{{Short description|Norman suffix}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:guernsey sm02.png|thumb|This is a map of the Bailiwick of Guernsey]]
'''''-hou''''' or '''''hou''''' is a place-name element found commonly in the Norman toponymy of the Channel Islands and continental Normandy.
== Etymology and signification == Its etymology and meaning are disputed, but most specialists think it comes from Saxon or Anglo-Saxon ''hōh'' "heel", sometimes ''hō'', then "heel-shaped promontory", "rocky steep slope", "steep shore".<ref>Auguste Longnon, ''Les noms de lieux de la France'', Paris, 1920-1929 (rééd. Champion, Paris, 1979), p. 184.</ref><ref>Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, ''Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux en France'', Larousse, Paris, 1963, p. 552a.</ref><ref>François de Beaurepaire, ''Les noms de communes et anciennes paroisses de la Manche'', Picard, Paris, 1986, p. 46.</ref> This toponymic appellative appears as a final ''-hou'' or associated with the Romance definite article ''le Hou''. It can be found everywhere in Normandy, but more in the western part of it.
The English toponymy uses this Saxon or Anglo-Saxon element the same way, but its result is phonetically ''-hoo'' or ''-hoe'', sometimes ''-(h)ow'' or ''-ho'' e. g. : Northoo (Suffolk); Poddinghoo (Worcestershire); Millhoo (Essex); Fingringhoe (Essex); Rainow (Cheshire); Soho (London); etc.<ref>Eilert Ekwall, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'' (4th edition), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1960, p. 244b.</ref> As an independent element it is ''Hoe, Hoo, Hooe, Ho'' or ''the Hoe'', e.g. the Hoe at Plymouth (Dorset) above the harbour.
In Normandy, it may have sometimes mixed up with Old Norse ''hólmr'', meaning a small island, and often found anglicised elsewhere as "holm". It can still be found in modern Scandinavian languages, e.g. Stockholm. The normal evolution of ''hólmr'' in Normandy is ''-homme'', ''-houme'', even ''-onne'' at the end of a toponym and le Homme, le Houlme, le Hom with the article. The Norman toponym and diminutive ''hommet / houmet'' also derives from this element.
In Parisian French, the equivalent is ''îlot'', which is cognate with the English "islet".
== Channel Islands ==
===Bailiwick of Guernsey=== right|300px|thumb|Jethou
* Off Guernsey ** Lihou * Off Alderney ** Burhou * Off Herm ** Jethou * Off Sark ** Brecqhou
===Bailiwick of Jersey=== right|thumb|200px|Aerial view of Les Écréhous
* Les Écréhous * La Rocco (from ''rocque-hou'') * Icho (from ''ic-hou'')
==Continental Normandy==
=== ''-hou'' === *Manche **Bléhou, hamlet at Sainteny. **Bunehou, hamlet and manor at Saint-Germain-le-Gaillard. **Ingrehou, hamlet at Saint-Sauveur-de-Pierrepont. **Cap Lihou, à Granville **Néhou, hamlet at Auvers. **Nehou, hamlet at Gatteville-le-Phare. **Primehou, hamlet at Nay. ** Tatihou ** Quettehou ** Néhou ** Tribehou *Eure **Quatre-houx (''Catehou'' 1174, ''Cathoux'' without date), hamlet at le Noyer-en-Ouche *Seine-Maritime **Le Conihout (''Conihou'' end of the 12th century), hamlet at le Mesnil-sous-Jumièges
=== Variant form ''Ho- / Hau-'' === *Hotot *Hautot See Huttoft, England
== Notes == {{Reflist}}
==References== *'' Noms de lieux de Normandie'', René Lepelley, 1999 Paris {{ISBN|2-86253-247-9}} *''Jersey Place Names'', Stevens, Arthur & Stevens, 1986 Jersey {{ISBN|0-901897-17-5}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hou}} Category:Norman language Category:Channel Islands Category:Place name element etymologies Category:English suffixes