East Mersea and West Mersea
Major Settlement in the Parish of East and West Mersea
Historical Forms
- (on) Meres ig(e) 895 ASC c.900
- Mereseg, Meresigge 895 ASC c.1000
- (at) Mereseye c.950 ASWills 14th
- (æt) Myresigæ, (et) Myresige c.975 11th ib
- Myræsegæ, (into) Myresiæ, (into) Myresie c.1000 11th ib
- Meresai(am) 1086 DB
- Mereseia, Meresee, Mereseya, Meresie, Mereseiee 1163 Colch 1303 FA
- Estmereseiee 1219 Fees
- Mersheia 1198 CurR
- Mersay, Mersey(e), Merseia 1202 France 1362 ADii
- West Merseia 1281 Misc
- Martsey 1267 Ch
- Marsay, Marsey 1412 FA 1556 FF
- Marza 1545 LP
Etymology
'Island of the pool,' v. mere , eg . mere denotes a pool in OE.Here it is probably used of the major inlet from the sea formed by the estuaries of the Colne and Blackwater. Cf. the description in ASC (A) s. a. 895, “on an igland þæt is ute on þære sæ , þæt is Meresig haten. ” The form Myres -, like Ylmsæton for Elmsett (Sf) in the same document, is probably an inverted spelling with y for e , arising from the common use of e for y in Essex dialect.
Places in the same Parish
None