Survey of English Place-Names

Etymology

There was a vill of Byne in West Grinstead Hundred (cf. 1261Ass , 1296, 1327, 1332 SR, 1316 FA) which, if we may judge by the names included under it in the Subsidy Rolls, was partly in the present parish of West Grinstead, partly in Ashurst. Cf. also ten. voc. la Byne in Westgrynsted (1454Sele ).From it came a family often mentioned in early records, cf. Jacobus de Bynne (1288Ass ) or Byne (1340 NI) and it is difficult to say which of the above places was their original home (they are all close together) and which was named after the family. The name itself would seem to be the plant-name bine . used of any clinging plant, but specially common in the hop-bine and woodbine . The early form was binde and hitherto no forms without a d have been noticed before modern times, but as final d is commonly lost in Sussex dialect after n (EDG § 307), a form bine may have arisen quite early. See also Bineham infra 297.