Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Cucheslage, Crucheslage, Cuselade 1086 DB

• Quyquesle 1150–4 YCh185

• Wichesleia 1166 P

• Quixele(a), Quyxele(a), Quyxelai, Quyxelay, Quyxeley 12 Font 1169 P 1190–1203 YCh516 1198 Fount 13 Ch 1310 YDvii 13 1202 FF 1228 Ebor 1301

• Quixle(y), Quyxle(y), Qwyxle(y), Qwyxlay 12 Font 1202 Cur 1206 Abbr 1243 Fees 1263 FF 1276 RH 1502 Ipm

• Cuisselay 1202 FF

• Quikelaia 1349 Ch

• Whixley, Whyxley, Whyxlay 1353 Fount 1428 FA 1442 DiocV 1531 Testii 1685 Dep

• Whixley als. Quicksley 1605 FF

• Whixley als. Wykesley 1691 Dep

• Quiexley als. Whyxley 1538 FF

• Whykesley 1544 FF

Etymology

'Cwic's forest-glade or clearing', v. lēah . The first el. is, as Moorman 205 proposed, an OE  pers.n. Cwic ; this pers.n. is not recorded, but it may be found also in Quixhill St 123 (Quikeshull 1236); it is either a nickname from OE  cwic (u ) 'alive' or a hypocoristic form of such OE  pers.ns. as Cwichelm or Cwicwald ; a parallel is found in the ON  byname Kveikr . On the DB spellings cf. Zachrisson, ANInfl 117. The spellings with -x - represent a substitution of the ON gen.sg. in -s for OE  -es ; the DB Cuse - and the 1202 Cuisse - are AN forms of this. As in the spellings of some other names (Quarmby ii, 301supra , Whernside 218infra , Whenby YN 30 or Wheldrake YE 269), the change of ME  Qu - to Wh - suggests that OE  cw - fell in with OE  hw - when the latter was overaspirated to ME  quh - and then lost its initial consonant in modern times when aspiration in quh - was also lost (cf. Phonol. § 39).