It formerly belonged, together with Peter’s-ham, to St. Peter’s Abbey, Cherts-ey.
- Ea-ton, E-ton, the town of the river;
- E-dale, the river vale;
- E-rith, water channel;
- Ea-land, Yea-land, river district;
- Eg-ham, the dwelling on the stream.
The plural form, Eas, water-course, occurs in Eas-dale, Eas-writh, and Eas-tyn.
In the Gothic we meet with the following cognate forms:—aha, aue, awe, owe, ahva, and ach, e.g.,
- Fuld-a, Fuld-aha;
- Goth-a, Goth-aha;
- Lahn, Lon-aha;
- Sieg, Seg-aha.
We find a, a contraction of aha, in Schwein-a, Asch-a, Born-a, Buch-a, Baren-wald-a, Konigs-werth-a, Hoyers-werd-a, Berk-a, Vach-a, Goth-a, &c.
In Burgundy, we find the terminations ay, oy, and y, used to designate habitations established along running water, e.g.—Cambr-ay, Tourn-ay, Dou-ay, Quesn-oy, Chaum-y, &c.
The ending ow, in Beesk-ow, Godan-owa, and Buch-ow, is another form of the same root.
The form Ach occurs in