1 gen 1690 anni - bawson

Descrizione:

Bawson Cliffe is a Gomersal place-name. It is listed by A.H. Smith (PNWR3/22) but the evidence he gives is late and he simply draws our attention to the suffix ‘cliffe’ and offers no explanation of ‘bawson’. The earliest spellings that I have noted are <i>Bawsoncliff</i> in 1580 (DD/HS) and <i>Bawsincliffe</i> in 1690 (MD292). Bawson is not an obscure word for it was an alternative name for the badger, first noted in the OED as early as <i>c</i>.1325. The references quoted there make the identification quite clear: in 1496, for example, we have ‘a brok or a bawsym’ and in 1587 ‘the balstone or the grey’. Both ‘brock’ and ‘grey/gray’ were alternative words in England for the badger, and ‘brock’ is a common element in minor place-names such as Brockholes and Brockstones. Although ‘bawson’ has an Old French origin there is no evidence that it was used in France as a word for a badger. It meant piebald and was used of animals that had white spots or stripes on a bay or black background. In England there are references from the early 1300s when a horse could be described as <i>bausand </i>because of its colouring. Examples in Yorkshire include: 1505 <i>a bawsand stage</i> (Th4/16); 1538 <i>the bay bausson geldinge </i>(SS106/75) and 1578 <i>one bawston baye mayre </i>(Kaner100). Even earlier is its use as a name for a horse, in Strensall: 1451 <i>de j alio equo, vocato Bausand</i> (SS45/120).

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