-hay (place name element)

Place-name word-ending thumb|200px|Floyer Hayes shown on a 1765 map of the City of Exeter, Devon, by Benjamin Donn. Many open spaces around the outside of the City walls are shown as suffixed "Hay", such as Shill Hay, Southern Hay, Northern Hay, Fryers Hay, Bon Hay -hay (also hays, hayes, etc.) is a place-name word-ending common in England. It derives from the Old English word hegeJohnston, p.196 or haga,Johnston, p.147 Middle English heie,Johnston, p.296 in Icelandic hagi, meaning "an enclosed field", and is from the same root as the English word "hedge", a structure which surrounds and encloses an area of land,Johnston, Rev. James B., The Place-Names of England and Wales, London, 1915, p.147 from the Norman-French haie, "a hedge".Johnston, p.75 Haw (from O.E. haga) and Hay (from O.E. hege) are cognate and both mean "hedge". Examples Cheslyn Hay, Walsall, meaning "a fenced or hedged enclosure", here perhaps around an ancient cromlech or burial-mound. Pipe Hayes ("hedges"), Erdington.Johnston, p.402 Derbyshire In the vicinity of Derbyshire: Floyer Hayes Cotmanhay Idridgehay Lower Hartshay Marehay Parsley Hay The Findern Hays Upper Hartshay Devon Exeter In the vicinity of Exeter: Floyer Hayes Northern Hay Southern Hay Shill Hay Fryers Hay Bon Hay Princesshay Tiverton In the vicinity of Tiverton: Moor Hayes, Cullompton Passmore Hayes Buck Hayes Rashleigh Hayes Gorn Hay Wid Hayes Moor Hayes, Washfield See also Hayes (surname), sometimes derived from this topological source Sources Johnston, Rev. James B., The Place-Names of England and Wales, London, 1915, p. 147 References Hay Category:English suffixes