River Chew - The Name "Chew"

The Name "Chew"

The name "Chew" has Celtic origins, cognate with the River Chwefru, cliwyf-ffrenwy, "the moving, gushing water", ancient forms are Estoca (Chew Stoke), Chiu (Chew Magna) and Ciwetune (Chewton Mendip). Its exact meaning has suggested several other explanations, 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.

However, some people 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 cēo ("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 cēo, a bird closely related to the crow and the jackdaw, notorious for its chattering and thieving. According to Robinson it is named after the Viking war god Tiw.