Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• tun mel c.972 BCS1278 11

• on Timbel c.1030 YCh7

• Tinbel 1173–85 YCh513

• Timble, Tymble 1086 DB 1172 YCh511 1316 Vill 1371 Hom 1679 PRWst

• Tymble Percy 1301 YI 1303 KF

• North Tymble 1386,1498 MinAcct

• Tymble als. Thymble 1651 ParlSurv

• Tymble Great 1794 PRFew

• Timbel, Tymbel 1155–70 YCh123 1165 P 1190–1208 YCh60 l.12 Ripl 13 Sawl121 1226 FF 1303 Ebor

• Over Timbel 1276 RH

• Tumble 1279–81 QW

• Timbild 1298 Ebor

• Tymbyll 1448 Pat

Etymology

This is an obscure p.n. for which Ekwall has proposed a Celtic etymology, a compound of Welsh  din 'hill fort' (v. dūno-) and Welsh  moel 'bare' (v. mēl 2 ), the name meaning 'bare hill'. There are, however, phonological difficulties, since Welsh  din , which does appear in p.ns. like Welsh Tintern (OWelsh  Dindirn ) or in a related form in Tintagel Co (Tintagel 1212 RBE), is improbable in YW, and initial d - becoming t - can hardly be explained by provection as the phonetic conditions of provection are not present (on this change v. Jackson 561 ff). The second problem is that of the OE form of the name.Ekwall is undoubtedly right in taking tun mel to stand for tim mel (in view of the later spellings), but the second OE  spelling Timbel and all other later spellings point to OE  Timbel as the correct form; it is true that an intrusive -b - could develop between -m - and -l - (as in OE  bræmblas 'brambles'), but this happened only when the con- sonants came together in oblique cases through syncope of an intermediate weak vowel as in bræmlas , pl. of bræmel (cf. Bülbring § 347); the intrusion of -b - in such words is commoner in later English in words like thimble from OE  þȳmel (cf. Jordan § 212); it is just possible that an OE  oblique form æt Timm (e )le could give a late OE  æt Timble on this basis. Tun mel is, however, already an erratic form, and we must regard Timbel (which is from a good and contemporary document) as the OE  prototype, or (if any reliance can be put upon the single example of Tinbel ) an OE  Tinbel , with -n - regularly assimilated to -m - before -b -.

Great Timble is on the top of a prominent hill overlooking the Washburn valley and one could think of OE  belle 'bell, bell-shaped hill' as appropriate topographically, though the OE  forms should have reflected the form more accurately as -belle . OE  bēl1 'fire, beacon' might also be thought of, but in either case the first el., however, is very uncertain; if the original form is tim - no suitable etymon suggests itself, but if it is tin - then one might tentatively suggest the rare OE  tin (n ) = Lat  tignum , probably 'beam, rafter', which may be the first el. in the OE  compound tin-treg 'torture, punishment' (formed with OE  trega 'grief, woe', related to ON  tregi ). The name would be descriptive of a hill or, alternatively, of some kind of beacon or conflagration, perhaps one used for the punishment of felons or the like. This is not in fact a very satisfactory explanation from the point of view of usage. It is not improbable therefore that OE  *tymbel , l. OE  *timbel is an appellative formed with the noun-suffix -el 3 from the stem of OE  tumbian , ON  tumba 'to tumble, to fall' (denoting something like 'a fall of earth', 'a tumbling stream', etc.). The latter seems possible both for form and sense; the OE  expression on Timbel as well as the situation of the place favours a topographical explanation, v. Addenda.