Mildenham Mill
Early-attested site in the Parish of North Claines
Historical Forms
- Moldenhome 1182 RBB 18th
- Muldenham 1240 WoP 1299 RBB 18th
- Muldenham 1242 FF
- Mildenham 1291 CompR 1299 RBB 18th
- Mildenhall 1649 Surv
Etymology
This name presents difficulties. The second element would seem to be OE hamm. If the first is a pers. name it would seem that it must have been an OE Mylda , though Molda or Mulda is just possible, as we do occasionally find, especially before point- consonants, u becoming i . The only English parallel for such a name that has been noted is in Mouldsworth (Ch), for which, between 1167 and 1302 we have forms with Molde -. Moldes - and Mulde - for the first element. The only Germanic parallel that has been noted is the rare Norse name Moldi (m.) or Molda (f.). The only other possible alternative seems to be to take the first element as a lost OE molder or mulder , a cognate of the element molder found by Jellinghaus in certain Westphalian names (Die Westfälische ON , s.n. molt , molder ). This would be a derivative of OE molde itself, and we should have to interpret the name as 'hamm by, near, or marked by the presence of molder ,' which would probably mean something like 'loose earth.' In that case we should have to assume that the n forms were AN corruptions of earlier r . In the other case, that the single r form was a corruption of the usual n , cf. IPN 106.