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"End" in place names

Posted by R. Berg on June 02, 2003

In Reply to: Does anyone know what an "end" is? posted by P T Tressel on June 02, 2003

: I don't know if this qualifies as a phrase, but I've had some difficulty in learning more of the origin of the suffix "End" pertaining to place names like "Audley End" where I have just visited or "Howards End". What is an End? This is a marvelous site and I thought someone here might know. Thank you.

The Oxford English Dictionary gives this definition, marked obsolete, for one sense of "end": "A 'quarter', division, region (of the world, of a country or town." The OED's quotations illustrating this sense come from the years 893 to 1450.

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