Etymology

Formally this n. likely represents a continuation of OE pīc 'point, pointed tool, pick, pickaxe' (MED groups them together in a single entry) < PGmc n. *pīkaz, cp. Go peika-bagms 'palm tree', OIcel pík 'pointed stick', MDu pīke 'pickaxe, pruning knife, bill'.  The sense 'hill, mountain', not attested until the 13c., must then be explained either as an independent native development or a semantic borrowing from ON. OIcel pík is only attested as a nickname and in the sense 'pointed stick', but Norw pik 'mountain, mountaintop' provides a good parallel for the English usage. EPNE notes that relevant place-names are not confined to the Danelaw, and place-names like Pickhill, Essex show the native sense being applied to this landscape feature. As OED3 notes, the Scandinavian cognate could simply have reinforced an aspect of native usage.

PGmc Ancestor

*pīk-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

cp. pík  'pointed stick'
(ONP cp. pík  (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far pík, Icel pík, Norw pik, Dan pig, Sw pik

OE Cognate

pīc  'point, pointed tool, pick, pickaxe'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CC3b

Attestation

Attested as place-name element in the relevant sense from the 13c. onwards, predominantly, but not exclusively, from the Danelaw (MED, EPNE, OED3). The instance in WA is an unusually early textual usage of the common n.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 4818

Bibliography

MED pī̆k(e (n.1) , OED3 pike (n.2) , HTOED , EPNE pīc (1), de Vries pík, Mag. pík, Bj.-L pikk, Torp Pik, AEW pīc