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.

Thoresway

Major Settlement in the Parish of Thoresway

Historical Forms

  • Toreswe 1086 DB
  • Toresweia c.1115 LS 1212 Fees
  • Toresueia 12 Reveslnv
  • Toreswaye 1260 Cl
  • Toreweia c.1115 LS 1223 Pat
  • Thoresweie 1187 Gilb 1409 FF 1199
  • Thoresweiam 1198 Ch 1328
  • Thoresweia 1200–23 HarlCh
  • Thoresweye 1242–43 Fees 1252 Ch 1288 Ipm 1298 Pat 1303,1306 Cl 1375 et passim
  • Thoreswey 1239 RRG 1303,1316 FA 1336 HarlCh 1356 Orig 1549 Pat
  • Thoriswey 1242–43 Fees
  • Thoryswey 1242–43 1428 FA
  • Thoreswaia Hy2 Dane
  • Thoreswaya 1335 Cl
  • Thoresway 1275 RH 1288 Ipm 1290 Abbr 1303 FA 1327,1332 SR 1334,1340 Ipm 1341 NI 1346 FA 1349 Pat
  • Thoresway Beaumont 1462 Pat
  • Thoresway Bayons alias Nevile 1465 ib
  • Thoreswaye 1281 QW 1310 ChancW 1310 Pat 1317 Ch 1405 RRep
  • Thoreswaie 1558 InstBen 1576 LER
  • Thorisway 1285 Ipm 1350 Fine 1610 Speed
  • Thorysway 1428 FA
  • Thyrisweye 1291 Tax
  • Thursweye 1303 FA
  • Thursway Beaumond 1467 Pat
  • Thuresway 1472 1517 ECB
  • Thursway 1526 Sub
  • Thorseway 1652 Rad
  • Thoreway 1242–43 Fees
  • Thorewey(e) 1249 Ipm 1338 Pat
  • Thorway 1264 Cl
  • Ravenildesweye 1292 PN Db 754, 762

Etymology

Thoresway is usually interpreted as 'Þori's road' from the ON  pers.n. Þórir , ODan  Thorir , Thori and OE  weg 'a road', v. DEPN, SSNEM 222. ON  Þórir , ODan  Thorir , Thori is common enough in independent use in L, v. Feilitzen 393–94 and Fellows-Jensen, SPNLY 307–9, while the same pers.n. also occurs in North Thoresby, some seven miles in a direct line from Thoresway, South Thoresby LSR, a lost Thoresby , in Revesby, LSR, DB lxix, as well as Thoresthorpe LSR. OE  weg is rare in settlement names and Gelling, PNITL 83, takes the total number to be about 25. She points out that only three major names with this el. have a pers.n. as first el. -- Garmondsway Du, Hanwell (earlier Haneweie ) O and Thoresway L. She does, however, note that weg is found frequently in minor names and f.ns, but there again it is very rarely compounded with pers.ns. Indeed, Dr John Insley points out that the only example with a Scand. pers.n. appears to be Ravenildesweye 1292 PN Db 754, 762, containing ON  Hrafnhildr (fem.).

Dr Insley comments that “it would seem better to re-examine the etymology of Thoresway. The DB form could be taken to stand for a heathen name, ODan  *Þōrswǣ 'the shrine dedicated to Thor', the second el. having subsequently been contaminated by OE  weg as a result of semantic opacity. A direct parallel to an ODan  *Þōrswǣ is provided by the Swedish p.n. Torsvi in Västergötland, for which v. Lundahl, NoB 43 (1955), 141. If we accept this etymology for Thoresway, the name must belong to the earliest phase of Scand. settlement, given that the re-conversion of the eastern Danelaw proceeded fairly rapidly in the 10th century”.

The affixes Beaumont and Nevill are from families at one time holding the manor. Thoresway, as well as other places in L, was “held in dower by Joan of the endowment of John , late viscount Beaumont ” 1460 Pat, while Roger de Nevyl held ij partes i .f. in Thoresway 1301 FA.