Digby

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small fishing community on the Bay of Fundy in western Nova Scotia, Canada ; a surname of English origin carried by various people over the centuries
2. A coastal settlement in western Nova Scotia on the Bay of Fundy ; an English-derived family name shared by several historical and modern figures
3. A small town on the shore of the Bay of Fundy in Canada's Nova Scotia province ; a hereditary family name of English origin

Etymology: Digby is a place name before it is anything else, and its roots are a pairing of two languages that met in northern England. It combines Old English "dīc", meaning a ditch or dyke, with Old Norse "býr", meaning a settlement or farm. That blend points to Viking-age settlement in the Danelaw, where Norse speakers and English speakers lived side by side and their words for land and boundaries fused into a single place name. The name later crossed the Atlantic. The town in Nova Scotia, Canada, is named after Admiral Robert Digby (1732–1815), a Royal Navy officer, so the word now refers to a coastal community there as well as the older English places that share the same ancient name.