Hensleigh

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A masculine given name or surname of English origin, notably borne by the nineteenth-century philologist Hensleigh Wedgwood
2. An English personal name used as a first name or family name, associated with the scholar Hensleigh Wedgwood
3. A masculine English given name or surname, best known through the writer and philologist Hensleigh Wedgwood of the Wedgwood family

Etymology: In the nineteenth century, one of the most influential English etymologists bore this name. Hensleigh Wedgwood (1803–1891), a grandson of the potter Josiah Wedgwood, was a philologist whose "Dictionary of English Etymology" appeared in three volumes between 1859 and 1865. Its approach to tracing words through their sound changes and related languages shaped the work of later lexicographers, including the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary. Wedgwood was also a close relative of Charles Darwin. He married Charlotte Darwin, Charles's sister, which made the two men brothers-in-law. Their families were tightly linked through marriage and scholarship, and the Darwin-Wedgwood circle produced several naturalists and writers. As a surname, Hensleigh appears mainly in English records and is most closely associated with this family. Its ultimate origin as a place name or personal name is uncertain, and I am not aware of a well-documented meaning for it.