settlement in the Parish of Winestead
Historical Forms
- winestede, wisestade (sic for Wiuestade, Wifestade) 1033 RegAlb 14th
- Wifestad, Wiuestad, Wifestede, Wistede 1086 DB
- Winested(e), Wynested(e) 12th,13th Bridl 1249 YI 1256 Ch 1527 Test
- Wynested(e) in Holdernes 1280 Ass
- Wynestead 1786 Tuke
- Winestead or Wiuestead 1342 SR 1347 Meaux
- Withestede, Wythestede c.1265 KF 1287 Ebor 1381 Test
- Wyuested(e) 1347 Meaux
- Wywestede in Holdernesse 1498 Test
- Wysted(e) 1429 Test 1610 Speed
- Wested 1486 Test
- Wyested 1615 YD
- Wilsted 1695 Morden
Etymology
The difficulty with this place-name is to determine whether Wiue - or Wine - is original. With the DB forms before us the former is clearly preferable. Other examples of such confusion are to be found under Temple Elfold (PN Sr 266–7). Wine - in earlier documents may well be a misreading of Wiue -.The form with n is purely a spelling-pronunciation. The occasional replacement of Wiue - by Wythe - has certainly been assisted by the forms of the nearby Weeton supra 23 and Wyton infra 52, where With - and Wife - are original. In later times medial -v - seems to have been completely lost.
As in Ganstead infra 48, the only other example of -stead in ERY, the oldest spellings point to the influence of OScand staðr upon OE stede, or to OScand staðr itself. Professor Ekwall suggests (DEPN s. n .) that this is a compound of a lost OE personal name Wifa or Wife . OE wifa , gen. pl. of wif , 'woman,' seems more likely in view of the rarity of compounds of stede with a personal name. For other ERY parallels cf. Westow and Wyton infra , 145, 52.