An archaic or obsolete term, possibly referring to a place or person associated with a court, though its exact meaning is historically uncertain.
Compound of 'court' and 'by' (a suffix meaning 'place' or 'settlement' from Old Norse). The word likely referred to a settlement adjacent to or dependent on a court.
This word is so obscure that it barely appears in historical records—it's likely an Old English place-name formation that got forgotten when English dropped Old Norse settlement terminology after the Norman Conquest.
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