Editing River Mole (section)

===Etymology===
The river is first recorded in the ''Red Book of Thorney'' in AD 983 as ''Emen'' and in the AD 1005 ''Cartulary of the Abbey of Eynsham'' as both ''Emen'' and ''Æmen''.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Bonner A |title= Surrey River Names: Mole |journal= Surrey Archaeological Collections |publisher= Surrey Archaeological Society |volume= 38 |pages= 107–108}}</ref><ref name=Ekland>{{cite book |title= English River Names |author= Ekland E |year= 1928 |publisher= Clarendon Press |location= Oxford |pages= 146–147}}</ref> Variations in the name are recorded throughout the Middle Ages and the river appears as ''Amele'' in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086, and subsequently as ''Emele'' in 12th- and 13th-century Court Rolls.<ref name=Bonner>{{cite journal |author= Bonner A |year= 1925 |volume= 37 |pages= 117–143 |title= Surrey Place Names: River Names |journal= Surrey Archaeological Collections |url= https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_36/surreyac036_085-101_bonner.pdf |access-date= 27 September 2020 |doi= 10.5284/1068742 |archive-date= 2 January 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210102110414/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1%2Fdissemination%2Fpdf%2Fvol_36%2Fsurreyac036_085-101_bonner.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref> This name is probably derived from the [[Old English]] word ''æmen'' meaning ''misty'' or ''causing mists'',<ref name=Ekland/>  and the name of the River Ember probably has its origins in this name.<ref name=Bonner/><ref>{{cite book|author=Room, Adrian|title=Dictionary Of Place Names In The British Isles|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofplac0000room|url-access=registration|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=1988|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofplac0000room/page/128 128]|isbn=9780747501701 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50887 |title=A Topological Dictionary of England |access-date=10 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102092003/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50887 |archive-date=2 November 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref group=note>The prefix of the former [[Hundred of Elmbridge|hundred]] and present [[borough of Elmbridge]], which is referred to as Emley Bridge in some 19th-century records, probably also has its origins in the [[Old English]] word ''æmen''.</ref>

The name ''Mole'' does not appear until the 16th century, first occurring as ''Moule'' in [[William Harrison (clergyman)|Harrison's]] ''Description of Britain'' of 1577. The antiquarian [[William Camden]] uses the Latinized form ''Molis'' in the 1586 edition of ''Britannia'' and [[Michael Drayton]] is the first to use ''Mole'' in his poem ''Poly-Olbion'' published in 1613.<ref name=Bonner/> In [[John Speed]]'s 1611 map of Surrey this stretch of the river is denoted by a series of hills accompanied by the legend "The river runneth under".  However the river's name is unlikely to have derived from this behaviour: The ''Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names'' suggests that ''Mole'' either comes from the Latin ''mola'' (a mill) or is a [[back-formation]] from ''Molesey'' (Mul's island).<ref name="AD Mills 1998"/> In [[John Rocque]]'s 1768 map of Surrey, the name ''Moulsey River'' is used.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.moleseyhistory.co.uk/maps/pages/map_0002.htm |title= Detail from Rocque's Map of Surrey, c1768. |author= Baker R |work= Maps |publisher= Molesey History |access-date= 5 December 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110722005955/http://www.moleseyhistory.co.uk/maps/pages/map_0002.htm |archive-date= 22 July 2011 |url-status= live }}</ref>