Etymology
There is no clear origin for the name "Chew", found scarcely anywhere else; however, there have been differing explanations of the etymology, including "winding water", the 'ew' being a variant of the French eau, meaning water. The word chewer is a western dialect for a narrow passage, and chare is Old English for turning. One explanation is that the name Chew began in Normandy as Cheux, and came to England with the Norman Conquest during the eleventh century. However, others agree with Ekwall's interpretation that it is derived from the Welsh cyw meaning "the young of an animal, or chicken", so that afon Cyw would have been "the river of the chickens". Other possible explanations suggest it comes from the Old English word ceo, `fish gill', used in the transferred sense of a ravine, in a similar way to Old Norse gil, or possibly a derogatory nickname from Middle English chowe `chough', Old English ceo, a bird closely related to the crow and the jackdaw, notorious for its chattering and thieving.
Read more about this topic: Chew Valley
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
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