''-hou'' or ''hou'' is a place-name element found commonly in the

Norman toponymy Placenames in Normandy have a variety of origins. Some belong to the common heritage of the Langue d'oïl extension zone in northern France and Belgium; this is called "Pre-Normanic". Others contain Old Norse and Old English male names and topony ...

of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

and continental

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

Etymology and signification

Its etymology and meaning are disputed, but most specialists think it comes from Saxon or Anglo-Saxon ''hōh'' "heel", sometimes ''hō'', then "heel-shaped promontory", "rocky steep slope", "steep shore". This toponymic appellative appears as a final ''-hou'' or associated with the Romance

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

''le Hou''. It can be found everywhere in Normandy, but more in the western part of it. The English toponymy uses this Saxon or Anglo-Saxon element the same way, but its result is phonetically ''-hoo'' or ''-hoe'', sometimes ''-(h)ow'' or ''-ho'' e. g. : Northoo (Suffolk); Poddinghoo (Worcestershire); Millhoo (Essex);

Fingringhoe Fingringhoe is a village and civil parish in Essex, England, located five miles south-east of Colchester. The centre of the village is classified as a conservation area, featuring a traditional village pond and red telephone box. The ''Roman Riv ...

(Essex);

Rainow Rainow is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, in the valley of the River Dean and next to the B5470 road between Macclesfield and Kettleshulme. It straddles the eastern side of the Peak District border of Derbyshire and Cheshire, an ...

(Cheshire);

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

(London); etc. Eilert Ekwall, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'' (4th edition), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1960, p. 244b. As an independent element it is ''Hoe, Hoo, Hooe, Ho'' or ''the Hoe'', e.g. the Hoe at Plymouth (Dorset) above the harbour. In Normandy, it may have sometimes mixed up with

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

''hólmr'', meaning a small island, and often found anglicised elsewhere as "holm". It can still be found in modern Scandinavian languages, e.g. Stockholm. The normal evolution of ''hólmr'' in Normandy is ''-homme'', ''-houme'', even ''-onne'' at the end of a toponym and le Homme, le Houlme, le Hom with the article. The Norman toponym and diminutive ''hommet / houmet'' also derives from this element. In Parisian French, the equivalent is ''îlot'', which is cognate with the English "islet".

Channel Islands

Bailiwick of Guernsey

* Off Guernsey **

Lihou Lihou () is a small tidal island located just off the west coast of the island of Guernsey, in the English Channel, between Great Britain and France. Administratively, Lihou forms part of the Parish of St. Peter's in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

* Off Alderney **

Burhou Burhou (pronounced ''ber-ROO'') is a small island about northwest of Alderney that is part of the Channel Islands. It has no permanent residents, and is a bird sanctuary, so landing there is banned from March 15 to August 1. The island's wildl ...

* Off Herm ** Jethou * Off

Sark Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of ...

Brecqhou Brecqhou (or Brechou; ) is one of the Channel Islands, located off the west coast of Sark where they are now geographically detached from each other. Brecqhou is politically part of both Sark and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It has been establishe ...

Bailiwick of Jersey

* Les Écréhous * La Rocco (from ''rocque-hou'') * Icho (from ''ic-hou'')

Continental Normandy

''-hou''

*Manche **Bléhou, hamlet at Sainteny. **Bunehou, hamlet and manor at Saint-Germain-le-Gaillard. **Ingrehou, hamlet at Saint-Sauveur-de-Pierrepont. **Cap Lihou, à Granville **Néhou, hamlet at Auvers. **Nehou, hamlet at

Gatteville-le-Phare Gatteville-le-Phare () is a commune in the Manche department in north-western France. See also *Communes of the Manche department *Antipodes Islands, the exact antipodes In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point o ...

. **Primehou, hamlet at Nay. **

Tatihou Tatihou is an islet of Normandy in France with an area of . It is located to the east of the Cotentin peninsula just off the coast near Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. It is almost uninhabited, and is usually reached by amphibious craft although, bein ...

** Quettehou **

Néhou Néhou () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. See also *Communes of the Manche department The following is a list of the 446 Communes of France, communes of the Manche Departments of France, department o ...

Tribehou Tribehou () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. See also *Communes of the Manche department The following is a list of the 446 Communes of France, communes of the Manche Departments of France, department ...

*Eure **Quatre-houx (''Catehou'' 1174, ''Cathoux'' without date), hamlet at

le Noyer-en-Ouche Le Noyer-en-Ouche (, literally ''Le Noyer in Ouche'') is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Eure department The following is a list of the 585 communes of the Eure departm ...

*Seine-Maritime **Le Conihout (''Conihou'' end of the 12th century), hamlet at le Mesnil-sous-Jumièges

Variant form ''Ho- / Hau-''

*Hotot *Hautot See

Huttoft Huttoft is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, about east of the market town of Alford, on the A52 road between Ingoldmells and Sutton-on-Sea. John Betjeman, later England's Poet Laureate, visited Huttoft in the ...

, England

Notes

References

*'' Noms de lieux de Normandie'', René Lepelley, 1999 Paris *''Jersey Place Names'', Stevens, Arthur & Stevens, 1986 Jersey {{DEFAULTSORT:Hou Norman language Channel Islands Jersey Place name element etymologies