Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Morgewe 1554 Ct

• terr. voc. Morgʒueve 1411 Ct

• le Morghyeue 1467 Ct

• Morgeve 1672 SAC64

• Morniffehaghe 1347 LibP

• Morghþeue 1372 SRS31

• Morghyuemear 1270 Sele

Etymology

Morgay Fm (6″) is Morgtheve c. 1240, Morgheyve c. 1248 Pens, Morgewe 1554Ct (cf. also Morgay Wood in Guestling).There can be little doubt that we have here a name repeated several times in Sussex field-names. In Mayfield we have terr. voc. Morgʒueve (1411Ct ), le Morghyeue (1467Ct ), Morgeve (1672 SAC 64); in Wisborough Green we have Morniffehaghe (1347LibP ), Morghþeue (1372 SRS 31); and somewhere in Bramber Rape we have Morghyuemear (1270 Sele 117). It is clear that these are all examples of OE  morgen-gifu , 'morning- gift,' i.e. the gift given the morning after marriage by the husband to the wife. Such a gift often took the form of a piece of land, cf. Liebermann, AS Gesetze , Glossar s. v. morgengabe .The þ forms are clearly examples of the common confusion of ʒ and þ in ME. The normal phonological development would be to moryeve (v. NED s. v .) or Morn (y )ive . The form with g can only be explained by conscious association of the second element with the form of the vb. give . That such took place is clearly seen in the 17th cent. form Moregeve for the Mayfield field-name. A parallel name, le Moryeuefeld , has been noted in Capel (SR), v. Bodl 83 A, and another in atte Morghiue , in Woodhay (Ha) (1327SR ).