Winning Foot Hill
Early-attested site in the Parish of Pilton
Historical Forms
- (via regia de) Wininge 1255 Seld13
- (wood called) Whynnyng 1326 Cl
- Great Whinning Close c.1660 Clayton
- Whynney grene 1540 LP
Etymology
Winning seems originally to have been the name of a wood.Ekwall (PN in -ing 89) is probably right in associating this with the vb. win . win is commonly used in the NCy in the sense 'to get, obtain,' and winning is used of a new mine. The NED s. v. win vb. 5 c, notes that the vb. was used t. Hy 8, and again by Tusser, of the reclaiming of marshland for cultivation, and it may be that the word could similarly be used for the taking into cultivation of old woodland. The alternative possibility would be to take it as a collective compound of whin , 'gorse, furze,' cf. Bramble Bottom, earlier Bremling , and Hazeldean, earlier Haseling (PN Sx 418, 263), and Thurning infra 221, but the ultimate history of the word whin is obscure. In this part of the country change from wh to w is more probable than one from w to wh .