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.

Salmonsbury

Early-attested site in the Parish of Bourton on the Water

Historical Forms

  • Sulmonnesburg 779 BCS230 orig.
  • Salomonesbir' 1276 RH
  • Salemanburi 1287 QW
  • Salemonesbyri 1293 Ipm
  • Salmonysbury, Salmanisbury 1435,1465 MinAcct

Etymology

Salmonsbury, Sulmonnesburg 779 (orig.) BCS 230, Salomonesbir '1276 RH, Salemanburi 1287 QW, Salemonesbyri 1293 Ipm, Salmonysbury , Salmanisbury 1435, 1465MinAcct . The name refers to a large four- sided ancient encampment, of which the north-east angle is best discernible (cf. Rudder 303) and which lies north-east of Bourton village. From this Salmonsbury Hundred (192supra ) took its name.The OE  form Sulmonnes - suggested to Ekwall and Anderson 20–1 that the first el. is an OE  *sulh-man 'ploughman' as the spelling is from a good original charter, and the p.n. would denote 'the encampment of a ploughman', that is, no doubt, 'one where he kept his oxen'; this interpretation would be paralleled by some examples of OE  stōd -fald 'stud enclosure' as applied to prehistoric enclosures used by the English for their stud-horses; v. burh , which is also the first el. of Bourton (195supra ). The complete change of Sul - to Sal (e )-, Salo - from DB onwards is probably due to popular etymology when the rare OE  sulh-man was obviously confused with the Hebrew pers.n. Salomon , which was already in use in late OE (Feilitzen 30, 351) and becomes common after DB (Reaney 281), and with its Mohammedan variant Suliman , which seems to be found in OG  Sul (u )man (FörstemannPN 1368). The lost Salmondesleg in the nearby Upper Slaughter (209infra ) may have a similar origin for the first el.