What is "osney"

Osney or Osney Island (; an earlier spelling of the name is Oseney) is a riverside community in the west of the city of Oxford, England. In modern times the name is applied to a community also known as Osney Town astride Botley Road, just west of the city's main railway station, on an island surrounded by the River Thames, Osney Ditch and another backwater connecting the Thames to Osney Ditch.

Until the early 20th century the name was applied to the larger island of Oxford Castle and New Osney (between Castle Mill Stream and the main stream of the Thames) on which Osney Abbey and Osney Mill were established during the Middle Ages. The place plays a minor but significant role in The Miller's Tale in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.