Lewes
Major Settlement in the Parish of Lewes
Historical Forms
- (wiþ) Læwe 961 BCS1064
- (to) Læwe c.1100 LawsofAethelred
- juxta Læwes 961 BCS1065 13th Coins EdgartoEdwConf.
- Leawes, Læwes c.1150 FW
- Leuuas 1081–5 BM 1149–53 AC
- Lewes 1086 DB
- Lewis, Lewys 1149–53 AC 1159 P 1519 ADv 1616 Recov 1675 Ogilby
- Lauuis 1121 AC
- Leawes, Leawys c.1280 Ipm
- Leuwes 1292 ADii 1296 SR
- Luwes 1308–12 Cl
- Lews 1359 Ipm
- Lyewes 1388 FF
Etymology
The earliest reference to this name is in connexion with Hamsey supra 315, which is said to be 'by' or 'over against' Læwe . This is doubtless OE hlæw with early loss of initial h , the reference being to the prominent hill on which Lewes stands (cf. læwe in BCS 208, though this is a bad text). The early development of the plural form may be due to the fact that there is really more than one hill in Lewes and that there are other hills just across the Ouse, at the very gates of Lewes, so to speak. It may have been re-inforced by a general and unexplained tendency in Norman times to turn names into the plural form, as for example in the frequent plural Hammes in place of simple hamm and the common DB form Stoches for simple stoc . Such seem to differ from other examples noted by Zachrisson (Latin Infl. on English place-nomenclature 20, n. 1) where the AFr nom. sg. suffix s is occasionally added to a name.