Shaftesbury

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historic hilltop market town in Dorset, southern England, known for its steep cobbled street ; a hereditary title in the British peerage held by a line of earls
2. An ancient town perched on a hill in the English county of Dorset ; a noble rank in the British peerage conferred on a family of earls
3. A old market town set high in the Dorset countryside of southern England ; a hereditary British aristocratic title borne by the earls of a particular family

Etymology: Shaftesbury is a hilltop town in Dorset, and its name is simply a description of its place. The first element comes from Old English "sċeaft", a word for a shaft or pole, while "burg" meant a fortified place or stronghold, the ancestor of modern "borough" and "-burg" in place names. Put together, the name describes a fortified settlement on a height that rises steeply above the surrounding countryside, the sort of spot where a community could see approaching danger from a long way off. The "burg" element is the more familiar of the two, appearing in many English town names such as Edinburgh and Scarborough. Sċeaft, by contrast, has faded from everyday English, surviving mainly in the sense of a rod or the handle of a tool, which is why the town's name can look more obscure than it is.