Sevenoaks

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A market town in the county of Kent in south-east England, known for its historic school and surrounding countryside
2. A settlement in the English county of Kent, located in the south-east of the country and noted for its old grammar school
3. An English town in Kent lying in the south-east, famous for its ancient school founded in the sixteenth century

Etymology: Sevenoaks is a proper noun, the name of a town in Kent, England, and the story behind it is simply geographic. The name is Old English in origin, and the "seven oaks" in it are usually explained by a group of seven oak trees that stood at a notable spot in the area. Local tradition holds that these were the trees of a particular landmark, and the town grew up around them, so the name records a visible feature of the landscape rather than a person or an event. The place is recorded in the historical record under forms of the name that show the oaks were there early, and the name has stayed close to its original form ever since. Because the oaks themselves have long since gone, the name is now one of the few traces of that grove. Beyond the name's meaning, the most specific documented detail is the early record of the settlement, which the local history sources treat as the reliable core of the story.