Talk:Councils of Clovesho

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This article seems to be written as an essay from a personal point of view. Many sentences state view points -- "significantly", "certainly", "we may" etc. without proper references as per WP:V, WP:RS and so on. Mattisse 14:51, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I can't see how it infringes on any Wiki guidelines. The tone is a little scholastic, but some may prefer this. I think the article is good, though the references should be expanded/cleaned-up a little.Eltheodigraeardgesece (talk) 13:17, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Most of it is still neat Catholic Encyclopedia. Johnbod (talk) 12:04, 1 May 2011 (UTC)

Place Name Clovesho etc.
This is a "think piece".

The page says categorically that the name is Anglo-Saxon and then goes on to cite the two words from Bosworth Toller which are closest to the assumption. On the other hand I take an entirely different view. If the name were AS why would there be such spelling variation? The spread clearly suggests to me that the Anglo-Saxon speakers/scribes had     little clue what they were talking about - so frankly I suspect it is not AS. The alternative is that it is a Brythonic name which the Anglo-Saxons could not quite get to grips with. This would suggest somewhere not important to them - whence the lack of a need to be clear. The next problem is how to parse - and that includes how much AS interference there may have been with the original.

If we start with the assumption that the "-es-" was in essence the possessive, then let us consider "ho" /"hoch" etc. Here I suggest the modern Welsh "lloches" meaning "shelter/refuge/lair" (root word "lloc" a fold or pen). So... if this were the case, what to make of "Clof..."?. There is a Welsh word "Clwyf" meaning "wound" / "disease" and "clwyf mawr" is specifically leprosy.

So I think that the place was a lepers' asylum/sanatorium. As such is should have been capable of housing many people and it would have been out of the way. And it would normally have been run by the church. My next guess is that it is likely to have been associated with a monastery of some size.

As for general location I accept that it would have to have been in Mercia, but most likely in the direction of Canterbury, so probably somewhere on Watling Street, the A5, perhaps the Towcester/Daventry sort of area. Of course it would not have to be right on the road., but crossroads area typical place.Freuchie (talk) 20:42, 30 September 2023 (UTC)