Etymology

Berkeley

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Today it means: A habitational surname from Old English. Full definition →

Old English leah ← Proto-West Germanic *lauh ← Proto-Germanic *lauhaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰerHǵós
  2. Proto-Germanic*berkō
  3. Proto-West Germanic*berku
  4. Old Englishbeorc
  5. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*lówkos
  7. Proto-Germanic*lauhaz
  8. Proto-West Germanic*lauh
  9. Old Englishleah
  10. English todayBerkeley

From Old English beorc (“birch”) + leah (“meadow, leigh”). Equivalent to birch + -ley (“lea”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishbeorc all →

Barkham

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.