Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Aresbi 1086 DB

• Auresbeia 1189 CartAnt c.1200

• Auresby e13 RAiv 1210 FF 1238–39 RRG 1254 ValNor

• Auresbi 1203 FF

• Oresbi 1086 DB 1182 P 1193,1194,1197,1198,1199,1200,1201,1202,1203 ib

• Oresbi Josleni 1190,1191,1193 ib

• Oresby 1517 Monson 1551,1557 Pat 1586 Monson 1629 TLE 1651 Red

• Oresby als Longoresby 1586 Monson

• Horesbi 1203 Cur

• Oresbi hundred 1086 DB

• Orresbi 1191 P 1202 ChancR 1233 WellesW 1233 RAii

• Ouresbi c.1115 LS 1139–41 DuLaCh m12 Dugdvi c.1160 RAiv 1166 RBE Hy2 LN 1196–1203 RAiv 1203 Cur 1203,1219 Ass

• Ouresbia c.1162 RAii

• Ouresby c.1200 1203 Cur 1203 Abbr 1206 Cur 1234 FF 1236 Cl 1239–49 Foster 1242–43 Fees 1245,1262 FF 1265 Cl 1267 ADii 1274 Ipm 1275 RH 1281 Foster 1281 QW 1287 RAiv 1528–29 AD

• Ouresbie 1549 Pat

• Ourisby 1280 RSu

• Houresbi 1161 RAi a1168 1205 P 1219 Ass

• Houresbia 1212 Fees

• Houresby Hy2 Gilb 1409 OblR 1205 Peace 1275 RAix a1291

• Hourisby 1300 Stix

• Owresbi 1198 FF

• Owresby 1209–35 LAHW c.1212 Welles 1412 ADi 1445 AASRxxix 1447,1460 Foster 1498 Monson 1525–26,1528–29 AD 1529 Willsii 1634 Monson

• Owresby Stiddolfe 1684 ib

• Owresby otherwise longe Owresby 1563,1625 ib

• Owresby als Long Owresby 1607 ib

• Owresby als Longe Oresby 1647 ib

• Owresby als Oresby 1655,1684 ib

• Owresbye 1540 1610 Speed

• Owresbie 1552 Pat

• Owresbey 1585 Monson

• Owrysby Hy7 AASRxxix 1509 Monson

• Oureby (sic) 1206 Cur

• Ourebi 1221 FineR

• Oueresby 1230 Cur 1373 Peace

• Ouersby 1598 LCS

• Owereby 1395 Pat

• Owersby 1436 Fine 1529 Willsii 1655 Monson

• Owersby als Owresby 1604 ib

• Owersby als Oresby 1627,1655 ib

• Owersbe 1472 WillsPCC 1625 Terrier

• Owersbye 1552,1609 Monson

• Owersbie 1558 InstBen 1576 LER 1607,1610 Monson 1611 Holywell

• Owersbie otherwise called longe Owersbie 1608 Monson

• Owrsbie 1589 Monson

• Owrsby 1605 ib

• Owrsby called Owrsby Stidolfe alias Owrsby Southall 1612 Td'E

• Owrsby otherwise called Long Owrsby 1612 Monson

• Owrsby als Oresby 1655 ib

• Owasby (sic) 1790 Monson

• Orsby 1630 Monson

• Longe Ouresbi 1219 Ass

• Langehouresby 1272 Ass

• Langouresby l13 Foster l13 Percy 1308 Monson 1318 FF 1328 Banco 1329 Foster 1384 FF

• Langhouresby 1349 Monson

• lang Ouersby 1383,1392 ib

• long Ouersby 1612 ib

• long Owresby 1510 DCFabRents

• longe Owresby 1604,1609 Monson

• Longowresbye 1595 ib

• longe Owersby 1596 ib

• Longe Owersby 1597 Inv

• Longe Oresbye 1604 Monson

• Long Owersbe 1624 Terrier

• Long Oursby 1664 ib

• Long Owersby 1693 1728 MiscDep

• Longe Owersby als Oresby 1684 Monson

• North Owersby 1824 O 1828 Bry 1830 Gre

• Owersby North End 1822 LTR

• manerium de Owersby alias Owersby Stidolfe alias Owersby Stydolff 1571 Monson

• the Mannor of Owersbie Stidolfe als Owersbie Southall 1575 ib

• the Mannor or Lordshipp of Owersbie als Owersbie Stydolfe als Owersbie Southall als Southall Garthe 1683 ib

• ad finem borealem de Owresby 1445 AASR xxix

Etymology

Fellows-Jensen, SSNEM 63, points out that Ekwall's suggestion, DEPN s.n., that the first el. is the Scand. pers.n. Ávarr , has been shown by Bower , s.n., to be phonologically unsatisfactory. The latter proposed that the first el. might be the OWScand  pers.n. *Aurr , from aurr 'gravel, mud, mire' and this might be phonologically acceptable, but it presents semantic difficulties with regard to its significance as a byname. Fellows-Jensen then suggests alternatively that the first el. might be the appellative aurr “perhaps indicating a stretch of gravelly land”. However, both the occurrence of the gen.sg. and local topography point to a pers.n. as first el. here. Dr John Insley points out that the phonological development of “ON  Ávarr , OD an (runic) Ā veR , OSwed  Āver follows the sequence *Anu -( )aiRaR > *AnwæiRR > Ā væaRR , v. J. Brøndum- Nielsen, Gammeldansk Grammatik , I, 2. andrede udgave, Køben- havn, 1950, p. 194. As runic ąuai R , the name occurs in the Runic inscriptions of Helnæs and Flemløse (both on Fyn), which are generally dated to the ninth century (v. E. Moltke, Runes and their Origin : Denmark and Elsewhere , Copenhagen, 1985, p. 156, and for a rather narrow dating to 800–825, L.F.A. Wimmer, De danske runemindesmærker ; Haandudgave ved Lis Jacobsen, København- Kristiania, pp. 100–102)”. Dr Insley goes on “Runic ąuai R retains a nasalized vowel In English, this would have been rendered initially as An -, On - … Later loans, from c1000 on, have already lost the nasalized vowel, v. J. Insley, Studia Anthroponymica Scandinavica , 3, 1985, 23–24, 45”. He concludes “Given that the p.ns. in -bȳ represent a secondary phase of Scand. colonization, it is quite possible that the first el. of Owersby is the pers.n. Ávarr , borrowed at a date subsequent to the loss of the nasal quality of the initial vowel, i.e. at the end of the tenth or the beginning of the eleventh century”. No certainty is possible but 'Ávarr's farmstead, village', v. bȳ, seems a likely solution of the name.

The affix Long presumably refers to the straggling village, eventually distinguished as North Owersby and South Owersby. The Joselin found in forms dated 1190, 1191, 1193 is derived from Joselinus de Barewe 1193 P, while Stiddolf is from the Surrey family which held the manor in 1571, cf. Thomas Stydolff 1571Monson and later Sigismund Stydolfe 1683ib . This is referred to in manerium de Owersby alias Owersby Stidolfe alias Owersby Stydolff 1571Monson , the Mannor of Owersbie Stidolfe als Owersbie Southall 1575ib , the Mannor or Lordshipp of Owersbie als Owersbie Stydolfe als Owersbie Southall als Southall Garthe 1683ib (v. garðr 'an enclosure or small plot of ground, especially one near a house').The latter has been first noted in manerio de Southall '1384FF and later as the mannor of Owersbie als Owresbye Southall als Southalle garthe 1566Monson , the mannor of Owersbe Southall als Southall garthes 1578ib and the Mannor of Owersby als Owersby Southall als Southall garth 1684ib . South Hall has been noted independently in atte Southall ' de Langouresby 1329Foster (p), atte Southall ' de Ouresby 1333ib (p), Southalle 1365FF , the South Hall 1638Terrier (Kirkby cum Osgodby), and cf. the South hall dayle 1608Monson (v. deill ).There is no real indication of the site of the South Hall , but it is tempting to associate it with South Owersby, a name not so far noted before 1822, though there is, however, no substantial evidence to support this hypothesis. Cf. Hall Fm infra and maner … de Newhall in f.ns. (b) infra . Note also ad finem borealem de Owresby 1445 AASR xxix ('at the north end of Owersby'), which presumably refers to North Owersby.