Bidlington (now Maudlin Ho)
Early-attested site in the Parish of Bramber
Historical Forms
- Bidelinga gemære 956 BCS961
- Belingetone 1073 France 1438 ADiii
- Bidelin(g)ton 1180 P 1271 FF
- Bydlyngton 1395 IpmR
- Bedelingeton 1231 FF 1262 Ass
- Bedelyngton 1279 Ass 1316 FA
- Bydelyngeton 1280 FF
- Budelyngton, Bydelyngton, Bedelyngton 1288 Ass
- Budelinges 1289 Abbr
- Bideling 1361 IpmR
Etymology
This is clearly an ingatun derivative of a pers. name. The charter from which the first forms come is an original one and it would seem that i and y are still kept apart in it, to judge by the other words in it. We should probably therefore take the pers. name to be Bidel , a diminutive of a pers. name Bida which may be inferred from other p.n.'s (v. Searle s. n. , cf. also Biggen Holt infra 242). We must therefore explain the e -forms as due to common AN lowering of i to e and the u -forms as showing sporadic rounding, perhaps owing to the initial b (cf. Billingshurst supra 147). Alternatively we might start with a pers. name Bȳdel , a derivative of Bȳda , taking the i to be a late spelling for original y , when the forms with e and u would represent the common ME dialectal variants from OE y . But the OE form with i in an original 10th cent, charter seems conclusive against this. Hence, 'farm of the people of Bidel .'