In the search for the meaning of a place-name it is necessary to go back as far as possible and discover, if we can, its earliest form. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, and the later Domesday Book of 1086; the gradual blending of Saxon and Norman into the English tongue; and then the invention of printing; all may have had an effect on the pronunciation, and so the spelling, of a word. Also there is the tendency to shorten a long word, as when Pepingeberia becomes Pembury, or Godwinston, through Gusseton, becomes Guston. And before the standardization of spelling which printing to a great extent effected, and in written documents such as charters or wills, the most remarkable variations will occur according to personal varieties of pronunciation. Even now, though every one reads “I am going,” in one county you may hear “I’m a gowin’,” in another “I be gooin’,” in another “I be gwaine,” and so forth, and so one wonders less at the various forms in which a name appears in writing in Saxon, in Norman, or in Early English days.

As a general rule the earliest form will be best and most likely to indicate why a name was given. To illustrate this source, both of information and of error, let me take two Kentish place-names—Westenhanger and Tenterden—giving the dates at which I find the various forms.

Westenhanger.—There is a Teutonic stem hanh which means to hang, with the Anglo-Saxon later forms, HÔn, HÊng, from which we get our place names of hanger, Ongar, etc. A hanger is a wood or copse hanging on the side of a hill, and in Kent we find Betteshanger, Hangherst, and Ackhanger, as well as Westenhanger, concerning which Leland in his Itinerary writes of “Ostinhaungre ... of sum now corruptly called Westenanger.” I find it spelled Ostrynghangre in 1274 and 1291, Westynghangre in 1343, Westingangre in 1346, Ostrynhangre in 1376 and 1381, Estynghangre in 1383, Westynganger in 1385, Ostynhangre in 1409, Ostrynghanger in 1468, Westinganger in 1472, Ostrynhanger in 1478, Westynghanger in 1511, Westhanger in 1519, and Oystenhanger in 1541. The changes of the first syllable illustrate the continuance of the Saxon Woest and the Norman Ouest until there is the reversion to the Saxon form in our West.

Tenterden, again, has a long list of variants. Probably its Saxon name indicated the place where the Theinwarden, or Thane’s Warden or Guardian, looked after the rights and dues of various other dens where his swine had pannage and his tenants tended them. It is not mentioned in Domesday, as not of sufficient importance or taxability; but in 1190 I find it as Tentwarden, in 1252 as Thendwardenne and Tentwardenn, in 1255 as Tentwardene—this early and probably original form cropping up at intervals for another three hundred years. But in 1259 we get nearer to the extant form, as Tendyrdenn. In 1300 there is Tenterdenne, and in 1311 Tentredenne. From this point I take the spellings from the Archbishop’s register of the institutions of its parish priests, and here the earliest record is Tenterdenne in 1311. Thenceforward Tent’denne and Tant’denn in 1322, Tentrdenn in 1327, Tenterdenne in 1333, Tentwardene in 1342, Tenterdenne in 1346, Tentwardyn in 1390, Tynterden in 1394, Tent’den in 1404, Tenterden (for the first time exactly in its present form) in 1407, Tendirden in 1436, Tentwarden at various dates from 1464 to 1531, Tentreden in 1501 and 1525, Tenterden in 1511, 1523, 1539, and 1546, “Tentwarden alias Tenterden” in 1541, Tynterden in 1546, Tenterden in 1556, Tentwarden in 1560, Tenterden in 1571 and 1615, Tentarden in 1619, Tendarden in 1626, Tentarden in 1627 and 1636. Henceforth it is always Tenterden in the Lambeth Registers. These variations are the more noticeable as all occurring in one office, where one would have expected a settled and continuously adopted form, whereas in such documents as wills the testator, or even the scrivener who wrote the will, would have only the current or the personal idea as to the right spelling of a name.

Elsewhere I have given variations of the places we now know as Edenbridge, Cuxton, Shepherdswell, Bethersden, Eastry, Throwley, etc. One might add the cases of Freondesbyry (Saxon), Frandesberie (Domesday), Frenesbery, and Frendesbury, for our Frindsbury; of Estbarbrenge, Barmyage, Barmling, Barmelinge, and Berblinge, for our Barming; Æpledure (Saxon), Apeldres (Domesday), Apoldre (1381), Apeltre, Appledrau, and Appuldre, for our Appledore; of Poedlewrtha (Saxon), Pellesorde (Domesday), and Pallesford, for our three Paddlesworths; Hertlepeshille (temp. Edw. II.), Herclepe, Hertelepe, and Harclypp (1534), for our Hartlip; and Ok’olte (i.e., Oak Wood), Ocholte, Sud-Acholt, Scottesocholt, and Nokeholde, for our Knockholt. The etymological advantage of going back is seen in the case of Ringwould, which becomes more intelligible when down to the time of Henry 3rd it was known as Ridelinwalde or Rydelynewelde (i.e., the settlement of the clan of Ryddeling by the wood), whereas not till 1476 do I find Ringeweld, and Ringewold in 1502.