Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Godtorp 1086 DB

• Gillethorp' c.1130 LeicSurv

Etymology

The lost Godtorp is cited in DB as being in the jurisdiction of Somerby and Pickwell. Slade (49–50) in his analysis of the LeicSurv assessment of Gillethorp ' with Burrough on the Hill and the remaining vills of Cold Overton hundred as compared with their assessment in DB, shows that Godtorp and Gillethorp ' are names for the same settlement.Slade (69, map) locates Gillethorp ' between Somerby and Newbold.

The first el. of the DB name of the farmstead appears to be the adj.Oe gōd2 , Scand  góðr 'good', but this has been replaced c.1130 LeicSurv by the Scand  pers.n, Gilli , a short form of Irish pers.ns. in Gilli - and found in Iceland at the time of its settlement. Fellows-Jensen notes that it is probable that the majority of the bearers of this pers.n. were of Celtic descent, v. þorp and SPNLY 100–1, cf. Gilroes, Lei 1221.