Shripney
Early-attested site in the Parish of Bersted
Historical Forms
- Scrippan eg 680 BCS 10th
- Scrippeneye 1229 Pat
- Shripeneye 1288 Ass
- Shireppeny, Scharpeny 1279 Ass
Etymology
This is a very difficult name. The first element must be the same as that found in a Wiltshire charter (BCS 390), where we have the phrase on þone midmestan scrippan . This word, as Middendorff (114) suggests, would seem to be connected with OE screpan , 'to scrape,' being presumably a jon -derivative of that stem. He takes the main idea of the word to be that of something 'sharp' or 'steep.' We do not know the site of the Wiltshire scrippe . That of Shripney certainly does not allow of the idea of anything 'steep.' The reference might possibly be to some piece of land which was sharp or pointed horizontally, when we could interpret the whole name as 'island of or with the pointed piece of land,' but the present day topography gives no help in supporting this suggestion.