Talk:River Gwash

Rivers Low‑importance

	Geography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Rivers, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Rivers on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.RiversWikipedia:WikiProject RiversTemplate:WikiProject RiversRiver articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

UK geography Low‑importance

	United Kingdom portal This article falls within the scope of WikiProject UK geography, a user-group dedicated to building a comprehensive and quality guide to places in the United Kingdom on Wikipedia. If you wish to participate, share ideas or merely get tips you can join us at the project page where there are resources, to do lists and guidelines on how to write about settlements.UK geographyWikipedia:WikiProject UK geographyTemplate:WikiProject UK geographyUK geography articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

England Low‑importance

	England portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EnglandWikipedia:WikiProject EnglandTemplate:WikiProject EnglandEngland-related articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Lincolnshire Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Lincolnshire, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Lincolnshire on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LincolnshireWikipedia:WikiProject LincolnshireTemplate:WikiProject LincolnshireLincolnshire articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Etymology[edit]

Anyone got a decent reference? Gwash does not appear anywhere in Mills' 'Dictionay of British Placenames'. Camden gives it as 'Gwash or Wash' - it is certainly pronounced 'wosh'. 'Casterton - Castley', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 526-531. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50860&strquery=gwash - The VCH for Casterton gives 'Gwash or Wash'

Is this an example of some sort of consonant shift?--Robert EA Harvey (talk) 13:18, 26 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Place-Names of Rutland by Barrie Cox (EPNS, 1994) gives the earliest form as "le Whasse" (c1230) and the first use of an initial G- is 1586. He comments "The late form Gwash is a quasi-Welsh spelling. The name appears to be OE (ge)waesc 'a washing, a flood'".

The contemporary pronunciation is 'gwosh'; I have never heard 'wosh'. Nedrutland (talk) 10:35, 3 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]