Etymology
The earliest recorded use of the name is found in 1398 as Harrowe atte Hille. Etymology before then derives from Harrow, which is first recorded in 767 as Gumeninga hergae. A suggested meaning is heathen temple of a tribe called the Gumeningas. The hill has historically been used as a place of pagan worship. It is alternatively explained to mean the church upon the hill.
Read more about this topic: Harrow On The Hill
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“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.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)