AS a local historian I am regularly asked about elements of Frome’s illustrious past.
Many of these questions relate to certain people or buildings, or specific periods of time, but there are two that frequently crop up which concern rather more enigmatic aspects.
The first is about the town’s tunnels and why were they built, while the other is about the second ‘o’ in Froome.
The answer to the former is ‘for various reasons’, but it is the latter which possibly has the more surprising answer.
Most people who live in Frome know the name is derived from the word ‘ffraw’, meaning brisk or free flowing, and refers to the river (or at least did back then!) that runs through the centre.
But this is where the mystery starts, as during the 1,300 years or so since Aldhelm built his church, giving rise to the town’s founding, there has been several variations of the name.
These include Froom, Froome, Frome-Selwood, Froome-Selwood and even a Froome-Zelwood, plus no doubt several others. But how did they come about and why aren’t they still in use today?
What needs to be clarified first, however, is a probable assumption that, although only natural to make, is wrong; that Froome came first and in time the second ‘o’ was dropped.
‘Frome’ seems to be the original spelling and certainly appears this way in the Domesday Book of 1087 (which itself is a similar example of being pronounced differently to how it is spelt).
The key to this mystery though is to look beyond the town. If you ask a non-local to spell the name on only hearing it spoken, then given its similar sound to broom it is easy to believe that person would write it with a second ‘o’.
And in many ways, this is exactly what happened back in the 17th century and why this additional letter found its way into the town’s name.
According to research undertaken for a recent article in Frome Society’s Yearbook the use of this double-o version first occurred in documentation that mainly emanated from London.
To put it within a time-based chronological context, the oldest document found with this variation was the Journal of the House of Lords, dated 1641.
Other variations appear in subsequent decades within papers and documents, including many of the Interregnum.
In terms of language development, the appearance of the variations occurred within what is known as the Modern English period and the consequence of the wonderfully titled ‘Great Vowel Shift’.
This was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, which saw all Middle English long vowels being changed.
Standardization of English spelling began in the 15th and 16th centuries, and so the GVS is the major reason English spellings now often deviate considerably from how they represent pronunciations.
But despite the fact that these variations did find their way to Frome, through various guises, they seem not to have been widely embraced or assimilated by the indigenous population as locals were only too happy to use the original spelling.
By David Lassman.
