Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• æt Euulangelade, æt Eulangelade 772 BCS209,210 16th 12th

• Eunelade 777 BCS222 14th

• Eownilade 779 BCS229 c.1200

• Eowengelad 784 BCS244 11th

• Eowenland (sic) 964 BCS1135 12th

• Eowlangelade 969 BCS1238 11th

• Eowniglade c.957 BCS1317 12th

• Eunelade c.1050 KCD912 c.1200 Ass 1221

• Eunilade 1086 DB c.1086 EveB 1190

• Eunelode c.1200 KCD1367 1308 Wigorn

• Eunilate c.1086 EveA 1190

• Evenlade 1185 P 1275 Wigorn

• Heuneslode 1275 SR

• Ewenelod 1291 Tax

• Evenelod 1369,1395 Wigorn

• Emlod 1549 Pat 1538–1599 Wills

• Evenlode 1649–85 Wills

• Emload 1649–85 Wills 1705 Marr

• Evilod 1649–85 Wills

Etymology

Evenlode stands on a stream of that name, but we know that the proper name of that stream is Bladen (v. supra 11) and its use as a river-name is an example of back-formation of a river- from a village-name. With regard to the village-name, if we take the modern pronunciation to be a genuine development from the early forms of the name, it is clear that we must take the first element to be the gen. sg. of a pers. name Eofla , a weak diminutive formation from the pers. name Eof which lies behind the not very distant Evesham (cf. Evlengrave in Claines in 1182 (RBB )). We must then suppose that at a later date Evlenlade became Evnenlade , and so Evne - or Even-lade , by the very common process of interchange of l and n (cf. IPN 106 ff.). The only difficulty about this explanation is the number of early forms which seem to show w rather than u and the absence of any forms with f such as we must assume to lie behind the Eul -, Eun - forms. An alternative which, in view of the earliest form, is more likely, is to start from the pers. name Eowa and take the first element to be a pet-diminutive Eowla formed from it.Ewlenlade would become Ewnenlade , Ewnilade or Eunilade by the same process as is suggested above. We should then have to take it that the u was misunderstood as having the consonantal rather than the vocalic value and that a spelling pronunciation arose which ultimately affected the whole history of the name. Such a change would be helped by the influence of the adjective even . Similar spelling pronunciations are occasionally found, cf. Goldenwick supra 92 and Harvington infra 238. For the possibility of confusion and uncertainty with regard to a pers. name in early times we may note that Florence of Worcester in giving the genealogy of the West Saxon kings (256) gives in error Eawa for Eafa or Eaua , cf. Redin 93.

The second element in this name also offers difficulty. It is clearly OE  gelad. It has been suggested that this refers to a short cut across a bend in the river but there is none nearer than Daylesford and it can hardly have given its name to Evenlode.The question of the exact character of the 'lode' owned by Eofla or Eowla , and whether it was a water or a land-track, must therefore remain open.

For the Emlode , cf. Chaucer's emcristene from evencristne , 'fellow-christians.'