jan 1, 1681 - thick

Description:

The many meanings of ‘thick’ which are on record from the Old English period include ‘dense’, used of trees or woods. The word could be a noun in its own right, and in 1579 a Craven document listed <i>a certain Thycke or Ryse of Thornes and Underwood</i> in Littondale (Whit2/492). As an adjective it is commonly found in minor place-names, linked with different types of trees: 1277 <i>Thyckeholyns</i>; that is hollies (YRS29/167); 1300 <i>Thykthorndale</i>; that is thorns (PNWR7/259); 1421 <i>Thykwethyns</i>; that is willows (MD225/1/147) and 1472 <i>Thekehesils</i>; that is hazels (MD225/1/198). It was rarely used of the ash or oak but one example has been recorded: 1681 <i>a close or parcel of ground called Thickoakes</i>, Selby (YRS47/181). Examples of the word occur in letter books for the Dartmouth estate, kept now in the estate office in Slaithwaite, and they include its use as a verb: 1806 <i>Thicken Campinot Plantation and Meal Hill Wood</i>; 1807 <i>found Owlers Wood growing quite thick from the Larch which I had planted three years since</i>. It can be contrasted with ‘light’ above.

Added to timeline:

Date: