_Grimes-dyke_ (Vol. iv., p. 454.)--Your correspondents appear to have
overlooked _Offandíc_, _Wodnesdíc_ (so often mentioned in the Saxon
charters), and _Esendike_--doubtless so named in memory of Esa, the
progenitor of the kings of Bernicia--and _Gugedíke_, which I suspect is
an old British form for Gog's dike (Fr. _Yagiouge_), as well as
_Grimanleáh_ (Wood of Horrors), and _Grimanhyl_. It is true we find the
_Grimsetane-gemáero_ in Worcestershire (_Cod. Dipl._, No. 561.); but we
also find _Wódnesbeorg_ (_Id._ No. 1035.). Allow me to give you the
substance of a remark of Professor H. Léo of Halle on this subject.
(_Ang. Säch. Ortsnamen_, p. 5.)
"Wild, dismal places are coupled with the names of grim, fabulous
creatures: thus, in Charter 957, King Eadwig presented to Odo,
Archbishop of Canterbury, a territorial property at 'Hel-ig' (on
the Islet of Helas). A morass is cited which is called, after the
ancient mythological hero, _Grindles-mère_; a pit,
_Grindles-pytt_; a small islet surrounded with water--which was to
an Anglo-Saxon a "locus terribilis"--was called _Thorn-ei_ (the
thorn tree being of ill omen). And thus, in order to express the
ordinary associations connected with neighbourhood, recourse was
had rather to mythic personages, than to abstract expressions."
I would here observe that the _Ortsnamen_ has been for some time in
course of translation, with the Professor's sanction and assistance,
with a view to its publication in England.