sentences:  Its name is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Semer(s)", with later medieval attestations including "Samara".The first element is Old English "sǣ" 'lake'; the spelling of the second element suggests variation between Old English "mere" 'sea', Old English "mersc" 'marsh', and Old Norse "marr" 'lake, sea, pool'.The dominant meaning of the name therefore seems to have been 'lake by the sea'.