Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Layalfe l.13 YDiv

• le Leytholf(e) 1399,1411 ib

• le Laitaf 1401 ib

• Lathole, Laithalfield 1588 HAS

• Lethalf, the Lethalme 1635 ib

• the Leathers 1658 ib

• Lower & Upper Laither 1809 ib

Etymology

Laither (lost), Layalfe l. 13 YD iv, le Leytholf (e )1399, 1411 ib, le Laitaf 1401 ib, Lathole , Laithalfield 1588 HAS 44, 27, Lethalf , the Lethalme 1635 ib 35, 146, 148, the Leathers 1658 ib 164, Lower & Upper Laither 1809 ib 168; a similar compound seems to occur in Lay Thorpe pt. iv, Layther Hill (Markington) pt. v, Leitholf (Flasby) pt. vi, Laitholf (Winksley) pt. v, (Thorpe) pt. vi, and Laythowes (Cracoe) pt. vi infra . The first el. is ON  leið 'a road, a track' (as in Legrams Lane 246infra ). The second would appear to be ON  hválf , hólf 'a vault', but its exact significance in this common compound p.n. is not clear and unfortunately in no case can the topography be determined. The cognate OE  hwalf denotes 'an arch, a vault', surviving as dial. (Ess) wholve 'an arched or covered drain under a path' (NED s.v. wholve ) and in the p.n. Hullbridge Ess 187; some such meaning would no doubt be appropriate in the compound with leið 'a track'. The derivative Norw  hvælve (ON  hvelfa ) is used of 'a hollow, a circular depression' or even 'a hill or mound of a certain shape' (probably 'one resembling an inverted bowl' since the related ON  hvelfa means 'to upturn a vessel'); cf. the Norw  p.n. Burul (NG iv, 79). But a close parallel to Leiðholf is provided by Norw  Skjøl from ON  skeið also meaning 'track' and hólf ; Rygh (NG vi, 39–40) interprets this as 'hollow in or near a race-track'. v. further Lindroth in Antikvarisk Tidskrift 20:4, 4 ff and Göteborgs högskolas tidskrift xxxvi, 28 ff, and Wessen in NoB 1921, 113 ff. On the whole, with the compound repeated often enough to give it the appearance of being a technical term, some such meaning as 'arched bridge carrying a track' would be the most fitting, v. Addenda.