Combe - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

COMBE, or Cooms, a term particularly in use in south-western England for a short closed-in valley, either on the side of a down or running up from the sea. It appears in place-names as a termination, e.g. Wiveliscombe, Ilfracombe, and as a prefix, e.g. Combemartin. The etymology of the word is obscure, but "hollow" seems a common meaning to similar forms in many languages. In English "combe" or "cumb" is an obsolete word for a "hollow vessel," and the like meaning attached to Teutonic forms kumm and kumme. The Welsh cwm, in placenames, means hollow or valley, with which may be compared cum in many Scots place-names. The Greek Ki), 3rl also means a hollow vessel, and there is a French dialect word combe meaning a little valley.