Goldenwick
Early-attested site in the Parish of St Johns in Bedwardine
Historical Forms
- Gold Hinewic, Goldine Wica, Goldinewyke 1182,1299(18th) RBB
- Goldegynewyk c.1240 WoP
- Goldgivewik (bis), Goldgivewyk (bis) 1240 WoP
- Goldenwick 1614 Kyre 1649 Surv
Etymology
The second element here is wic, the first is the OE woman's name Goldgiefu . The early n -forms are purely errors of transcription. When ME Goldiuewik had, by a natural sound- development, become Goldiwick , it seems to have been corrupted by a process of folk-etymology, or it is alternatively possible that a form Goldinewick , originally purely a scribal error, may have established itself as the correct form. For a similar confusion, which may in part at least be scribal, cf. Edington in Hungerford (Berks), DBEddeveton , which clearly comes from OE Ēadgifu (v. Stenton, PN Berks 34).
This explanation, at first advanced in tentative fashion, seems definitely to be established by the record (noticed afterwards) in the Domesday of the Bishop of Worcester (RBB fol. 16) in 1182, that in Bishop's Wick, "Goldiva holds duas mansuras which pay 11s. geld." This is almost certainly a reference to the tenant of Goldenwick herself.