Southwold

I recently visited Southwold, UK, which is the namesake of Southold, NY. You may notice that although one place is named for the other, the names are spelled differently.

Southwold seemingly takes its name from geography. A "wold" is a collection of hills over a chalk base and Southwold is in the southern part of East Anglia.

Southold, NY is neither located in a wold nor in a particularly southerly location.

It is likely that the spelling of the name changed because "Southold" is easier to say that "Southwold." Additionally, the geographical position described by "Southwold" is meaningless in "Southold" so there is no longer any need to strictly stick to that spelling.

The literal meaning of "Southwold" may be "a southern wold" but to the people who moved to New York it clearly meant something more. It meant "home." So they created a home away from home. They didn't move to another "southern wold" but they did move to Southold.

The sound has become the sense. The word has evolved to mean something other than what it originally meant and so spelling it the way it sounds becomes more important than spelling it in a way that illuminates the meaning.