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Barn swallow - OE swealwe

We don’t know to what extent other hirundine species, and possibly the swift too, were included under ‘swallow’ as a generalist term in vernacular uses of the name. It seems safe to assume though, because swealwe is the Old English translation for Hirundo in early glossaries (as early as the 8th century), that the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica, is the species intended in at least some place-names, even more so because this social, conspicuous and highly attractive bird was a famous spring harbinger since long before the Middle Ages.

Swalcliffe (Oxon)

Swalecliffe (Kent

Swallowcliffe (Wilts)

Swalwell (Co Dur)

Swallows appear in charters relating to the following places: Overbury, Worcs (9th cen.), Swalcliffe, Kent (10th cen.), Swallowcliffe, Wilts (10th cen.).

Sources (see ‘About’ page for the full bibliography): Watts, Cambridge Dictionary; Ekwall, Oxford Dictionary; epns.nottingham.ac.uk; langscape.org.uk.

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