Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• æt Ealdedrege 959 YCh4 c.1200 BCS1052

• Drac 1086 DB

• Drake 1208 ClR

• Drach' 1090–1100,1100–8,1182–4 YChvi

• Drachs c.1090 Dugdvi 1402

• Drax Hy1 Dugdiv 1130–9 YChvi 1147–52 1148,1154–81 YChvi a.1181 Drax1d 1190 YChvi 1190,1191 P 1193 Drax2d 1194–1214 Selby 1196 Bodl47 13 Ch 1310 FF 1204 ClR 1219 Fees 1219 Ch 1227 PRClt 1665

• Kirke Drax, Kyrcke Drax l.Hy3,1287 YI

• Dracas 1147–55 Ch 1329 Selby 1154

• Draxe 1210–2 RBE 1260–70 Bodl51 1288 YI 1424 Pat 1534 Testvi 1587 FF

• Drakes 1530 Visit 1550 FF

• Drayx 1546 YChant

• Drackes 1592 WillY

Etymology

The OE spellings are usually identified with Drax since the bounds of the charter (from the Aire through certain unidentified points to the Ouse and along the Ouse to the Aire) are undoubtedly those of Drax parish. The spelling æt Ealdredrege given by Kemble 480 and Birch is a misreading of æt Ealdedrege . The OE form is usually regarded as a compound of OE  ald 'old' and dræg in one of its various senses, probably, in view of the topography, 'a portage, a place where boats are dragged overland or pulled up from the water'.Drax is very near to Hawday Lane infra , which is an old channel of the R. Aire; the village is just over a mile from the present courses of the Aire and the Ouse and about 3 miles west of their confluence.The name may well refer to a place where boats had to be dragged over part of the old river or where they were dragged up on land from there towards Drax itself. It is also formally possible for the second el. to be dræge 'drag-net', not improbable in view of the fishery referred to in 1090–1100 YCh vi and the allusion to drag-nets in Hy 1 Dugd vi, 195: usque ad ulteriorem partem nouae truncatae simul tractu sagenarum in Drax .

In either case the development of the OE form to ME  Drax offers difficulty. Whether dreg stands for OE  dræg 'portage' or for OE  dræge 'drag-net', the name has been influenced by ON  drag 'portage' (pl. dragir ) with a new pl. drages reduced to drags and assimilated to Drach (s ), Dracas , Drax , under the influence of Long Drax 11 infra , where ME  -rake is etymologically correct.