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.

Humpton

Early-attested site in the Parish of Coltishall

Historical Forms

  • Humpton 13,1237–51,c.1240,c.1280 Holme
  • (in campo de) Humptone 13 ib
  • Humton(e) 1237–51,c.1240,c.1260 ib
  • (in campo de) Humptun c.1250 Coxf
  • Humptone c.1260 Holme

Etymology

Humpton (lost), Humpton 13, 1237–51, c. 1240, c. 1280Holme , (in campo de ) Humptone 13ib , Humton (e )1237–51, c. 1240, c. 1260ib , (in campo de ) Humptun c. 1250Coxf , Humptone c. 1260Holme . As hump seems to be a word of late appearance (v. OED), it may be worth considering the tentative suggestion that the first el. of this compound in tūn is Scandinavian, the ODan  or OSwed  topographical term hump 'clump, lump', or even more tentatively the OScand  pers.n. Hundr or Hundi (v. Lind, LindB and DGP II 479). For the phonological development, including loss of interconsonantal d , change of n to m and intrusion of p , cf. the discussion of Bumpstead Ess and Banstead (Bampsted 1597) Sr in Sandred 1963: 196 f., 244 and Fellows Jensen § 108.