1817 - Young, George - History of Whitby (1)

Allusion
Date	1817
Author	Young, George
Title	The History of Whitby and of Whitby Abbey
Mentions	Robin Hood; [Robin Hood's Bay]; [Whitby Abbey]

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North to south: Whitby Abbey and Robin Hood's Bay.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-05-28. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-06-06.

Allusion

[...] If we prefer the figurative meaning of the term larus, as corresponding better with streon, we may suppose that Streoneshalh [i.e. Whitby] derived its name from some greedy plunderer, or pirate, who like Robin Hood in a later era, had his abode in this retired quarter: and, in that case, we must call it Pirate's Bay. At the same time I may add, that if larus can be translated a gaping, as I find it is in an old dictionary, Streoneshalh might be rendered Gaping-Bay, or Open-Bay [...]

IRHB comments

The primary meaning of the Latin term larus is 'a ravenous seabird, perhaps a gull or mew' Hence figuratively it could refer to a robber. 'Streonshalh' was the OE name for Whitby. George Young was very likely thinking of Robin Hood's connections with Whitby Abbey as well as nearby Robin Hood's Bay.

Lists

• Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 315-19.
• Outside scope of Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88.

Sources

• Young, George. A History of Whitby, and Streoneshalh Abbey: with a Statistical Survey of the Vicinity to the Distance of Twenty-Five Miles (Whitby, 1817), vol. II, p. 174.

Also see

• 1817 - Young, George - History of Whitby (2)
• 1817 - Young, George - History of Whitby (3)
• Robin Hood's Bay
• Whitby Abbey

Notes