Etymology

Sotheby

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

Old Norse suðr i bý
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The story

  1. Old Norse · borrowed fromsuðr i bý“south in the village”
  2. English todaySotheby

"The man who lives south in the village", from Old Norse suðr i bý (“south in the village”). The surname presumably comes from a now defunct placename in England.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.