Elmbridge

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A local government district in the county of Surrey in southeast England, covering towns such as Walton-on-Thames and Esher
2. An administrative borough in the English county of Surrey, situated southwest of London along the River Thames
3. The name of a local authority area in Surrey, England, which includes Walton-on-Thames and several surrounding communities

Etymology: Elmbridge is a proper noun, the name of a district in Surrey, England, and of a hundred, an old administrative division. Its name is built from two Old English elements. The first is "Amele," which was an earlier name for the River Mole, the waterway that flows through the area. The second is "brycġ," meaning "bridge." Put together, the name means "the bridge over the Mole" (or the bridge over the river once called Amele), a plain description of a crossing point that gave the surrounding territory its name. The same word has a second, separate origin in Worcestershire, where a village called Elmbridge takes its name from Old English "elm," meaning the tree, and "hryċġ," meaning "ridge." That place name therefore describes a ridge where elm trees grew. The two places share a spelling and a compound structure, but their first elements are different words, so they are unrelated in origin.