Tiffield
Major Settlement in the Parish of Tiffield
Historical Forms
- Tifeld(e), Tyfeld 1086 DB 1275 RH
- Teiffeld 1162 P(CR)
- Tiffeld, Tyffeld 1182 P 12th Survey
- Tiffil 1675 Ogilby
- Tythefeld al. Tyghfelde 1551 Pat
- Tithfield 1613 Pat
- Tighfield al. Tiffield 1695 Recov
- Tiffield al. Tighfield al. Tithfield t.Geo3 FF
Etymology
This name is probably a compound of OE feld and tig or tih .That word is found in the OE compound tūn -tih , and is clearly the same as the tig of OE foretig , forðtig , 'forecourt' (see Wallenberg, KPN 106) and probably also found in the compound tigwellan (BCS 1023). We know nothing definite as to its meaning in OE. Hellquist (s. v. teg ) takes it to be identical with OHG zich , MHG tig , 'public meeting-place in a village.'Hellquist and Torp (s. v. teig ) agree in taking the original stem to be Indo-Ger *dic , 'direction,' but no precise definition of the meaning of the word in English is possible. It is not the same word as OE tēag , dialectal (Ess, K, Sx) tye , used variously to denote (a ) 'common pasture or field,' (b ) 'close,' 'enclosure.'Tiffield is therefore 'open land marked by the presence of a tig , but what precisely that was, we cannot say. See further Jellinghaus, Die Westfalischen ON , s. v. ti on this word and its distribution in north-west Germany, v. Addenda lii.