Blennerhasset is of uncertain etymology, one possible source is that it comes from the Old Norse heysætr 'hay shieling', which has been added to a Brythonic place-name containing blaen, 'top'. The -er- part in the middle " is asserted by Ekwall[5] on the supposition that the full first element corresponded to Welsh blaen-dre, 'hill farm' ".[6] However sæt is also found in place names of Old English origin as a term for a settlement and may also be influenced by Old English sīde. 'Hay' is also found in Old English in both placenames and literary sources with a variety of different spellings and variations such as hēg, hīeg, hīg, hew, heġe and ġehæġ along with Middle English haye and heye. These words range in modern translation as being Hay, Hedge and referring to open plains, fields or farms.
Interpretations of Torpenhow have developed over time. In Place-Names of Cumberland (1950) Torpenhow was etymologized as "Tosti's howe" (with howe deriving from Old Norse haugr 'hill, mound'),[7] against a tradition identifying the name as an example of tautology in place-names, first proposed by Denton (1688).[8]
Denton interpreted tor, pen and how as three elements all with the base meaning "hill".[lower-alpha 1]
Ekwall's Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names (4th ed. 1960) accepted Denton's torr+pen+howe etymology (against the 1950s "Tosti" proposal), but notes that torr+penn is not tautological. He expresses the idea of "top or breast of the hill", to which howe was added in a (single) tautology.[9] The most recent published etymology is the '"[r]ocky summit" to which was added "hill-spur"', the three elements of Torpenhow deriving from, Old English torr 'a rock, a rocky outcrop, a rocky peak', Primitive Welsh penn 'head, end, top, height, a hill', and Old English hōh 'a heel; a sharply projecting piece of ground'.[10]
It is also possible that the name Torpenhow might simply be entirely Brittonic and composed of the elements tor ("heap of rocks") + pen ("a summit") and the plural suffix ou (Welsh torpenau).[11]
The local pronunciation of Torpenhow Village is , though the more intuitive pronunciation is also used.[4]