Othin

Male
DWP
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Othin is the head-form adopted to represent several names related to or derived from the Old Norse masculine name Auðunn comprising an uncertain first element, perhaps auðr ‘wealth’ or a stem auð- with cognates meaning ‘to befall one’ and ‘new-born’, and a second element vinr ‘friend’; it includes the Old Danish name Øthin and the Anglo-Scandinavian names Oðin and Ouðen (von Feilitzen 1937: 170; Fellows Jensen 1968: 41-2, 342; Insley 2003: 389). These names are not easily distinguished from each other in the DB forms, some of which show Scandinavian or Anglo-Norman loss of intervocal /ð/ or may represent the short forms Aun(i) or Øn, subsumed here under Othin (von Feilitzen 1937: 102, 169-70; Fellows Jensen 1968: xciv, 41-2). In addition, the forms of any post-Conquest instances in DB are liable to confusion with names derived from Continental Germanic Aud(o)win such as Old French Ouen or with Odinus, apparently a diminutive form of Odo (Förstemann 1900: 204; Forssner 1916: 36-7; von Feilitzen 1976: 150, 166-7); these forms are therefore collected under the head-form Odin and are not considered here. Note, however, that the DB form Ouen TRE is referred to the head-form Owain (cf. von Feilitzen 1937: 342).

The six relevant entries in the PASE corpus are for Othin 1, who occurs in a Hertfordshire will of c.1050 (S 1532); Othin 2, a catch-all for occurrences in DB; and Othin 4-6, a moneyer active in York between 1029 and 1048.

Bibliography

Fellows Jensen 1968: Gillian Fellows Jensen, Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (Copenhagen: I Kommission hos Akademisk Forlag, 1968)

Forssner 1916: Thorvald Forssner, Continental-Germanic Personal Names in England in Old and Middle English Times (Uppsala, 1916)

Förstemann 1900: E. Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch. Erster Band: Personennamen (Bonn, 1900)

Insley 2003: J. Insley, ‘Pre-Conquest personal names’, Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 23 (Berlin and New York, 2003), 367-96

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

von Feilitzen 1976: Olof von Feilitzen, ‘The personal names and bynames of the Winton Domesday’, in Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, ed. Martin Biddle, Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 143–229

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Houden, Oinus, Oudon, Oune

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Auni, Auðun

  Phillimore edition: Odin, One, Othin

  Alecto edition: One, Othin, Øthin

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Essex 18,37 Berewic Oinus Othin the Dane - Odo, bishop of Bayeux Turold of Rochester 6.81 4.00 6.00 A Map
Lincolnshire 12,29 Beesby Oune Othin 'of Beesby' - Alan, count - 0.94 0.14 0.20 C Map
Lincolnshire 12,30 Wold Newton - Othin 'of Beesby' - Alan, count - 0.77 0.11 0.17 C Map
Lincolnshire 12,31 Wold Newton - Othin 'of Beesby' - Alan, count Wimund 'of North Ormsby' 0.09 0.01 0.02 D Map
Lincolnshire 16,12 Hainton Oudon Othin 'of Hainton' - Roger the Poitevin Hacon 'of Hainton' 1.13 1.23 1.64 D Map
Lincolnshire 16,13 Strubby - Othin 'of Hainton' - Roger the Poitevin Hacon 'of Hainton' 0.25 0.27 0.36 D Map
Lincolnshire CK17 Potterhanworth Houden Othin 'of Hanworth' - - - 0.00 0.00 0.00 E Map
Totals