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.

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.

Places in the same Parish

Other OS name