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.

Shurdington

Major Settlement in the Parish of Shurdington

Historical Forms

  • Surditona c.1150 BM
  • Surdinton, Surdynton 1220 Cur 1221 Ass 1303 FA
  • Surdington 1283 Ch
  • Schurdentone 1148 Glouc
  • S(c)hurdinton, S(c)hurdynton 1221 Ass 1327 Ipm 1328 Banco 1376 Ipm
  • S(c)hurdington, S(c)hurdyngton 1356 FF 1363 Ipm 1605 Rec
  • Magna S(c)hurdyngton 1338 FF
  • Scerdintonam 1157–81 Glouc
  • Sherdynton 1318 Ch
  • Schirrdinton' 1221 FF
  • Chirdyngton 1292 Orig
  • Shirdyngton, Shyrdyngton 1456 IpmR 1465 Pat
  • Magna Shyrdyngton 1322 Abbr
  • Schordington, Schordyn(g)ton 1287 Ass 1295 Episc
  • Magna Schordyn(g)ton 1511 FF
  • Sourdinton 14 ADi
  • Shardington, Shardyngton 1327 Ipm
  • Shardyngton als. Shurneton 1592 FF
  • Magna Shrudyngton 1397 FF
  • Shiryngton 1475 Pat
  • Sherrington 1551 Will
  • Shoryngdon 1523 GlR
  • Shorington 1535 VE
  • Sharnton magna 1544 FF
  • Shernton 1577 M
  • Shureton 1574 Will
  • Shurnton 1691 AddRoll
  • Scherdenberwe 941 BCS 768

Etymology

This p.n. remains without a satisfactory etymology. Ekwall's suggestion that it contains OE  (WSax ) *scierde , *scyrde 'gap, pass' (v. scerde ) is improbable topographically; Shurdington is at the foot of a steep hill and nothing in the local relief could be described as a pass or gap. In any case we should have to assume a late WSax  form scyrde to account for the numerous Shurd - spellings (and occasional Schord - and Shird -), with Sherd - representing the Merc  *scerde ; such a WSax base is unlikely in this northerly part of the county but cannot be completely rejected. In that case we may rather have an OE  byname Scyrda , ultimately related to the ON  byname Skarði 'hare-lipped' or the like; an OE  Scerda may be found in Scherdenberwe 941 BCS 768 in Dorset, though an OE  variant Scyrda (from a different grade *skurð -, as in ON  skurðr by the side of skarð ) would remove the difficulty of deriving it from an exclusively WSax form. v. -ing 4 , tūn .