Glapthorn
Major Settlement in the Parish of Glapthorn
Historical Forms
- Glapt(h)orn 1185 RotDom
- Glapet(h)orn 1189 Ch 1332 Ipm 1277
- Clapethorn(e) t.John BM 1248 Cl
- Clapthorn c.1220 For 1268 Ass 1522 LP
- Glaptorp 1200 Cur
- Glapthorn al. Clapthorn 1396 Pat
Etymology
In considering this name we should take note also of gleppan felda , glæppan felda (BCS 1295, KCD 657) which Wallenberg (KPN 215) identifies with a present-day Clatfields (K), Glapwell (Db), with forms Glapewelle and the like from DB onwards, and Glaphowe (PN NRY 145). Middendorff (60) suggested an unrecorded OE adj. glæp , 'sloping,' allied to a German stem glapp -, glepp -, 'to glide, be open,' for the first name, but as such an adjective could hardly be applied to a thorn or a spring or stream, we may probably dismiss it from consideration. Bosworth- Toller connects the name with glæppe , an OE plant-name denoting possibly the buck-bean, but a genitival compound of a plant-name and feld is impossible, as is also a compound of such a word with þorn . Wallenberg notes that the three places are by streams—a dangerously weak line of argument—and suggests the possibility of a stream-name, but a compound glæppan feld with the river-name in the genitive is most unlikely, and a compound of þorn with a river-name equally improbable, so perhaps we may after all best take the first element to be the OE pers. name Glappa , which is actually on record. It may be noted that this name belongs to the early days of the Anglian settlement, being given by Bede as the name of one of the earliest kings of Northumbria.