Elm
Major Settlement in the Parish of Elm
Historical Forms
- Ælm 656 ASC c.1150
- Elm c.973 Peterb c.1253
- Elm(e) c.1213 Fees
- Elm(e) cum Enemeth et Welle 1341 NI
- Elm(e) iuxta Wysbech 1348 Walden
- villa Delm 1284 Ct
- Delm 1372 SR
- Eolum 973 BCS1297 15th
- Elym 1221 ElyA
- Helm(a) c.1155 Thorney 1284 Peterb
- Helme 1240-57 Pap 1464 Pat
- (church of) Helm and Helmes 1500 ib
Etymology
But for the forms Eolum and Elym this could be taken simply as 'at the elm.' For the form Ælm cf. ON almr , MLG alm . Eolum (dat. pl.) is however found as the name of one of the Germanic peoples visited by Widsith (Widsith 87) and if the coincidence of form is more than a chance, we must believe that in addition to settlements of the Wisse , Swæfe and Seaxe (v. s. nn. Ouse, Swaffham, Saxon Street supra 13, 133, 127), there was a settlement of the tribe which Kemp Malone (ESt lxvii, 321–4) has identified with the Ilwan , a tribe living on the left bank of the river Vistula. No certain decision is possible.