However, this etymology has been challenged by the Swedish philologist Rune Forsberg on the grounds that the loss of the initial <h> in "hlæw" would be unlikely phonologically in this context. He suggested that the name "Læwe" instead derives from the rare Old English word "lǣw" ('wound, incision'), and reflects the fact that from the top of School Hill Lewes overlooks the narrow, steep-sided 'gash' where the River Ouse cuts through the line of the South Downs. This theory was endorsed in 2011 by "A Dictionary of British Place Names".