THE ROMANCE OF NAMES * * * * * Advertising material that appeared at the start of the book BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE ROMANCE OF WORDS "A book of extraordinary interest; those who do not yet realise howenthralling a subject word-history is could not do better than sampleits flavour in Mr. Weekley's admirable book. " --Spectator. Third Edition. 6s. Net. SURNAMES "A study of the origin and significance of surnames, full offascination for the general reader. " --Truth. Second Edition. 6s. Net. AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF MODERN ENGLISH "It is a very great pleasure to get a dictionary from Mr. Weekley. One knows from experience that Mr. Weekley would contrive to avoidunnecessary dullness, even if he were compiling a railway guide, butthat he would also get the trains right. " --Mr. J. C. SQUIRE in The Observer. Crown 4to. £ 2 2s. Net. * * * * * Third Edition, Revised THE ROMANCE OF NAMES by ERNEST WEEKLEY, M. A. Professor of French and Head of the Modern Language Departmentat University College, Nottingham;Sometime Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge LondonJohn Murray, Albemarle Street, W. 1922 First Edition January 1914Second Edition March 1914Third Edition May 1922 All Rights Reserved CONTENTS THE ROMANCE OF NAMES PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 1 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 2 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 3 CHAPTER I. OF SURNAMES IN GENERAL 7 PERSONAL NAMES 8 NICKNAMES 9 MYTHICAL ETYMOLOGIES 10 ALTERNATIVE ORIGINS 11 NAMES DESIRABLE OR UNDESIRABLE 13 CHAPTER II. A MEDIEVAL ROLL 15 LONDON JURYMEN 16 MIDDLESEX JURYMEN 23 STEEPLE CLAYDON COTTAGERS 25 CHAPTER III. SPELLING AND SOUND 29 VARIANT SPELLINGS 30 DIALECTIC VARIANTS 32 APHESIS 33 EPITHESIS AND ASSIMILATION 35 METATHESIS 36 BABY PHONETICS 37 CHAPTER IV. BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON 40 OCCUPATIVE NAMES 40 THE DISTRIBUTION OF NAMES 42 CHAPTER V. THE ABSORPTION OF FOREIGN NAMES 44 THE HUGUENOTS 44 PERVERSIONS OF FOREIGN NAMES 46 JEWISH NAMES 48 CHAPTER VI. TOM, DICK AND HARRY 49 MEDIEVAL FONT-NAMES 49 THE COMMONEST FONT-NAMES 50 FASHIONS IN FONT-NAMES 52 DERIVATIVES OF FONT-NAMES 53 THE SUFFIX -COCK 55 CELTIC NAMES 56 CHAPTER VII. GODERIC AND GODIVA 57 FORMATION OF ANGLO-SAXON NAMES 57 ANGLO-SAXON NICKNAMES 59 ANGLO-SAXON SURVIVALS 61 MONOSYLLABIC NAMES 62 "HIDEOUS NAMES" 63 CHAPTER VIII. PALADINS AND HEROES 65 THE ROUND TABLE 66 THE CHANSONS DE GESTE 68 ANTIQUE NAMES 69 CHAPTER IX. THE BIBLE AND THE CALENDAR 70 OLD TESTAMENT NAMES 70 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES 72 FEAST-DAYS 73 MONTH NAMES 74 CHAPTER X. METRONYMICS 76 FEMALE FONT-NAMES 76 DOUBTFUL CASES 78 CHAPTER XI. LOCAL SURNAMES 79 CLASSES OF LOCAL NAMES 80 COUNTIES AND TOWNS 81 NAMES PRECEDED BY DE 81 CHAPTER XII. SPOT NAMES 84 ELEMENTS OF PLACE-NAMES 85 HILL AND DALE 87 HILLS 87 WOODLAND AND PLAIN 89 FOREST CLEARINGS 91 MARSHES 92 WATER AND WATERSIDE 93 RIVERS 93 ISLANDS 95 TREE NAMES 96 CHAPTER XIII. THE HAUNTS OF MAN 98 SETTLEMENTS AND ENCLOSURES 99 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 103 WATER 105 BUILDINGS 105 DWELLINGS 107 SHOP SIGNS 109 CHAPTER XIV. NORMAN BLOOD 110 CORRUPT FORMS 112 TREE NAMES 113 CHAPTER XV. OF OCCUPATIVE NAMES 115 SOCIAL GRADES 116 ECCLESIASTICAL NAMES 118 NAMES IN -STER 119 MISSING TRADESMEN 120 SPELLING OF TRADE-NAMES 122 PHONETIC CHANGES 123 NAMES FROM WARES 124 CHAPTER XVI. A SPECIMEN PROBLEM: RUTTER 126 CHAPTER XVII. THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 129 ECCLESIASTICAL NAMES 131 PILGRIMS 132 CHAPTER XVIII. TRADES AND CRAFTS 133 ARCHERY 133 CLOTHIERS 134 METAL WORKERS 136 SURNOMINAL SNOBBISHNESS 138 CHAPTER XIX. HODGE AND HIS FRIENDS 140 BUMBLEDOM 141 ITINERANT MERCHANTS 143 CHAPTER XX. OFFICIAL AND DOMESTIC 145 THE HOUSEHOLD 146 CHAPTER XXI. OF NICKNAMES IN GENERAL 149 FOREIGN NICKNAMES 150 KINSHIP 152 ABSTRACTS 154 COSTUME 155 PHYSICAL FEATURES 157 IMPRECATIONS 159 PHRASE-NAMES 160 MISCELLANEOUS 162 CHAPTER XXII. ADJECTIVAL NICKNAMES 163 ARCHAIC MEANINGS 163 DISGUISED SPELLINGS 165 FRENCH ADJECTIVES 166 COLOUR NAMES 167 CHAPTER XXIII. BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 170 BIRDS 171 HAWK NAMES 173 BEASTS 174 FISHES 176 SPECIAL FEATURES 177 Advertising material from the end of the book 180 THE ROMANCE OF NAMES PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION In preparing this revised edition I have been able to make use of muchinformation conveyed to me by readers interested in the subject. Thegeneral arrangement of the book remains unchanged, but a certainnumber of statements have been modified, corrected, or suppressed. The study of our surnames has been mostly left to the amateurphilologist, and many origins given by my predecessors as ascertainedfacts turn out, on investigation, to be unsupported by a shred ofevidence. I cannot hope that this little book in its new form is freefrom error, but I feel that it has benefited by the years I have spentin research since its original publication. I would ask reader toaccept it, not as a comprehensive treatise containing full informationon any name that happens to occur in it, but as a general survey ofthe subject, and an attempt to indicate and exemplify the various waysin which our surnames have come into existence. ERNEST WEEKLEY. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NOTTINGHAM. April 1922. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The early demand for a new edition of this little book is a gratifyingproof of a widespread interest in its subject, rather than a testimonyto the value of my small contribution to that subject. Of theimperfections of this contribution no one can be more conscious thanmyself, but I trust that the most palpable blemishes have been removedin this revised edition. The student of etymology seldom passes a daywithout coming across some piece of evidence which throws new light ona difficult problem (see Chapter XVI), or invalidates what had beforeseemed a reasonable conjecture. I have to thank many correspondentsfor sending me information of value and for indicating points in whichconciseness has led to misunderstanding. Some of my correspondentsneed, however, to be reminded that etymology and genealogy areseparate sciences; so that, while offering every apology to that Mr. Robinson whose name is a corruption of Montmorency, I still adhere tomy belief that the other Robinsons derive from Robert. ERNEST WEEKLEY. NOTTINGHAM March 1914. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION The interpretation of personal names has always had an attraction forthe learned and others, but the first attempts to classify and explainour English surnames date, so far as my knowledge goes, from 1605. Inthat year Verstegan published his Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, which contains chapters on both font-names and surnames, and about thesame time appeared Camden's Remains Concerning Britain, in which thesame subjects are treated much more fully. Both of these learnedantiquaries make excellent reading, and much curious information maybe gleaned from their pages, especially those of Camden, whoseposition as Clarencieux King-at-Arms gave him exceptionalopportunities for genealogical research. From the philological pointof view they are of course untrustworthy, though less so than mostmodern writers on the same subject. About the middle of the nineteenth century, the period of ArchbishopTrench and Canon Taylor, began a kind of boom in works of this kind, and books on surnames are now numerous. But of all these industriouscompilers one only, Bardsley, can be taken seriously. His Dictionaryof English Surnames, published (Oxford Press, 1901) from his notessome years after his death, is invaluable to students. It representsthe results of twenty years' conscientious research among early rollsand registers, the explanations given being usually supported bymedieval instances. But it cannot be used uncritically, for theauthor does not appear to have been either a linguist or aphilologist, and, although he usually refrains from etymologicalconjecture, he occasionally ventures with disastrous results. Thus, to take a few instances, he identifies Prust with Priest, but themedieval le prust is quite obviously the Norman form of Old Fr. LeProust, the provost. He attempts to connect pullen with the archaicEng. Pullen, poultry; but his early examples, le pulein, polayn, etc. , are of course Fr. Poulain, i. E. Colt. Under Fallows, explained as"fallow lands, " he quotes three examples of de la faleyse, i. E. Fr. Falaise, corresponding to our Cliff, Cleeve, etc; Pochin, explained asthe diminutive of some personal name, is the Norman form of the famousname Poussin, i. E. Chick. Or, coming to native instances, le wenchel, a medieval prototype of Winkle, is explained as for "periwinkle, "whereas it is a common Middle-English word, existing now in theshortened form wench, and means Child. The obsolete Swordslipper, nowonly Slipper, which he interprets as a maker of "sword-slips, " orsheaths, was really a sword-sharpener, from Mid. Eng. Slipen, cognatewith Old Du. Slijpen, to polish, sharpen, and Ger. Schleifen. Sometimes a very simple problem is left unexplained, e. G. In the caseof the name Tyas, where the medieval instances of le tyeis are to astudent of Old French clearly le tieis or tiois, i. E. The German, cognate with Ger. Deutsch and Ital. Tedesco. These examples are quoted, not in depreciation of conscientiousstudent to whose work my own compilation is greatly indebted, butmerely to show that the etymological study of surnames has scarcelybeen touched at present, except by writers to whom philology is anunknown science. I have inserted, as a specimen problem (ch. Xvi. ), a little disquisition on the name Rutter, a cursory perusal of whichwill convince most readers that it is not much use making shots inthis subject. My aim has been to steer a clear course between a too learned and atoo superficial treatment, and rather to show how surnames are formedthan to adduce innumerable examples which the reader should be able tosolve for himself. I have made no attempt to collect curious names, but have taken those which occur in the London Directory (1908) orhave caught my eye in the newspaper or the streets. To go into proofswould have swelled the book beyond all reasonable proportions, but thereader may assume that, in the case of any derivation not expresslystated as a conjecture, the connecting links exist. In the variousclasses of names, I have intentionally omitted all that is obvious, except in the rather frequent case of the obvious being wrong. Theindex, which I have tried to make complete, is intended to replace tosome extent those cross-references which are useful to students butirritating to the general reader. Hundreds of names are susceptibleof two, three, or more explanations, and I do not profess to beexhaustive. The subject-matter is divided into a number of rather short chapters, dealing with the various classes and subdivisions into which surnamesfall; but the natural association which exists between names has oftenprevailed over rigid classification. The quotations by which obsoletewords are illustrated are taken as far as possible from Chaucer, whosewritings date from the very period when our surnames were graduallybecoming hereditary. I have also quoted extensively from thePromptorium Parvulorum, our earliest English-Latin Dictionary (1440). In ch. Vii, on Anglo-Saxon names, I have obtained some help from apaper by the late Professor Skeat (Transactions of the PhilologicalSociety, 1907-10, pp. 57-85) and from the materials contained inSearle's valuable Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum (Cambridge, 1897). Among several works which I have consulted on French and German familynames, the most useful have been Heintze's Deutsche Familiennamen, 3rded. (Halle a. S. , 1908) and Kremers' Beitraege zur Erforschung derfranzoesischen Familiennamen (Bonn, 1910). The comparative methodwhich I have adopted, especially in explaining nicknames (ch. Xxi), will be found, I think, to clear up a good many dark points. Of bookson names published in this country, only Bardsley's Dictionary hasbeen of any considerable assistance, though I have gleaned some scrapsof information here and there from other compilations. My realsources have been the lists of medieval names found in Domesday Book, the Pipe Rolls, the Hundred Rolls, and in the numerous historicalrecords published by the Government and by various antiquariansocieties. ERNEST WEEKLEY. Nottingham, September 1913 The following dictionaries are quoted without further reference: Promptorium Parvulorum (1440), ed. Mayhew (E. E. T. S. ; 1908). PALSGRAVE, L'Esclarcissement de la langue francoyse (1530), ed. Génin(Paris, 1852). COOPER, Thesaurus Lingua Romanae et Britannicae (London; 1573). COTGRAVE A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (London, 1611). The Middle English quotations, except where otherwise stated, are fromChaucer, the references being to the Globe edition. CHAPTER I. OF SURNAMES IN GENERAL "The French and we termed them Surnames, not because they are thenames of the Sire, or the father, but because they are super-added toChristian names. " (CAMDEN, Remains concerning Britain. ) The study of the origin of family names is at the same time quitesimple and very difficult. Its simplicity consists in the fact thatsurnames can only come into existence in certain well-understood ways. Its difficulty is due to the extraordinary perversions which namesundergo in common speech, to the orthographic uncertainty of ourancestors, to the frequent coalescence of two or more names of quitedifferent Origin, and to the multitudinous forms which one single namecan assume, such forms being due to local pronunciation, accidents ofspelling, date of adoption, and many minor causes. It must alwaysremembered that the majority of our surnames from the various dialectsof Middle English, i. E. Of a language very different from our own inspelling and sound, full of words that are now obsolete, and of otherswhich have completely changed their form and meaning. If we take any medieval roll of names, we see almost at a glance thatfour such individuals as-- John filius Simon William de la Moor Richard le Spicer Robert le Long exhaust the possibilities of English name-making--i. E. That everysurname must be (i) personal, from a sire or ancestor, (ii) local, from place of residence, [Footnote: This is by far the largest class, counting by names, not individuals, and many names for which I giveanother explanation have also a local origin. Thus, when I say thatEly is Old Fr. Élie, i. E. Elias, I assume that the reader will knowwithout being told that it has an alternative explanation from Ely inCambridgeshire. ] (iii) occupative, from trade or office, (iv) anickname, from bodily attributes, character, etc. This can easily be illustrated from any list of names taken at random. The Rugby team chosen to represent the East Midlands against Kent(January 22, 1913) consisted of the following fifteen names: Hancock;Mobbs, Poulton, Hudson, Cook; Watson, Earl; Bull, Muddiman, Collins, Tebbitt, Lacey, Hall, Osborne, Manton. Some of these are simple, butothers require a little knowledge for their explanation. PERSONAL NAMES There are seven personal names, and the first of these, Hancock, israther a problem. This is usually explained as from Flemish Hanke, Johnny, while the origin of the suffix -cock has never been veryclearly accounted for (see The suffix -cock, Chapter VI). WithHancock we may compare Hankin. But, while the Flemish derivation ispossible for these two names, it will not explain Hanson, whichsometimes becomes Hansom (Epithesis And Assimilation, Chapter III). According to Camden, there is evidence that Han was also used as arimed form of Ran, short for Ranolf and Randolf (cf. Hob from Robert, Hick from Richard), very popular names in the north during the surnameperiod. In Hankin and Hancock this Han would naturally coalesce withthe Flemish Hanke. This would also explain the names Hand for Rand, and Hands, Hance for Rands, Rance. Mobbs is the same as Mabbs (cf. Moggy for Maggy), and Mabbs is the genitive of Mab, i. E. Mabel, forAmabel. We have the diminutive in Mappin and the patronymic inMapleson. [Footnote: Maple and Mapple, generally tree names (ChapterXII), are in some cases for Mabel. Maplethorpe is from Mablethorpe(Line. ), thorp of Madalbert (Maethelbeorht). ] Hudson is the son ofHud, a very common medieval name, which seems to represent Anglo-SaxonHudda (Chapter VII), the vigorous survival of which into the surnameperiod is a mystery. Watson is the son of Wat, i. E. Walter, from theOld N. E. Fr. Vautier (Gautier), regularly pronounced and written Waterat one time-- ". . . My name is Walter Whitmore. How now! Why start'st thou? What! doth death affright? Suffolk. Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death. A cunning man did calculate my birth, And told me that by water I should die. " (2 Henry VI, iv. 1) Hence the name Waters, which has not usually any connection withwater; while Waterman, though sometimes occupative, is also formedfrom Walter, like Hickman from Hick (Chapter VI). Collins is fromColin, a French diminutive of Col, i. E. Nicol or Nicolas. Tebbitt is a diminutive of Theobald, a favourite medieval name whichhad the shortened forms Teb, Tib, Tub, whence a number of derivatives. But names in Teb- and Tib- may also come from Isabel (Chapter X). Osborne is the Anglo-Saxon name Osbeorn. Of course, each of these personal names has a meaning, e. G. Amabel, ultimately Latin, means lovable, and Walter, a Germanic name, means"rule army" (Modern Ger. Walten and Heer), but the discussion of suchmeanings lies outside our subject. It is, in fact, sometimesdifficult to distinguish between the personal name and the nickname. Thus Pagan, whence Payn, with its diminutives Pannell, Pennell, etc. , Gold, Good, German, whence Jermyn, Jarman, and many other apparentnicknames, occur as personal names in the earliest records. Theiretymological origin is in any case the same as if they were nicknames. To return to our football team, Poulton, Lacey, Hall, and Manton arelocal. There are several villages in Cheshire and Lancashire namedPoulton, i. E. The town or homestead (Chapter XIII) by the pool. Laceyoccurs in Domesday Book as de Laci, from some small spot in Normandy, probably the hamlet of Lassy (Calvados). Hall is due to residencenear the great house of the neighbourhood. If Hall's ancestor's namehad chanced to be put down in Anglo-French as de la sale, he might nowbe known as Sale, or even as Saul. Manton is the name of places inLincolnshire and Northamptonshire, so that this player, at any rate, has an ancestral qualification for the East Midlands. The only true occupative name in the list is Cook, for Earl is anickname. Cook was perhaps the last occupative title to hold its ownagainst the inherited name. Justice Shallow, welcoming Sir JohnFalstaff, says-- "Some pigeons, Davy; a couple of short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, and any pretty little tiny kickshaws. Tell William Cook" (2 Henry IV, v. I. ). And students of the Ingoldsby Legends will remember that "Ellen Bean ruled his cuisine. --He called her Nelly Cook. " (Nell Cook, 1. 32. ) There are probably a goodly number of housewives of the present daywho would be at a loss if suddenly asked for "cook's" name in full. It may be noted that Lequeux means exactly the same, and is ofidentical origin, archaic Fr. Le queux, Lat. Coquus, while Kew issometimes for Anglo-Fr. Le keu, where keu is the accusative of queux(Alternative Origins, Chapter I). NICKNAMES The nicknames are Earl, Bull, and Muddiman. Nicknames such as Earlmay have been acquired in various ways (Chapter XV). Bull andMuddiman are singularly appropriate for Rugby scrummagers, though thefirst may be from an inn or shop sign, rather than from physique orcharacter. It is equivalent to Thoreau, Old Fr. Toreau (taureau). Muddiman is for Moodyman, where moody has its older meaning ofvaliant; cf. Its German cognate mutig. The weather on the day inquestion gave a certain fitness both to the original meaning and thelater form. The above names are, with the exception of Hancock, Hudson, andMuddiman, easy to solve; but it must not be concluded that every listis as simple, or that the obvious is always right. The first page ofBards Dictionary of Surnames might well serve as a danger-signal tococksure writers on this subject. The names Abbey and Abbott wouldnaturally seem to go back to an ancestor who lived in or near an andto another who had been nicknamed the abbot. But Abbey is more often from the Anglo-French entry le abbé, theabbot, and Abbott may be a diminutive of Ab, standing for Abel, orAbraham, the first of which was a common medieval font-name. FrancisHolyoak describes himself on the title-page of his Latin Dictionary(1612) as Franciscus de Sacra Quercu, but his name also represents theholly oak, or holm oak (Tree Names, Chapter XII). On the other hand, Holliman always occurs in early rolls as hali or holi man, i. E. Holyman. MYTHICAL ETYMOLOGIES It may be stated here, once for all, that etymologies of names whichare based on medieval latinizations, family mottoes, etc. , are alwaysto be regarded with suspicion, as they involve the reversing ofchronology, or the explanation of a name by a pun which has been madefrom it. We find Lilburne latinized as de insula tontis, as though itwere the impossible hybrid de l'isle burn, and Beautoy sometimes as debella fide, whereas foy is the Old French for beech, from Lat. Fagus. Napier of Merchiston had the motto n'a pier, "has no equal, " anddescribed himself on title-pages as the Nonpareil, but his ancestorwas a servant who looked after the napery. With Holyoak's renderingof his own name we may compare Parkinson's "latinization" of his namein his famous book on gardening(1629), which bears the title Paradisiin Sole Paradisus Terrestris, i. E. The Earthly Paradise of "Park inSun. " Many noble names have an anecdotic "explanation. " I learnt at schoolthat Percy came from "pierce-eye, " in allusion to a treacherousexploit at Alnwick. The Lesleys claim descent from a hero whooverthrew a Hungarian champion "Between the less lee and the Mair He slew the knight and left him there. " (Quentin Durward, ch. Xxxvii. ) Similarly, the great name of Courtenay, Courtney, of French localorigin, is derived in an Old French epic from court nez, short nose, an epithet conferred on the famous Guillaume d'Orange, who, when thesword of a Saracen giant removed this important feature, exclaimedundauntedly-- "Mais que mon nés ai un poi acorcié, Bien sai mes nons en sera alongié. " (Li Coronemenz Looïs, 1. 1159. ) [Footnote: "Though I have my nose a little shortened, I know well thatmy name will be thereby lengthened. "] I read lately in some newspaper that the original Lockhart took the"heart" of the Bruce to the Holy Land in a "locked" casket. Practically every famous Scottish name has a yarn connected with it, the gem perhaps being that which accounts for Guthrie. A Scottishking, it is said, landed weary and hungry as the sole survivor of ashipwreck. He approached a woman who was gutting fish, and asked herto prepare one for him. The kindly fishwife at once replied, "I'llgut three. " Whereupon the king, dropping into rime with a readinessworthy of Mr. Wegg, said-- "Then gut three, Your name shall be, " [Footnote added by scanner, whohas not read much of Dickens: Silas Wegg was a ready-witted characterin "Our Mutual Friend. "] and conferred a suitable estate on his benefactress. After all, truth is stranger than fiction. There is quite enoughlegitimate cause for wonderment in the fact that Tyas is letter forletter the same name as Douch, or that Strangeways, from a district inManchester which, lying between the Irwell and the Irk, formerlysubject to floods, is etymologically strong-wash. The Joannes Acutuswhose tomb stands in Florence is the great free-lance captain Sir JohnHawkwood, "omitting the h in Latin as frivolous, and the k and w asunusual" (Verstegan, Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, ch. Ix), which makes him almost as unrecognizable as that Peter Gower, thesupposed founder of freemasonry, who turned out to be Pythagoras. ALTERNATIVE ORIGINS Many names are susceptible of two, three, or more explanations. Thisis especially true of some of our commonest monosyllabic surnames. Bell may be from Anglo-Fr. Le bel (beau), or from a shop sign, or fromresidence near the church or town bell. It may even have been appliedto the man who pulled the bell. Finally, the ancestor may have been alady called Isabel, a supposition which does not necessarily implyillegitimacy (Chapter X). Ball is sometimes the shortened form of theonce favourite Baldwin. It is also from a shop sign, and perhaps mostfrequently of all is for bald. The latter word is properly balled, i. E. , marked with a ball, or white streak, a word of Celtic origin;cf. "piebald, " i. E. , balled like a (mag)pie, and the "bald-facedstag. " [Footnote: Halliwell notes that the nickname Ball is the nameof a horse in Chaucer and in Tusser, of a sheep in the PromptoriumParvulorum, and of a dog in the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII. In each case the name alludes to a white mark, or what horsy peoplecall a star. A cow thus marked is called in Scotland a boasand cow, and from the same word comes the obsolete bawson, badger. ] From thesame word we get the augmentative Ballard, used, according to Wyclif, by the little boys who unwisely called to an irritable prophet-- "Stey up ballard" (2 Kings ii. 23). The name may also be personal, Anglo-Sax. Beal-heard. Rowe may belocal, from residence in a row (cf. Fr. Delarue), or it may be anaccidental spelling of the nickname Roe, which also survives in theMid. English form Ray (Beasts, Chapter XXIII). But Row was also the shortened form of Rowland, or Roland. Cobb is anAnglo-Saxon name, as in the local Cobham, but it is also from thefirst syllable of Cobbold (for either Cuthbeald or Godbeald) and thesecond of Jacob. From Jacob come the diminutives Cobbin and Coppin. Or, to take some less common names, House not only represents themedieval de la house, but also stands for Howes, which, in its turn, may be the plural of how, a hill (Chapter XII), or the genitive ofHow, one of the numerous medieval forms of Hugh (Chapter VI). Hindmay be for Hine, a farm servant (Chapter III), or for Mid. Eng. Hende, courteous (cf. For the vowel change Ind, Chapter XIII), and is perhapssometimes also an animal nickname (Beasts, Chapter XXIII). Rouse isgenerally Fr. Roux, i. E. The red, but it may also be the nominativeform of Rou, i. E. Of Rolf, or Rollo, the sea-king who conqueredNormandy. [Footnote: Old French had a declension in two cases. Thenominative, which has now almost disappeared, was usuallydistinguished by -s. This survives in a few words, e. G. Fils, andproper names such as Charles, Jules, etc] Was Holman the holy man, the man who lived near a holm, i. E. Holly (Chapter XII), on a holm, orriver island (Chapter XII), or in a hole, or hollow? All theseorigins have equal claims. As a rule, when an apparent nickname is also susceptible of anothersolution, baptismal, local, or occupative, the alternative explanationis to be preferred, as the popular tendency has always been towardstwisting names into significant words. Thus, to take an example ofeach class, Diamond is sometimes for an old name Daymond (Daegmund), Portwine is a corruption of Poitevin, the man from Poitou (ChapterXI), and Tipler, which now suggests alcoholic excess, was, as late asthe seventeenth century, the regular name for an alehouse keeper. In a very large number of cases there is a considerable choice for themodern bearer of a name. Any Boon or Bone who wishes to assert that Of Hereford's high blood he came, A race renown'd for knightly fame (Lord of the Isles, vi. 15), can claim descent from de Bohun. While, if he holds that kind heartsare more than coronets, he has an alternative descent from somemedieval le bon. This adjective, used as a personal name, gave alsoBunn and Bunce; for the spelling of the latter name cf. Dance forDans, and Pearce for Piers, the nominative of Pierre (AlternativeOrigins, Chapter I), which also survives in Pears and Pearson. Swainmay go back to the father of Canute, or to some hoary-headed swainwho, possibly, tended the swine. Not all the Seymours are St. Maurs. Some of them were once Seamers, i. E. Tailors. Gosling is rathertrivial, but it represents the romantic Jocelyn, in Normandy Gosselin, a diminutive of the once very popular personal name Josse. Goss isusually for goose, but any Goss, or Gossett, unwilling to trace hisfamily back to John Goose, "my lord of Yorkes fole, " [Footnote: PrivyPurse Expenses of Elizabeth of York (1502). ] may likewise choose theFrench Josse or Gosse. Goss may also be a dialect pronunciation ofgorse, the older form of which has given the name Gorst. Coward, though humble, cow-herd, is no more timid than Craven, the name of adistrict in the West Riding of Yorkshire. NAMES DESIRABLE OR UNDESIRABLE Mr. Chucks, when in good society, "seldom bowed, Sir, to anythingunder three syllables" (Peter Simple, ch. Xvii. ). But the length of aname is not necessarily an index of a noble meaning. As will be seen(pp. 74, 5), a great number of our monosyllabic names belong to, theoldest stratum of all. The boatswain's own name, from Norman-Fr. Chouque, a tree-stump, is identical with the rather aristocratic Zouchor Such, from the usual French form souche. Stubbs, which has thesame meaning, may be compared with Curson, Curzon, Fr. Courson, astump, a derivative of court, short. [Footnote: Curson is also adialect variant of Christian. ] Pomeroy has a lordly ring, but is theOld French for Applegarth or Appleyard (Tree Names, Chapter XIV), andCamoys means flat-nosed, Fr. Camus-- "This wenche thikke and wel y-growen was, With kamuse nose, and eyen greye as glas. " (A, 3973. ) Kingsley, speaking of the name assumed by John Briggs, says-- "Vavasour was a very pretty name, and one of those which is [sic]supposed by novelists and young ladies to be aristocratic; why so is apuzzle; as its plain meaning is a tenant farmer and nothing more orless" (Two Years Ago, ch. Xi. ). The word is said to represent a Vulgar Lat. Vassus vassorum, vassal ofvassals. On the other hand, many a homely name has a complimentary meaning. Mr. Wegg did not like the name Boffin, but its oldest form is bon-fin, good and fine. In 1273 Mr. Bumble's name was spelt bon-bel, good andbeautiful. With these we may group Bunker, of which the oldest formis bon-quer (bon coeur), and Boffey, which corresponds to the commonFrench name Bonnefoy, good faith; while the much more assertiveBeaufoy means simply fine beech (Chapter I). With Bunker we may compare Goodhart and Cordeaux, the oldest form ofthe latter being the French name Courdoux. Momerie and Mummery areidentical with Mowbray, from Monbrai in Normandy. Molyneux impressesmore than Mullins, of which it is merely the dim. , Fr. Moulins, mills. The Yorkshire name Tankard is identical with Tancred. Stiggins goesback to the illustrious Anglo-Saxon name Stigand, as Wiggins does towigand, a champion. Cadman represents Caedmon, the name of thepoet-monk of Whitby. Segar is an imitative form of the Anglo-Sax. Saegaer, of which the normal modern representative is Sayers. Giblettis not a name one would covet, but it stands in the same relationshipto Gilbert as Hamlet does to Hamo. A small difference in spelling makes a great difference in the look ofa name. The aristocratic Coke is an archaic spelling of Cook, thestill more lordly Herries sometimes disguises Harris, while the modernBrassey is the same as de Bracy in Ivanhoe. The rather grislyNightgall is a variant of Nightingale. The accidental retention ofparticles and articles is also effective, e. G. Delmar, Delamere, Delapole, impress more than Mears and Pool, and Larpent (Fr. I'arpent), Lemaitre, and Lestrange more than Acres, Masters, andStrange. There are few names of less heroic sound than Spark andCodlin, yet the former is sometimes a contraction of the picturesqueSparrow-hawk, used as a personal name by the Anglo-Saxons, while thelatter can be traced back via the earlier forms Quodling (stillfound), Querdling, Querdelyoun to Coeur de Lion. CHAPTER II. A MEDIEVAL ROLL "Quelque diversité d'herbes qu'il y alt, tout s'enveloppe sous le nomde salade; de mesme, sous la considération des noms, je m'en voysfaire icy une galimafree de divers articles. " (Montaigne, Essais, i. 46. ) Just as, in studying a new language, the linguist finds it mosthelpful to take a simple text and hammer out in detail every word andgrammatical form it contains, so the student of name-lore cannot dobetter than tackle a medieval roll and try to connect every name in itwith those of the present day. I give here two lists of names fromthe Hundred Rolls of 1273. The first contains the names of London andMiddlesex jurymen, most of them, especially the Londoners, men ofsubstance and position. The second is a list of cottagers resident inthe village of Steeple Claydon in Bucks. Even a cursory perusal ofthese lists should Suffice to dispel all recollection of the nightmare"philology" which has been so much employed to obscure what isperfectly simple and obvious; while a very slight knowledge of Latinand French is all that is required to connect these names of men whowere dead and buried before the Battle of Crecy with those to be foundin any modern directory. The brief indications supplied under eachname will be found in a fuller form in the various chapters of thebook to which references are given. For simplicity I have given the modern English form of each Christianname and expanded the abbreviations used by the official compilers. It will be noticed that English, Latin, and Anglo-French are usedindifferently, that le is usually, though not always, put before thetrade-name or nickname, that de is put before place-names and atbefore spots which have no proper name. The names in the right-handcolumn are only specimens of the, often very numerous, modernequivalents. LONDON JURYMEN Hundred Rolls Modern Form William Dibel. Dibble (Theobald). Initial t- and d- alternate (Dialectic Variants, Chapter III)according to locality. In Tennyson, for Denison, son of Denis, wehave the opposite change. The forms assumed by Theobald are verynumerous (Chapter I). Besides Dibble we have the shorter Dibb. Othervariants are Dyball, Dipple, Tipple, Tidball, Tudball, and a number ofnames in Teb-, Tib-, Tub-. The reason for the great popularity of thename is obscure. Baldwin le Bocher. Butcher. On the various forms of this name, see Chapter XV. Robert Hauteyn. Hawtin The Yorkshire name Auty is probably unconnected. It seems rather tobe an altered form of a Scandinavian personal name cognate with Odo. Henry le Wimpler. The name has apparently disappeared with the garment. But it is neversafe to assert that a surname is quite extinct. Stephen le Peron Fearon From Old Fr. Feron, ferron, smith. In a few cases French has -on asan agential suffix (Chapter XVIII). William de Paris. Paris, Parris, Parish. The commoner modern form Parish is seldom to be derived from our wordparish. This rarely occurs, while the entry de Paris is, on the otherhand, very common. Hundred Rolls Modern Form Roger le Wyn. Wynne. Anglo-Saxon wine, friend. Also a Celtic nickname, Identical withGwynne (Chapter XXII). Matthew de Pomfrait Pomfret The usual pronunciation of Pontefract, broken bridge, one of the fewEnglish place-names of purely Latin origin (Chapter XIII). The OldFrench form would be Pont-frait. Richard le Paumer. Palmer. A man who had made pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Chapter XVII). Themodern spelling is restored, but the _l_ remains mute. It is justpossible that this name sometimes means tennis-player, as tennis, Fr. Le jeu de paume, once played with the palm of the hand, is of greatantiquity. Walter Poletar. Pointer. A dealer in poults, i. E. Fowls. For the lengthened form poulterer, cf. Fruiterer for fruiter, and see Chapter XV. Reginald Aurifaber. Goldsmith. The French form orfévre may have given the name Offer. Henry Deubeneye. Daubeney, Dabney. Fr. D'Aubigny. One of the many cases in which the French prepositionhas been incorporated in the name. Cf. Danvers, for d'Anvers, Antwerp, and see Chapter XI. Hundred Rolls Modern Form Richard Knotte Knott From Scandinavian Cnut, Canute. This name is also local, from knot, ahillock, and has of course become confused (Variant Spellings, ChapterIII) with the nickname Nott, with cropped hair (Chapter XXII)-- "Thou nott-pated fool. " (1 Henry IV, ii. 4. ) Walter le Wyte. White The large number of Whites is partly to be accounted for by theirhaving absorbed the name Wight (Chapter XXII) from Mid. Eng. Wiht, valiant. Adam le Sutel. Suttle. Both Eng. Subtle and Fr. Subtil are restored spellings, which do notappear in nomenclature (Chapter III). Fulk de Sancto Edmundo. Tedman. The older form would be Tednam. Bury St. Edmund's is sometimesreferred to as Tednambury. For the mutilation of the word saint inplace-names, see Chapter III. William le Boteler. Butler. More probably a bottle-maker than what we understand by a butler, theorigin being of course the same. Gilbert Lupus Wolf. Wolf, and the Scandinavian Ulf, are both common as personal namesbefore the Conquest, but a good many Modern bearers of the name areGerman Jews (Chapter IV). Old Fr. Lou (loup) is one source of Low. Hundred Rolls Modern Form Stephen Juvenis. Young Senex is rarely found. The natural tendency was to distinguish theyounger man from his father. Senior is generally to be explaineddifferently (Chapter XV). William Braciator. Brewer. The French form brasseur also survives as Bracher and Brasher, thelatter being also confused with Brazier, the worker in brass. John de Cruce. Cross, Crouch. A man who lived near some outdoor cross. The form crouch survives in"Crutched Friars. " Hence also the name Croucher. Matthew le Candeler. Candler, Chandler. Initial c- for ch- shows Norman or Picard origin (Chapter III). Henry Bernard. Barnard, Barnett. The change from _er_ to _ar_ is regular; cf. Clark, and see ChapterIII. The endings -ard, -ald, are generally changed to -ett; cf. Everett for Everard, Barrett for Berald, Garrett for Gerard, Garrard, whence the imitative Garrison for Garretson. William de Bosco. Bush, Busk, Buss. "For there is neither bush nor hay (Chapter XIII)In May that it nyl shrouded bene. " (Romaunt of the Rose, 54. ) The name might also be translated as Wood. The corresponding name ofFrench origin is Boyce or Boyes, Fr. Bois (Chapter XIV). Hundred Rolls Modern Form Henry de Sancta Ositha. Toosey. Cf. Fulk de Sancto Edmundo (supra), and cf. Tooley St. For St. Olave St. (Chapter III). Walter ate Stede. Stead. In this case the preposition has not coalesced, as in Adeane, at thedean, i. E. Hollow, Agate, at gate, etc. (Chapter XII). William le Fevere. Wright, Smith. The French name survives as Feaver and Fevyer. Cf. Also the Lat. Faber, which is not always a modern German importation (Chapter XII). Thomas de Cumbe. Combe, Coombes. A West-country name for a hollow in a hillside (Chapter XII). John State. State, Stacey. Generally for Eustace, but sometimes perhaps for Anastasia, as we findStacey used as a female name (Chapter III). Richard le Teynturier. Dyer, Dexter. Dexter represents Mid. Eng. Dighester, with the feminine agentialsuffix (Chapter XV). Henry le Waleys. Wallis, Walsh, Welch. Literally the foreigner, but especially applied by the English to theWestern Celts. Quelch represents the: Welsh pronunciation. WithWallis cf. Cornwallis, Mid. Eng. Le cornwaleis (Chapter X). John le Bret. Brett, Britton. An inhabitant of Brittany, perhaps resident in that Breton colony inLondon called Little Britain. Bret The Old French nominative ofBreton (Chapter VIII). Hundred Rolls Modern Form Thomas le Clerc. Clark. One of our commonest names. We now spell the common noun clerk byetymological reaction, but educated people pronounce the word as itwas generally written up to the eighteenth century (Chapter III). Stephen le Hatter Hatter The great rarity of this name is a curious problem (Chapter XV). Thename Capper exists, though it is not very common. Thomas le Batur. Thresher. But, being a Londoner, he was more probably a gold-beater, or perhapsa beater of cloth. The name Beater also survives. Alexander de Leycestre Leicester, Lester. For the simpler spelling, once usual and still adopted by those whochalk the names on the mail-vans at St. Pancras, cf. Such names asWorster, Wooster, Gloster, etc. (Chapter XI). Robert le Noreys. Norris, Nurse. Old Fr. Noreis, the Northerner (Chapter XI), or norice (nourrice), thenurse, foster-mother (Chapter XX). Reginald le Blond Blount, Blunt. Fr. Blond, fair. We have also the dim. Blundell. The correspondingEnglish name is Fairfax, from Mid. Eng. Fax, hair (Chapter XXII). Randolf ate Mor. Moor. With the preposition retained (Chapter XII) it hasgiven the Latin-looking Amor. Hundred Rolls Modern Form Matthew le Pevrier. Pepper. For the reduction of pepperer to Pepper cf. Armour for armourer, andsee Chapter XV. Godfrey le Furmager. Cheeseman, Firminger. From Old Fr. Formage (fromage). The intrusion of the n in Firmingeris regular; cf. Massinger, messenger, from Fr. Messager, and seeChapter III. Robert Campeneys. Champness, Champneys. Old Fr. Champeneis (champenois), of Champagne (Chapter XI). John del Pek. Peck, Peaks, Pike, Pick. A name taken from a hill-top, but sometimes referring to the unrelatedDerbyshire Peak. Richard Dygun. Dickens. A diminutive of Dig, for Dick (Chapter VI). Peter le Hoder. Hodder. A maker of hods or a maker of hoods? The latter is more likely. Alan Allutarius. Whittier. Lat. Alutarius, a "white-tawer", Similarly, Mid. Eng. Stan-heawere, stone-hewer, is contracted to Stanier, now almost swallowed up byStainer. The simple tawer is also one origin of the name Tower. Peter le Rus. Russ, Rush, Rouse. Fr. Roux, of red complexion. Cf. The dim. Russell, Fr. Rousseau(Chapter XXII). MIDDLESEX JURYMEN Hundred Rolls Modern Form Roger de la Hale. Hall, Hale, Hales. One of our commonest local surnames. But it has two interpretations, from hall and from heal (Chapter XII). Walter de la Hedge. Hedge, Hedges. Other names of similar meaning are Hay, Hayes, Haig, Haigh, Hawes(Chapter XIII) John Rex King. One of our commonest nicknames, the survival of which is easilyunderstood (Chapter XV). Stephen de la Novels Meyson. Newhouse. Cf. Also Newbigging, from Mid. Eng. Biggen, to 'build (Chapter XIII). Randolf Pokoc. Pocock, Peacock. The simple Poe, Lat. Pavo, has the same meaning (Chapter XXIII). William de Fonte. Spring, Wells, Fountain, Attewell. This is the most usual origin of the name Spring (Chapter IX). Robert del Parer Perrier Old Fr. Périer (poirier), pear-tree. Another origin of Perrier is, through French, from Lat. Petrarius, a stone-hewer. Adam de la Denne. Denne, Dean, Done. A Mid. English name for valley (Chapter XII). Hundred Rolls Modern Form Robertus filius Gillelmi. Wilson. For other possible names to be derived from a father named William, see Chapter VI. William filius Radolfi. Rawson. A very common medieval name, Anglo-Sax. Raedwulf, the origin of ourRalph, Relf, Rolfe, Roff, and of Fr. Raoul. Some of its derivatives, e. G. Rolls, have got mixed with those of Roland. To be distinguishedfrom Randolf or Randall, of which the shorter form is Ran or Rand, whence Rankin, Rands, Rance, etc. STEEPLE CLAYDON COTTAGERS Hundred Rolls Modern Form Andrew Colle Collins, Colley For Nicolas (Chapter V). William Neuman Newman, Newcomb. A man recently settled in the village (Chapter XII). Adam ate Dene Dean, Denne, Adeane. The separate at survives in A'Court and A'Beckett, at the beck head;cf. Allan a' Dale (Chapter XII). Ralph Mydevynter. Midwinter. An old name for Christmas (Chapter IX). William ate Hull. Athill, Hill, Hull. The form hul for hil occurs in Mid. English (Chapter XII). Hundred Rolls Modern Form Gilbert Sutor. Sutor, Soutar. On the poor representation of the shoemaker see Chapter XV. Walter Maraud. It is easy to understand the disappearance of this name-- "A rogue, beggar, vagabond; a varlet, rascall, scoundrell, base knave"(Cotgrave); but it may be represented by Marratt, Marrott, unlessthese are from Mary (Chapter X). Nicholas le P. Ker. This may be expanded into Parker, a park-keeper, Packer, awool-packer, or the medieval Porker, a swine-herd, now lost in Parker. John Stegand Stigand, Stiggins. Anglo-Saxon names survived chiefly among the peasantry (Chapter I). Roger Mercator. Marchant, Chapman. The restored modern spelling merchant has affected the pronunciationof the common noun (Chapter III). The more usual term Chapman iscognate with cheap, chaffer, Chipping, Copenhagen, Ger. Kaufen, tobuy, etc. Adam Hoppe. Hobbs, Hobson, Hopkins. An example of the interchange of b and P (Chapter III). Hob isusually regarded as one of the rimed forms from Robert (Chapter VI). Roger Crom. Crum, Crump. Lit. Crooked, cognate with Ger. Krumm. The final -p of Crump isexcrescent (Chapter III). Stephen Cornevaleis Cornwallis, Cornish. A name which would begin in Devonshire (Chapter XI). Hundred Rolls Modern Form Walter de Ibernia Ireland A much more common name than Scotland, which has been squeezed out byScott (Chapter XI). Matilda filia Matildae Mawson (for Maud-son), Till, Tilley, Tillett, Tillotson, etc. One of the favourite girl-names during the surname period (Chapter X). Ralph Vouler. Fowler A West-country pronunciation; cf. Vowle for Fowell, Vokes for Foakes(Chapter VI), Venn for Fenn, etc. John filius Thomae. Thompson, Tompkins, Tomlin, etc. One of the largest surname families. It includes Toulmin, ametathesis of Tomlin. In Townson and Tonson it coalesces with Tony, Anthony. Henry Bolle. Bull. In this case evidently a nickname (Chapter I). Roger Gyle. Gill. For names in Gil- see Chapter VI. The form in the roll may, however, represent an uncomplimentary nickname, "guile. " Walter Molendarius. Miller, Mellen, Milner. In Milne, Milner, we have the oldest form, representing Vulgar Lat. Molina, mill cf. Kilner, from kiln, Lat. Culina, kitchen. Millard(Chapter XIX) is perhaps sometimes the same name with excrescent -d. Thomas Berker. Barker. A man who stripped bark, also a tanner. But as a surname reinforcedby the Norman form of Fr. Berger, a shepherd (Chapter XV). Hundred Rolls Modern Form Matthew Hedde. Head. Sometimes local, at the head, but here a nickname; cf. Tate, Tail, sometimes from Fr. Tête (Chapter XIII). Richard Joyet. Jowett, Jewett. A diminutive either of Joy or of Julian, Juliana. But it is possiblethat Joy itself is not the abstract noun, but a shortened form ofJulian. Adam Kyg. Ketch, Beach An obsolete adjective meaning lively (Chapter XXII). Simon filius Johannis Nigelli. Johnson, Jones, Jennings, etc. The derivatives of John are numerous and not to be distinguished fromthose of Joan, Jane (Chapter X). The above lists illustrate all the simpler ways in which surnamescould be formed. At the time of compilation they were not hereditary. Thus the last man on the list is Simon Johnson, but his father wasJohn Neilson, or Nelson (Chapter X), and his son would be ---- Simpson, Sims, etc. This would go on until, at a period varying with thelocality, the wealth and importance of the individual, one name in theline would become accidentally petrified and persist to the presentday. The chain could, of course, be broken at any time by theassumption of a name from one of the other three classes (Chapter I). CHAPTER III. SPELLING AND SOUND "Do you spell it with a V or a W?" inquired the judge. "That depends upon the taste and fancy of the speller, my lord, "replied Sam. "I never had occasion to spell it more than once ortwice in my life, but I spells it with a V. " (Pickwick, ch. Xxxiv. ) Many people are particular about the spelling of their names. I ammyself, although, as a student of philology, I ought to know better. The greatest of Englishmen was so careless in the matter as to signhimself Shakspe, a fact usually emphasized by Baconian when speakingof the illiterate clown of Stratford-on-Avon. Equally illiterate musthave been the learned Dr. Crown, who, in the various books hepublished in the latter half of the seventeenth century, spelt hisname, indifferently Cron, Croon, Croun, Crone, Croone, Croune. Themodern spelling of any particular name Is a pure accident. Before theElementary Education Act of 1870 a considerable proportion of Englishpeople did not spell their names at all. They trusted to the parsonand the clerk, who did their best with unfamiliar names. Even now oldpeople in rural districts may find half a dozen orthographic variantsof their own names among the sparse documentary records of theirlives. Dugdale the antiquary is said to have found more than 130variants of Mainwaring among the parchments of that family. Bardsleyquotes, under the name Blenkinsop-- "On April 2 3, 1470, Elizabeth Blynkkynesoppye, of Blynkkynsoppe, widow of Thomas Blynkyensope, of Blynkkensope, received a generalpardon"-- four variants in one sentence. In the List of Foreign Protestants andAliens in England (1618) we have Andrian Medlor and Ellin Medler hiswife, Johan Cosen and Abraham Cozen, brethren. The death of SarahInward, daughter of Richard Inwood, was registered in 1685. VARIANT SPELLINGS Medieval spelling was roughly phonetic, i. E. It attempted to reproducethe sound of the period and region, and even men of learning, as lateas the eighteenth century, were very uncertain in matters oforthography. The spelling of the language is now practicallynormalized, although in conformity with no sort of principle; but thefamily name, as a private possession, has kept its freedom. Thus, ifwe wish to speak poetically of a meadow, I suppose we should call it alea, but the same word is represented by the family names Lea, Lee, Ley, Leigh, Legh, Legge, Lay, Lye, perhaps the largest group of localsurnames we possess. In matters of spelling we observe various tendencies. One is theretention of an archaic form, which does not necessarily affectpronunciation. Late Mid. English was fond of y for i, of doubleconsonants, and of final -e. All these appear in the names Thynne(thin) and Wyllie (wily). Therefore we should not deride the man whowrites himself Smythe. But in some cases the pronunciation suffers, e. G. The name Fry represents Mid. Eng. Fri, one of the forms of theadjective that is now written free. Burt represents Anglo-Sax. Beorht, the normal result of which is Bright. We now write subtle andperfect, artificial words, in the second of which the pronunciationhas been changed in accordance with the restored spelling; but theolder forms survive in the names Suttle and Parfitt-- "He was a verray parfit, gentil knyght. " (A, 72. ) The usual English pronunciation of names like Mackenzie, Menzies, Dalziel, is due to the substitution by the printer of a z for anobsolete letter that represented a soft palatal sound more like y. [Footnote: This substitution has led one writer on surnames, whoapparently confuses bells with beans, to derive the rare surnameBilliter, whence Billiter's Lane in the City, from "Belzetter, i. E. , the Bell-setter. " The Mid. Eng. "bellezeter, campanarius" (Prompt. Parv. ), was a bell-founder, from a verb related to geysir, ingot, andGer. Giessen, to pour. Robert le bellegeter was a freeman of York in1279. ] We have an archaic plural ending in Knollys (Knowles), the plural ofknoll, and in Sandys, and an archaic spelling in Sclater for Slater orSlatter, for both slat and slate come from Old Fr. Esclat (éclat), asplinter. With Knollys and Sandys we may put Pepys, for the existenceof the dims. Pipkin, Peppitt, and Peppiatt points to the medievalname Pipun, corresponding to the royal Pepin. Streatfeild preservesvariant spellings of street and field. In Gardiner we have the OldNorthern French word which now, as a common noun, gardener, isassimilated to garden, the normal French form of which appears inJardine. Such orthographic variants as i and y, Simons, Symons, Ph and f, Jephcott, Jeffcott, s and c, Pearce, Pearce, Rees, Reece, Sellars(cellars), ks and x, Dickson, Dixon, are a matter of taste oraccident. Initial letters which became mute often disappeared inspelling, e. G. Wray, a corner (Chapter XIII), has become hopelesslyconfused with Ray, a roe, Knott, from Cnut, i. E. Canute, or fromdialect knot, a hillock, with Noll, crop-haired. Knowlson is the sonof Nowell (Chapter IX) or of Noll, i. E. Oliver. Therefore, when Mr. X. Asserts that his name has always beenspelt in such and such a way, he is talking nonsense. If hisgreat-grandfather's will is accessible, he will probably find two orthree variants in that alone. The great Duke of Wellington, as ayounger man, signed himself Arthur Wesley-- "He was colonel of Dad's regiment, the Thirty-third foot, after Dadleft the army, and then he changed his name from Wesley to Wellesley, or else the other way about" (KIPLING, Marklake Witches); and I know two families the members of which disagree as to theorthography of their names. We have a curious affectation in suchspellings as ffrench, ffoulkes, etc. , where the ff is merely themethod of indicating the capital letter in early documents. The telescoping of long names is a familiar phenomenon. Well-knownexamples are Cholmondeley, Chumley, Marjoribanks, Marchbanks, Mainwaring, Mannering. Less familiar are Auchinleck, Affleck, Boutevilain, Butlin, Postlethwaite, Posnett, Sudeley, Sully, Wolstenholme, Woosnam. Ensor is from the local Edensor, Cavendish wasregularly Candish for the Elizabethans, while Cavenham in Suffolk hasgiven the surname Canham. Daventry has become Daintree, Dentry, andprobably the imitative Dainty, while Stepson is for Stevenson. It isthis tendency which makes the connection between surnames and villagenames so difficult to establish in many cases, for the artificial nameas it occurs in the gazetteer often gives little clue to the localpronunciation. It is easy to recognize Bickenhall or Bickenhill inBicknell and Puttenham in Putnam, but the identity of Wyndham withWymondham is only clear when we know the local Pronunciation of thelatter name. Milton and Melton are often telescoped forms ofMiddleton. DIALECTIC VARIANTS Dialectic variants must also be taken into account. Briggs and Riggrepresent the Northern forms of Bridges and Ridge, and Philbrick is adisguised Fellbrigg. In Egg we have rather the survival of the Mid. English spelling of Edge. Braid, Lang, Strang, are Northern variantsof Broad, Long, Strong. Auld is for Old while Tamson is for Thompsonand Dabbs for Dobbs (Robert). We have the same change of vowel inRaper, for Roper. Venner generally means hunter, Fr. Veneur, butsometimes represents the West-country form of Fenner, the fen-dweller;cf. Vidler for fiddler, and Vanner for Fanner, the winnower. We all the difficulty we have in catching a new and unfamiliar name, and the subterfuges we employ to find out what it really is. In suchcases we do not get the help from association and analogy which servesus in dealing with language in general, but find ourselves in theposition of a foreigner or child hearing unfamiliar word for the firsttime. We realize how many imperceptible shades there are between ashort i and a short e, or between a fully voiced g and a voiceless k, examples suggested to me by my having lately understood a Mr. Riggs tobe a Mr. Rex. We find occurring in surnames examples of those consonantal changeswhich do not violate the great Phonetic law that such changes can onlyoccur regularly within the same group, i. E. That a labial cannotalternate with a palatal, or a dental with either. It is thus that wefind b alternating with p, Hobbs and Hopps (Robert), Bollinger andPullinger, Fr. Boulanger; g with k, Cutlack and Goodlake (Anglo-Sax. Guthlac), Diggs and Dix (Richard), Gipps and Kipps (Gilbert), Catlinand Galling (Catherine); j with ch, Jubb or Jupp and Chubb (Job); dwith t, Proud and Prout (Chapter XXII), Dyson and Tyson (Dionisia), and also with th, Carrodus and Carruthers (a hamlet in Dumfries). Thealternation of c and ch or g and j in names of French origin isdialectic, the c and g representing the Norman-Picard pronunciation, e. G. Campion for Champion, Gosling for Joslin. In some cases we haveshown a definite preference for one form, e. G. Chancellor andChappell, but Carpenter and Camp. In English names c is northern, chsouthern, e. G. Carlton, Charlton, Kirk, Church. There are also a few very common vowel changes. The sound er usuallybecame ar, as in Barclay (Berkeley), Clark, Darby, Garrard (Gerard), Jarrold (Gerald), Harbord (Herbert), Jarvis (Gervase), Marchant, Sargent, etc. , while Larned, our great-grandfathers' pronunciation of"learned, " corresponds to Fr. Littri. Thus Parkins is the same nameas Perkins. (Peter), and these also give Parks and Perks, the formerof which is usually not connected with Park. To Peter, or rather toFr. Pierre, belong also Parr, Parry and Perry, though Parry isgenerally Welsh (Chapter VI). The dims. Parrott, Perrott, etc. , weresometimes nicknames, the etymology being the same, for our word parrotis from Fr. Pierrot. To the freedom with which this sound is spelt, e. G. In Herd, Heard, Hird, Hurd, we also owe Purkiss for Perkins; cf. Appurtenance for appartenance. The letter l seems also to exercise a demoralizing influence on theadjacent vowel. Juliana became Gillian, and from this, or from themasculine form Julian, we get Jalland, Jolland, and the shortenedGell, Gill (Chapter VI), and Jull. Gallon, which Bardsley groups withthese, is more often a French name, from the Old German Walo, or acorruption of the still commoner French name Galland, likewise ofGermanic origin. We find also such irregular vowel changes as Flinders for Flanders, and conversely Packard for Picard. Pottinger (see below) sometimesbecomes Pettinger as Portugal gives Pettingall. The general tendencyis towards that thinning of the vowel that we get in mister for masterand Miss Miggs's mim for ma'am. Littimer for Lattimer is an exampleof this. But in Royle for the local Ryle we find the same broadeningwhich has given boil, a swelling, for earlier bile. APHESIS Among phonetic changes which occur with more or less regularity arethose called aphesis, epenthesis, epithesis, assimilation, dissimilation, and metathesis, convenient terms which are less learnedthan they appear. Aphesis is the loss of the unaccented firstsyllable, as in 'baccy and 'later. It occurs almost regularly inwords of French origin, e. G. Squire and esquire, Prentice andapprentice. When such double forms exist, the surname invariablyassumes the popular form, e. G. Prentice, Squire. Other examples areBonner, i. E. Debonair, Jenner, Jenoure, for Mid. Eng. Engenour, engineer, Cator, Chaytor, Old Fr. Acatour (acheteur), a buyer-- "A gentil maunciple was they of a temple, Of which achatours mighte take exemple" (A. 567), Spencer, dispenser, a spender, Stacey for Eustace, Vick and Veck forLevick, i. E. L'évêque, the bishop, Pottinger for the obsolete potigar, an apothecary, etc. The institution now known as the "orspittle" was called by ourunlettered forefathers the "spital, " hence the names Spittle andSpittlehouse. A well-known amateur goal-keeper has the appropriatename Fender, for defender. Many names beginning with n are due to aphesis, e. G. Nash for attenash, Nalder, Nelms, Nock, atten oak, Nokes, Nye, atten ey, at theisland, Nangle, atten angle, Nind or Nend, atten ind or end. Withthese we may compare Twells, at wells, and the numerous cases in whichthe first part of a personal name is dropped, e. G. Tolley, Bartholomew, Munn, Edmund, Pott, Philpot, dim. Of Philip (see p. 87), and the less common Facey, from Boniface, and Loney, from Apollonia, the latter of which has also given Applin. When a name compounded with Saint begins with a vowel, we get suchforms as Tedman, St. Edmund, Tobin, St. Aubyn, Toosey, St. Osith, Toomey, St. Omer, Tooley, St. Olave; cf. Tooley St. For St. Olave St. And tawdry from St. Audrey. When the saint's name begins with aconsonant, we get, instead of aphesis, a telescoped pronunciation, e. G. Selinger, St. Leger, Seymour, St. Maur, Sinclair, St. Clair, Semark, St. Mark, Semple, St. Paul, Simper, St. Pierre, Sidney, probably for St. Denis, with which we may compare the educatedpronunciation of St. John. These names are all of local origin, fromchapelries in Normandy or England. Epenthesis is the insertion of a sound which facilitatespronunciation, such as that of b in Fr. Chambre, from Lat. Camera. The intrusive sound may be a vowel or a consonant, as in the namesHenery, Hendry, perversions of Henry. [Footnote: On the usual fate ofthis name in English, see below. ] To Hendry we owe the northern Henderson, which has often coalescedwith Anderson, from Andrew. These are contracted into Henson andAnson, the latter also from Ann and Agnes (Chapter IX). Intrusionof a vowel is seen in Greenaway, Hathaway, heath way, Treadaway, trade (i. E. Trodden) way, etc. , also in Horniman, Alabone, Alban, Minister, minster, etc. But epenthesis of a consonant is more common, especially b or p after m, and d after n. Examples are Gamble forthe Anglo-Saxon name Gamel, Hamblin for Hamlin, a double diminutiveof Hamo, Simpson, Thompson, etc. , and Grindrod, green royd (see p. III). There is also the special case of n before g in such names as Firminger(Chapter XV), Massinger (Chapter XX), Pottinger (Chapter XVIII), etc. EPITHESIS AND ASSIMILATION Epithesis, or the addition of a final consonant, is common inuneducated speech, e. G. Scholard, gownd, garding, etc. I say"uneducated, " but many such forms have been adapted by the language, e. G. Sound, Fr. Son, and we have the name Kitching for kitchen. Theusual additions are -d, -t, or -g after n, e. G. Simmonds, Simon, Hammond, Hammant, Fr. Hamon, Hind, a farm labourer, of which the olderform is Hine (Chapter XVII), Collings for Collins, Jennings, Fr. Jeannin, dim. Of Jean, Aveling from the female name Avelina or Evelyn. Neill is for Neil, Nigel. We have epithetic -b in Plumb, the man wholived by the plum-tree and epithetic -p in Crump (Chapter II). Assimilation is the tendency of a sound to imitate its neighbour. Thus the d of Hud (Chapter I) sometimes becomes t in contact with thesharp s, hence Hutson; Tomkins tends to become Tonkin, whence Tonks, if the m and k are not separated by the epenthetic p, Tompkins. InHopps and Hopkins we have the b of Hob assimilated to the sharp s andk, while in Hobbs we pronounce a final -z. It is perhaps under theinfluence of the initial labial that Milson, son of Miles or Michael, sometimes becomes Milsom, and Branson, son of Brand, appears asBransom. The same group of names is affected by dissimilation, i. E. Theinstinct to avoid the recurrence of the same sound. Thus Ranson, sonof Ranolf or Randolf, becomes Ransom [Footnote: So also Fr, rançongives Eng. Ransom. The French surname Rançon is probably aphetic forLaurançon. ] by dissimilation of one n, and Hanson, son of Han(Chapter I), becomes Hansom. In Sansom we have Samson assimilated toSamson and then dissimilated. Dissimilation especially affects thesounds l, n, r. Bullivant is found earlier as bon enfaunt(Goodchild), just as a braggart Burgundian was called by Tudordramatists a burgullian. Bellinger is for Barringer, an Old Frenchname of Teutonic origin. [Footnote: "When was Bobadil here, yourcaptain? that rogue, that foist, that fencing burgullian" (Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iv. 2). ] Those people called Salisbury whodo not hail from Salesbury in Lancashire must have had an ancestor deSares-bury, for such was the earlier name of Salisbury (Sarum). Anumber of occupative names have lost the last syllable bydissimilation, e. G. Pepper for pepperer, Armour for armourer. Forfurther examples see Chapter XV. It may be noted here that, apart from dissimilation, the sounds l, n, r, have a general tendency to become confused, e. G. Phillimore is forFinamour (Dearlove), which also appears as Finnemore and Fenimore, thelatter also to be explained from fen and moor. Catlin is fromCatherine. Balestier, a cross-bow man, gives Bannister, and Hamnetand Hamlet both occur as the name of one of Shakespeare's sons. Janico or Jenico, Fr. Janicot may be the origin of Jellicoe. We also get the change of r to l in Hal, for Harry, whence Hallett, Hawkins (Halkins), and the Cornish Hockin, Mal or Mol for Mary, whenceMalleson, Mollison, etc. , and Pell for Peregrine. This confusion iscommon in infantile speech, e. G. I have heard a small child expressgreat satisfaction at the presence on the table of "blackbelly dam. " METATHESIS Metathesis, or the transposition of sound, chiefly affects l and r, especially the latter. Our word cress is from Mid. Eng. Kers, whichappears in Karslake, Toulmin is for Tomlin, a double dim. , -el-in, ofTom, Grundy is for Gundry, from Anglo-Sax. Gundred, and Joe Gargerydescended from a Gregory. Burnell is for Brunel, dim. Of Fr. Brun, brown, and Thrupp is for Thorp, a village (Chapter XIII). Stricklandwas formerly Stirkland, Cripps is the same as Crisp, from Mid. Eng. Crisp, curly. Prentis Jankin had-- "Crispe here, shynynge as gold so fyn" (D. 304); and of Fame we are told that "Her heer was oundie (wavy) and crips. " (House of Fame, iii. 296. ) Both names may also be short for Crispin, the etymology being the samein any case. Apps is sometimes for asp, the tree now called by theadjectival name aspen (cf. Linden). We find Thomas atte apse in thereign of Edward III. The letters l, n, r also tend to disappear from no other cause thanrapid or careless pronunciation. Hence we get Home for Holme (Chapter XII), Ferris for Ferrers, aFrench local name, Batt for Bartholomew, Gatty for Gertrude, Dallisonfor d'Alençon. The loss of _r_ after a vowel is also exemplified byFoster for Forster, Pannell and Pennell for Parnell (sometimes), Gathfor Garth (Chapter XIII), and Mash for Marsh. To the loss of n befores we owe such names as Pattison, Paterson, etc. , son of Paton, thedim. Of Patrick, and Robison for Robinson, and also a whole group ofnames like Jenks and Jinks for Jenkins (John), Wilkes for Wilkins, Gilkes, Danks, Perks, Hawkes, Jukes for Judkins (Chapter VI), etc. Here I should also include Biggs, which is not always connected withBigg, for we seldom find adjectival nicknames with -s. It seems torepresent Biggins, from obsolete biggin, a building (Chapter XIII). The French nasal n often disappeared before r. Thus denrée, lit. Apennyworth, appears in Anglo-French as darree. Similarly Henry becameHarry, except in Scotland, and the English Kings of that name werealways called Harry by their subjects. It is to this pronunciationthat we owe the popularity of Harris and Harrison, and the frequencyof Welsh Parry, ap, Harry, as compared with Penry. A compromisebetween Henry and Harry is seen in Hanrott, from the French dim. Henriot. The initial h-, which we regard with such veneration, is treated quitearbitrarily in surnames. We find a well-known medieval poet calledindifferently Occleve and Hoccleve. Harnett is the same as Arnett, for Arnold, Ewens and Heavens are both from Ewan, and Heaven is animitative form of Evan. In Hoskins, from the medieval Osekin, a dim. Of some Anglo-Saxon name such as Oswald (Chapter VII), the aspiratehas definitely prevailed. The Devonshire name Hexter is for Exeter, Arbuckle is a corruption of Harbottle, in Northumberland. The OldFrench name Ancel appears as both Ansell and Hansell, and Earnshawexists side by side with Hearnshaw (Chapter XII). The loss of h is especially common when it is the initial letter of asuffix, e. G. Barnum for Barnham, Haslam, (hazel), Blenkinsop forBlenkin's hope (see hope, Chapter XII), Newall for Newhall, Windle forWind Hill, Tickell for Tick Hill, in Yorkshire, etc. But Barnum andHaslam may also represent the Anglo-Saxon dative plural of the wordsbarn and hazel. A man who minded sheep was once called a Shepard, orSheppard, as he still is, though we spell it shepherd. The letter wdisappears in the same way; thus Greenish is for Greenwich, Horridgefor Horwich, Aspinall for Aspinwall, Millard for Millward, themill-keeper, Boxall for Boxwell, Caudle for Cauldwell (cold); and theAnglo-Saxon names in -win are often confused with those in -ing, e. G. Gooding, Goodwin; Golding, Goldwin; Gunning, Gunwin, etc. In this wayHarding has prevailed over the once equally common Hardwin. BABY PHONETICS Finally, we have to consider what may be called baby phonetics, thesound-changes which seem rather to transgress general phonetic laws. Young children habitually confuse dentals and palatals, thus a childmay be heard to say that he has "dot a told. " This tendency is, however, not confined to children. My own name, which is a veryuncommon one, is a stumbling-block to most people, and when I give itin a shop the scribe has generally got as far as Wheat- before he canbe stopped. We find both Estill and Askell for the medieval Asketil, and Thurtlealternating with Thurkle, originally Thurketil (Chapter VII). Bertenshave is found for Birkenshaw, birch wood, Bartley, sometimesfrom Bartholomew, is more often for Berkeley, and both Lord Bacon andHorace Walpole wrote Twitnam for Twickenham. Jeffcock, dim. OfGeoffrey, becomes Jeffcott, while Glascock is for the local Glascott. Here the palatal takes the place of the dental, as in Brangwin forAnglo-Sax. Brandwine. Middleman is a dialect form of Michaelmas(Chapter IX). We have the same change in tiddlebat for stickleback, aword which exemplifies another point in baby phonetics, viz. The lossof initial s-, as in the classic instance tummy. To this loss ofs- we owe Pick for Spick (Chapter XXIII), Pink for Spink, a dialectword for the chaffinch, and, I think, Tout for Stout. The name Staceyis found as Tacey in old Notts registers. On the other hand, aninorganic s- is sometimes prefixed, as in Sturgess for the olderTurgis. For the loss of s- we may compare Shakespeare's parmaceti (1Henry IV. I. 3), and for its addition the adjective spruce, fromPruce, i. E. Prussia. We also find the infantile confusion between th and f e. G. In Selfe, which appears to represent a personal name Seleth, probably fromAnglo-Sax, saelth, bliss. Perhaps also in Fripp for Thripp, a variantof Thrupp, for Thorp. Bickerstaffe is the name of a place inLancashire, of which the older form appears in Bickersteth, and thelocal name Throgmorton is spelt by Camden Frogmorton, just as Pepysinvariably writes Queenhive for Queenhythe. Such are some of the commoner phenomena to be noticed in connectionwith the spelling and sound of our names. The student must alwaysbear in mind that our surnames date from a period when nearly thewhole population was uneducated. Their modern forms depend on allsorts of circumstances, such as local dialect, time of adoption, successive fashions in pronunciation and the taste and fancy of thespeller. They form part of our language, that is, of a living andever-changing organism. Some of us are old enough to remember theconfusion between initial v and w which prompted the judge's questionto Mr. Weller. The vulgar i for a, as in "tike the kike, " has beenevolved within comparatively recent times, as well as the loss offinal -g, "shootin and huntin, " in sporting circles. In the wordwarmint-- "What were you brought up to be?" "A warmint, dear boy" (Great Expectations, ch. Xl. ), we have three phonetic phenomena, all of which have influenced theform and sound of modern surnames, e. G. In Winter, sometimes forVinter, i. E. Vintner, Clark for Clerk, and Bryant for Bryan; andsimilar changes have been in progress all through the history of ourlanguage. In conclusion it may be remarked that the personal and accidentalelement, which has so much to do with the development of surnames, releases this branch of philology to some extent from the iron rule ofthe phonetician. Of this the preceding pages give examples. Thename, not being subject as other words are to a normalizing influence, is easily affected by the traditional or accidental spelling. Otherwise Fry would be pronounced Free. The o is short in Robin andlong in Probyn, and yet the names are the same (Chapter VI). Sloperand Smoker mean a maker of slops and smocks respectively, and Smale isan archaic spelling of Small, the modern vowel being in each caselengthened by the retention of an archaic spelling. The lateProfessor Skeat rejects Bardsley's identification of Waring with OldFr. Garin or Warin, because the original vowel and the suffix are bothdifferent. But Mainwaring, which is undoubtedly from mesnil-Warin(Chapter XIV), shows Bardsley to be right. CHAPTER IV. BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON "Talbots and Stanleys, St. Maurs and such-like folk, have led armiesand made laws time out of mind; but those noble families would besomewhat astonished-if the accounts ever came to be fairly taken-tofind how small their work for England has been by the side of that ofthe Browns. " (Tom Brown's Schooldays, ch. I. ) Brown, Jones, and Robinson have usurped in popular speech positionsproperly belonging to Smith, Jones and Williams. But the highposition of Jones and Williams is due to the Welsh, who, replacing astring of Aps by a simple genitive at a comparatively recent date, have given undue prominence to a few very common names; cf. Davies, Evans, etc. If we consider only purely English names, the triumviratewould be Smith, Taylor, and Brown. Thus, of our three commonestnames, the first two are occupative and the third is a nickname. French has no regular equivalent, though Dupont and Durand aresometimes used in this way-- "Si Chateaubriand avait eu nom Durand ou Dupont, qui sait si son Géniedu Christianisme n'eût point passé pour une capucinade?" (F. Brunetiére. ) The Germans speak of Müller, Meyer and Schulze, all rural names, andit is perhaps characteristic that two of them are official. Meyer isan early loan from Lat. Major, and appears to have originally meantsomething like overseer. Later on it acquired the meaning of farmer, in its proper sense of one who farms, i. E. Manages on a profit-sharingsystem, the property of another. It is etymologically the same as ourMayor, Mair, etc. Schulze, a village magistrate, is cognate with Ger. Schuld, debt, and our verb shall. OCCUPATIVE NAMES Taking the different classes of surnames separately, the six commonestoccupative names are Smith, Taylor, Clark, Wright, Walker, Turner. Ifwe exclude Clark, as being more often a nickname for the man who couldread and write, the sixth will be Cooper, sometimes spelt Cowper. The commanding position of Smith is due to the fact that it wasapplied to all workers in every kind of metal. The modern Smiths nodoubt include descendants of medieval blacksmiths, whitesmiths, bladesmiths, locksmiths, and many others, but the compounds are notcommon as surnames. We find, however, Shoosmith, Shearsmith, andNasmyth, the last being more probably for earlier Knysmith, i. E. Knife-smith, than for nail-smith, which was supplanted by Naylor. Grossmith I guess to be an accommodated form of the Ger. Grobschmied, blacksmith, lit. Rough smith, and Goldsmith is very often a Jewishname for Ger. Goldschmid. Wright, obsolete perhaps as a trade name, has given many compounds, including Arkwright, a maker of bins, or arks as they were oncecalled, Tellwright, a tile maker, and many others which need nointerpretation. The high position of Taylor is curious, for therewere other names for the trade, such as Seamen, Shapster, Parmenter(Chapter XVIII), and neither Tailleur nor Letailleur are particularlycommon in French. The explanation is that this name has absorbed themedieval Teler and Teller, weaver, ultimately belonging to Lat. Tela, a web;--cf. The very common Fr. Tellier and Letellier. In some casesalso the Mid. Eng. Teygheler, Tyler, has been swallowed up. Walker, i. E. Trampler, meant a cloth fuller, but another origin has helped toswell the numbers of the clan-- "Walkers are such as are otherwise called foresters. They areforesters assigned by the King, who are walkers within a certain spaceof ground assigned to their care" (Cowel's Interpreter). Cooper, a derivative of Lat. Cupa or cuppa, a vessel, is cognate withthe famous French name Cuvier, which has given our Cover, though thismay also be for coverer, i. E. Tiler (Chapter XV). Of occupative names which have also an official meaning, the threecommonest are Ward, Bailey, and Marshall. Ward, originally abstract, is the same word as Fr. Garde. Bailey, Old Fr. Bailif (bailli), ranges from a Scottish magistrate to a man in possession. It isrelated to bail and to bailey, a ward in a fortress, as in Old Bailey. Bayliss may come from the Old French nominative bailis (Chapter I), ormay be formed like Parsons, etc. (Chapter XV). Marshall (Chapter XX)may stand for a great commander or a shoeing-smith, still calledfarrier-marshal in the army. The first syllable is cognate with mareand the second means servant. Constable, Lat. Comes stabuli, stableman, has a similar history. THE DISTRIBUTION OF NAMES The commonest local names naturally include none taken from particularplaces. The three commonest are Hall, Wood and Green, from residenceby the great house, the wood, and the village green. Cf. The Frenchnames Lasalle, Dubois, Dupré. Hall is sometimes for Hale (ChapterII), and its Old French translation is one source of Sale. Next tothese come Hill, Moore, and Shaw (Chapter XII); but Lee would probablycome among the first if all its variants were taken into account(Chapter III). Of baptismal names used unaltered as surnames the six commonest areThomas, Lewis, Martin, James, Morris, Morgan. Here again the Welshelement is strong, and four of these names, ending in -s, belong alsoto the next group, i. E. The class of surnames formed from the genitiveof baptismal names. The frequent occurrence of Lewis is partly due toits being adopted as a kind of translation of the Welsh Llewellyn, butthe name is often a disguised Jewish Levi, and has nearly absorbed thelocal Lewes. Next to the above come Allen, Bennett, Mitchell, all ofFrench introduction. Mitchell may have been reinforced by Mickle, thenorthern for Bigg. It is curious that these particularly commonnames, Martin, Allen, Bennett (Benedict), Mitchell (Michael), haveformed comparatively few derivatives and are generally found in theirunaltered form. Three of them are from famous saints' names, whileAllen, a Breton name which came in with the Conquest, has probablyabsorbed to some extent the Anglo-Saxon name Alwin (Chapter VII). Martin is in some cases an animal nickname, the marten. Among thegenitives Jones, Williams, and Davi(e)s lead easily, followed byEvans, Roberts, and Hughes, all Welsh in the main. Among the twelvecommonest names of this class those that are not preponderantly Welshare Roberts, Edwards, Harris, Phillips, and Rogers. Another Welshpatronymic, Price (Chapter VI), is among the fifty commonest Englishnames. The classification of names in -son raises the difficult question asto whether Jack represents Fr. Jacques, or whether it comes fromJankin, Jenkin, dim. Of John. [Footnote: See E. B. Nicholson, ThePedigree of Jack. ] Taking Johnson and Jackson as separate names, we get the orderJohnson, Robinson, Wilson, Thompson, Jackson, Harrison. The variantsof Thompson might put it a place or two higher. Names in -kins(Distribution of names, Chapter IV), though very numerous in someregions, are not so common as those in the above classes. It would behard to say which English font-name has given the largest number offamily names. In Chapter V. Will be found some idea of thebewildering and multitudinous forms they assume. It has beencalculated, I need hardly say by a German professor, that the possiblenumber of derivatives from one given name is 6, 000, but fortunatelymost of the seeds are abortive. Of nicknames Brown, Clark, and White are by far the commonest. Thencomes King, followed by the two adjectival nicknames Sharp and Young. The growth of towns and facility of communication are now bringingabout such a general movement that most regions would accept Brown, Jones and Robinson as fairly typical names. But this was not alwaysso. Brown is still much commoner in the north than in the south, andat one time the northern Johnson and Robinson contrasted with thesouthern Jones and Roberts, the latter being of comparatively modernorigin in Wales (Chapter IV). Even now, if we take the farmer class, our nomenclature is largely regional, and the directories even of ourgreat manufacturing towns represent to a great extent the medievalpopulation of the rural district around them. [Footnote: See Guppy, Homes of Family Names. ] The names Daft and Turney, well known inNottingham, appear in the county in the Hundred Rolls. Cheetham, thename of a place now absorbed in Manchester, is as a surname ten timesmore numerous there than in London, and the same is true of manycharacteristic north-country names, such as the Barraclough, Murgatroyd, and Sugden of Charlotte Brontë's Shirley. Thetransference of Murgatroyd (Chapter XII) to Cornwall, in Gilbert andSullivan's Ruddigore, must have been part of the intentionaltopsy-turvydom in which those two bright spirits delighted. Diminutives in -kin, from the Old Dutch suffix -ken, are still foundin greatest number on the east coast that faces Holland, or in Wales, where they were introduced by the Flemish weavers who settled inPembrokeshire in the reign of Henry I. It is in the border counties, Cheshire, Shropshire, Hereford, and Monmouth, that we find the oldWelsh names such as Gough, Lloyd, Onion (Enion), Vaughan (ChapterXXII). The local Gape, an opening in the cliffs, is pretty wellconfined to Norfolk, and Puddifoot belongs to Bucks and the adjacentcounties as it did in 1273. The hall changes hands as one conqueringrace succeeds another-- "Where is Bohun? Where is de Vere? The lawyer, the farmer, the silkmercer, lies perdu under the coronet, and winks to the antiquary tosay nothing" (Emerson, English Traits), but the hut keeps its ancient inhabitants. The descendant of theAnglo-Saxon serf who cringed to Front de Boeuf now makes wayrespectfully for Isaac of York's motor, perhaps on the very spot wherehis own fierce ancestor first exchanged the sword for the ploughsharelong before Alfred's day. CHAPTER V. THE ABSORPTION OF FOREIGN NAMES "I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, whosettled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandize, andleaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence hemarried my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very goodfamily in that country, and from whom I was called RobinsonKreutznaer; but by the usual corruption of words in English, we arenow called--nay, we call ourselves and write our name--Crusoe" (RobinsonCrusoe, ch. I. ). Any student of our family nomenclature must be struck by the fact thatthe number of foreign names now recognizable in England is out of allproportion to the immense number which must have been introduced atvarious periods of our history. Even the expert, who is often able todetect the foreign name in its apparently English garb, cannot rectifythis disproportion for us. The number of names of which the presentform can be traced back to a foreign origin is inconsiderable whencompared with the much larger number assimilated and absorbed by theAnglo-Saxon. THE HUGUENOTS The great mass of those names of French or Flemish origin which do notdate back to the Conquest or to medieval times are due to theimmigration of Protestant refugees in the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies. It is true that many names for which Huguenot ancestry isclaimed were known in England long before the Reformation. Thus, Bulteel is the name of a refugee family which came from Tournay aboutthe year 1600, but the same name is found in the Hundred Rolls Of1273. The Grubbe family, according to Burke, came from Germany about1450, after the Hussite persecution; but we find the name in Englandtwo centuries earlier, "without the assistance of a foreignpersecution to make it respectable" (Bardsley, Dictionary of EnglishSurnames). The Minet family is known to be of Huguenot origin, butthe same name also figures in the medieval Rolls. The fact is thatthere was all through the Middle Ages a steady immigration offoreigners, whether artisans, tradesmen, or adventurers, some of whosenames naturally reappear among the Huguenots. On several occasionslarge bodies of Continental workmen, skilled in special trades, werebrought into the country by the wise policy of the Government. Likethe Huguenots later on, they were protected by the State andpersecuted by the populace, who resented their habits of industry andsobriety. During the whole period of the religious troubles in France andFlanders, starting from the middle of the sixteenth century, refugeeswere reaching this country in a steady stream; but after theRevocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) they arrived in thousands, and the task of providing for them and helping on their absorptioninto the population became a serious problem. Among the better classof these immigrants was to be found the flower of French intellect andenterprise, and one has only to look through an Army or Navy list, orto notice the names which are prominent in the Church, at the Bar, andin the higher walks of industry and commerce, to realize the madnessof Louis XIV. And the wisdom of the English Government. Here are a few taken at random from Smiles's History of theHuguenots--Bosanquet, Casaubon, Chenevix Trench, Champion de Crespigny, Dalbiac, Delane, Dollond, Durand, Fonblanque, Gambier, Garrick, Layard, Lefanu, Lefroy, Ligonier, Luard, Martineau, Palairet, Perowne, Plimsoll, Riou, Romilly--all respectable and many distinguished, evencricket being represented. These more educated foreigners usuallykept their names, sometimes with slight modifications which do notmake them unrecognizable. Thus, Bouverie, literally "ox-farm, " isgenerally found in its unaltered form, though the London Directory hasalso examples of the perverted Buffery. But the majority of theimmigrants were of the artisan class and illiterate. This explainsthe extraordinary disappearance, in the course of two centuries, ofthe thousands of French names which were introduced between 1550 and1700. We have many official lists of these foreigners, and in these lists wecatch the foreign name in the very act of transforming itself intoEnglish. This happens sometimes by translation, e. G. Poulain becameColt, Poisson was reincarnated as Fish, and a refugee bearing thesomewhat uncommon name Petitoeil transformed himself into Little-eye, which became in a few generations Lidley. But comparatively fewsurnames were susceptible of such simple treatment, and in the greatmajority of cases the name underwent a more or less arbitraryperversion which gave it a more English physiognomy. Especiallyinteresting from this point of view is the list of--"Straungersresiding and dwellinge within the city of London and the libertiesthereof, " drawn up in 1618. The names were probably taken down by theofficials of the different wards, who, differing themselves inintelligence and orthography, produced very curious results. As a rule the Christian name is translated, while the surname iseither assimilated to some English form or perverted according to thetaste and fancy of the individual constable. Thus, John Garret, aDutchman, is probably Jan Gerard, and James Flower, a milliner, bornin Rouen, is certainly Jaques Fleur, or Lafleur. John de Cane andPeter le Cane are Jean Duquesne and Pierre Lequesne (Norman quêne, oak), though the former may also have come from Caen. John Buck, fromRouen, is Jean Bouc, and Abraham Bushell, from Rochelle, was probablya Roussel or Boissel. James King and John Hill, both Dutchmen, areobvious translations of common Dutch names, while Henry Powell, aGerman, is Heinrich Paul. Mary Peacock, from Dunkirk, and JohnBonner, a Frenchman, I take to be Marie Picot and Jean Bonheur, whileNicholas Bellow is surely Nicolas Belleau. Michael Leman, born inBrussels, may be French Leman or Lemoine, or perhaps German Lehmann. To each alien's name is appended that of the monarch whose subject hecalls himself, but a republic is outside the experience of oneconstable, who leaves an interrogative blank after Cristofer Switcher, born at Swerick (Zürich) in Switcherland. The surname so ingeniouslycreated appears to have left no pedagogic descendants. In some casesthe harassed Bumble has lost patience, and substituted a plain Englishname for foreign absurdity. To the brain which christened OliverTwist we owe Henry Price, a subject of the King of Poland, LewisJackson, a "Portingall, " and Alexander Faith, a steward to the VeniceAmbassador, born in the dukedom of Florence. PERVERSIONS OF FOREIGN NAMES In the returns made outside the bounds of the city proper the alienshave added their own signatures, or in some cases made their marks. Jacob Alburtt signs himself as Jacob Elbers, and Croft Castell asKraft Kassels. Harman James is the official translation of HermannJacobs, Mary Miller of Marija Moliner, and John Young of Jan le Jeune. Gyllyam Spease, for Wilbert Spirs, seems to be due to a Welshconstable, and Chrystyan Wyhelhames, for Cristian Welselm, looks likea conscientious attempt at Williams. One registrar, with a phoneticsystem of his own, has transformed the Dutch Moll into the morefamiliar Maule, and has enriched his list with Jannacay Yacopes forJantje Jacobs. Lowe Luddow, who signs himself Louij Ledou, seems tobe Louis Ledoux. An alien who writes himself Jann Eisankraott (Ger. Eisenkraut? ) cannot reasonably complain plain at being transformedinto John Isacrocke, but the substitution of John Johnson for JansenVandrusen suggests that this individual's case was taken at the end ofa long day's work. These examples, taken at random, show how the French and Flemish namesof the humbler refugees lost their foreign appearance. In many casesthe transformation was etymologically justified. Thus, some of ourDruitts and Drewetts may be descended from Martin Druett, the firstname on the list. But this is probably the common French name Drouetor Drouot, assimilated to the English Druitt, which we find in 1273. And both are diminutives of Drogo, which occurs in Domesday Book, andis, through Old French, the origin of our Drew. But in many cases thename has been so deformed that one can only guess at the continentaloriginal. I should conjecture, for instance, that the curious nameShoppee is a corruption of Chappuis, the Old French for a carpenter, and that Jacob Shophousey, registered as a German cutler, came fromSchaffhausen. In this particular region of English nomenclature alittle guessing is almost excusable. The law of probabilities makesit mathematically certain that the horde of immigrants includedrepresentatives of all the very common French family names, and itwould be strange if Chappuis were absent. This process of transformation is still going on in a small way, especially in our provincial manufacturing towns, in which most largecommercial undertakings have slipped from the nerveless grasp of theAnglo-Saxon into the more capable and prehensile fingers of theforeigner-- "Hilda then learnt that Mrs. Gailey had married a French modellernamed Canonges. . . And that in course of time the modeller hadinformally changed the name to Cannon, because no one in the fivetowns could pronounce the true name rightly. " (Arnold Bennett, Hilda Lessways, i. 5. ) This occurs most frequently in the case of Jewish names of Germanorigin. Thus, Löwe becomes Lowe or Lyons, Meyer is transformed intoMyers, Goldschmid into Goldsmith, Kohn into Cowan, Levy into Lee orLewis, Salamon into Salmon, Hirsch or Hertz into Hart, and so on. Sometimes a bolder flight is attempted-- "Leopold Norfolk Gordon had a house in Park Lane, and ever so manypeople's money to keep it up with. As may be guessed from his name, he was a Jew. " (Morley Roberts, Lady Penelope, ch. Ii. ) JEWISH NAMES The Jewish names of German origin which are now so common in Englandmostly date from the beginning of the nineteenth century, when lawswere passed in Austria, Prussia and Bavaria to compel all Jewishfamilies to adopt a fixed surname. Many of them chose personal names, e. G. Jakobs, Levy, Moses, for this purpose, while others namedthemselves from their place of residence, e. G. Cassel, Speyer(Spires), Hamburg, often with the addition of the syllable -er, e. G. Darmesteter, Homburger. Some families preferred descriptive namessuch as Selig (Chapter XXII), Sonnenschein, Goldmann, or inventedpoetic and gorgeous place-names such as Rosenberg, Blumenthal, Goldberg, Lilienfeld. The oriental fancy also showed itself in suchnames as Edelstein, jewel, Glueckstein, luck stone, Rubinstein, ruby, Goldenkranz, golden wreath, etc. [Footnote: Our Touchstone would seemalso to be a nickname. The obituary of a Mr. Touchstone appeared inthe Manchester Guardian, December 12, 1912. ] It is owing to theexistence of the last two groups that our fashionable intelligence isnow often so suggestive of a wine-list. Among animal names adoptedthe favourites were Adler, eagle, Hirsch, hart, Löwe, lion, and Wolf, each of which is used with symbolic significance in the Old Testament. CHAPTER VI. TOM, DICK AND HARRY "Watte vocat, cui Thomme venit, neque Symme retardat, Betteque, Gibbe simul, Hykke venire jubent;Colle furit, quem Geffe juvat nocumenta parantes, Cum quibus ad dampnum Wille coire vovet. Grigge rapit, dum Dawe strepit, comes est quibus Hobbe, Lorkyn et in medio non minor esse putat:Hudde ferit, quem Judde terit, dum Tebbe minatur, Jakke domosque viros vellit et ense necat. " (GOWER, On Wat Tyler's Rebellion. ) Gower's lines on the peasant rebels give us some idea of the nameswhich were most popular in the fourteenth century, and which haveconsequently impressed themselves most strongly on our modernsurnames. It will be noticed that one member of the moderntriumvirate, Harry, or Hal, is absent. [Footnote: The three nameswere not definitely established till the nineteenth century. Beforethat period they had rivals. French says Pierre et Paul, and GermanHeinz and Kunz, i. E. Heinrich and Conrad. ] The great popularity ofthis name probably dates from a rather later period and is connectedwith the exploits of Henry V. Moreover, all the names, with thepossible exception of Hud, are of French introduction and occur rarelybefore the Conquest. The old Anglo-Saxon names did survive, especially in the remoter parts of the country, and have given us manysurnames (see ch. Vii. ), but even in the Middle Ages people had apreference for anything that came over with the Conqueror. Frenchnames are nearly all of German origin, the Celtic names and the Latinnames which encroached on them having been swept away by the Frankishinvasion, a parallel to the wholesale adoption of Norman names inEngland. Thus our name Harvey, no longer usual as a font-name, is Fr. Herod, which represents the heroic German name Herewig, to the secondsyllable of which belongs such an apparently insignificant name asWigg. MEDIEVAL FONT-NAMES The disappearance of Latin names is not to be regretted, for the Latinnomenclature was of the most unimaginative description, while the OldGerman names are more like those of Greece; e. G. Ger. Ludwig, whichhas passed into most of the European languages (Louis, Lewis, Ludovico, etc), is from Old High Ger. Hlut-wig, renowned in fight, equivalent to the Greek Clytomachus, with one-half of which it isetymologically cognate. Some of the names in Gower's list, e. G. Watte (Chapter I), Thomme, Symme, Geffe (Chapter VI), Wille, Jakke, are easily recognized. Betteis for Bat, Bartholomew, a name, which has given Batty, Batten, Bates, Bartle (cf. Bartlemas), Bartlett, Badcock, Batcock. But this group ofnames belongs also to the Bert- or -bent, which is so common inTeutonic names, such as Bertrand, Bertram, Herbert, Hubert, many ofwhich reached us in an Old French form. For the loss of the _r_, cf. Matty from Martha. Gibe is for Gilbert. Hick is rimed on Dick:(Chapter VI). Colle is for Nicolas. Grig is for Gregory, whenceGregson and Scottish Grier. Dawe, for David, alternated with Day andDow, which appear as first element in many surnames, though Day hasanother origin (Chapter XIX) and Dowson sometimes belongs to thefemale name Douce, sweet. Hobbe is a rimed form from Robert. Lorkyn, or Larkin, is for Lawrence, for which we also find Law, Lay, and Low, whence Lawson, Lakin, Lowson, Locock, etc. For Hudde see Chapters I, VII. Judde, from the very popular Jordan, has given Judson, Judkins, and the contracted Jukes. Jordan (Fr. Jourdain, Ital. Giordano) seemsto have been adopted as a personal name in honour of John the Baptist. Tebbe is for Theobald (Chapter I). THE COMMONEST FONT-NAMES Many people, in addressing a small boy with whom they areunacquainted, are in the habit of using Tommy as a name to which anysmall boy should naturally answer. In some parts of Polynesia thenatives speak of a white Mary or a black Mary, i. E. Woman, just as theWalloons round Mons speak of Marie bon bec, a shrew, Marie grognon, aMrs. Gummidge, Marie quatre langues, a chatterbox, and several otherMaries still less politely described. We have the modern silly Johnnyfor the older silly Billy, while Jack Pudding is in German Hans Wurst, John Sausage. Only the very commonest names are used in this way, and, if we had no further evidence, the rustic Dicky bird, Robinredbreast, Hob goblin, Tom tit, Will o' the Wisp, Jack o' lantern, etc. , would tell us which have been in the past the most popularEnglish font-names. During the Middle Ages there was a kind of raceamong half a dozen favourite names, the prevailing order being John, William, Thomas, Richard, Robert, with perhaps Hugh as sixth. Now, for each of these there is a reason. John, a favourite name inso many languages (Jean, Johann, Giovanni, Juan, Ian, Ivan, etc. ), asthe name of the Baptist and of the favoured disciple, defied even theunpopularity of our one King of that name. The special circumstancesattending the birth and naming of the Baptist probably supplied thechief factor in its triumph. For some time after the Conquest William led easily. We usuallyadopted the W- form from the north-east of France, but Guillaume hasalso supplied a large number of surnames in Gil-, which have gotinextricably mixed up with those derived from Gilbert, Gillian(Juliana), and Giles. Gilman represents the French dim. Guillemin, the local-looking Gilliam is simply Guillaume, and Wilmot correspondsto Fr. Guillemot. The doubting disciple held a very insignificant place until the shrineof St. Thomas of Canterbury became one of the holy places ofChristendom. To Thomas belong Macey, Massie, and Masson, dims. OfFrench aphetic forms, but the first two are also from Old French formsof Matthew, and Masson is sometimes an alternative form of Mason. Robert and Richard were both popular Norman names. The first wasgreatly helped by Robin Hood and the second by the Lion-Heart. The name Hugh was borne by several saints, the most famous of whom inEngland was the child-martyr, St. Hugh of Lincoln, said to have beenmurdered by the Jews C. 1250. It had a dim. Huggin and also the formsHew and How, whence Hewett, Hewlett, Howitt, Howlett, etc. , while fromthe French dim. Huchon we get Hutchin and its derivatives, and alsoHouchin. Hugh also appears in the rather small class of namesrepresented by Littlejohn, Meiklejohn, etc. [Footnote: This formationseems to be much commoner in French. In the "Bottin" I findGrandblaise, Grandcollot (Nicolas), Grandgeorge, Grandgérard, Grandguillaume, Grandguillot, Grandjacques, Grand-jean, Grandperrin(Pierre), Grandpierre, Grandremy, Grandvincent, and Petitcolin, Petitdemange (Dominique), Petitdidier (Desiderius), Petit-Durand, Petit-Etienne (Stephen), Petit-Gérard, Petit-Huguenin, Petitjean, Petitperrin, Petit-Richard. ] We find Goodhew, Goodhue. Cf. Gaukroger, i. E. Awkward Roger, and Goodwillie. But the more usualorigin of Goodhew, Goodhue is from Middle Eng. Heave, servant, hind. Cf. Goodhind. Most of the other names in Gower's list have been prolific. We mightadd to them Roger, whence Hodge and Dodge, Humfrey, which did not lenditself to many variations, and Peter, from the French form of which wehave many derivatives (Chapter III), including perhaps the HuguenotPerowne, Fr. Perron, but this can also be local, du Perron, theetymology, Lat. Petra, rock, remaining the same. The absence of the great names Alfred [Footnote: The name Alured isdue to misreading of the older Alvred, v being written u in old MSS. Allfrey is from the Old French form of the name. ] and Edward is notsurprising, as they belonged to the conquered race. Though Edward wasrevived as the name of a long line of Kings, its contribution tosurnames has been small, most names in Ed-, Ead-, e. G. Ede, Eden, Edison, Edkins, Eady, etc. , belonging rather to the once popularfemale name Eda or to Edith, though in some cases they are from Edwardor other Anglo-Saxon names having the same initial syllable. James isa rare name in medieval rolls, being represented by Jacob, and nodoubt partly by Jack (Chapter IV). It is-- "Wrested from Jacob, the same as Jago [Footnote: Jago is found, withother Spanish names, in Cornwall; cf. Bastian or Baste, forSebastian. ] in Spanish, Jaques in French; which some FrenchifiedEnglish, to their disgrace, have too much affected" (Camden). It appears in Gimson, Jemmett, and the odd-looking Gem, while itsFrench form is somewhat disguised in Jeakes and Jex. FASHIONS IN FONT-NAMES The force of royal example is seen in the popularity under the Angevinkings of Henry, or Harry, Geoffrey and Fulk, the three favourite namesin that family. For Harry see Chapter III. Geoffrey, from Ger. Gottfried, Godfrey, has given us a large number of names in Geff-, Jeff-, and Giff-, Jiff-, and probably also Jebb, Gepp and Jepson, while to Fulk we owe Fewkes, Foakes, Fowkes, Vokes, etc. , and perhapsin some cases Fox. But it is impossible to catalogue all the popularmedieval font-names. Many others will be found scattered through thisbook as occasion or association suggests them. Three names whose poor representation is surprising are Arthur, Charles and George, the two great Kings of medieval romance and thepatron saint of Merrie England. All three are fairly common in theirunaltered form, and we find also Arter for Arthur. But they havegiven few derivatives, though Atkins, generally from Ad-, i. E. Adam, may sometimes be from Arthur (cf. Bat for Bart, Matty for Martha, etc. ). Arthur is a rare medieval font-name, a fact no doubt due tothe sad fate of King John's nephew. Its modern popularity dates fromthe Duke of Wellington, while Charles and George were raised fromobscurity by the Stuarts and the Brunswicks. To these might be addedthe German name Frederick, the spread of which was due to the fame ofFrederick the Great. It gave, however, in French the dissimilatedFerry, one source of our surnames Ferry, Ferris, though the former isgenerally local. [Footnote: "For Frideric, the English have commonlyused Frery and Fery, which hath been now a long time a Christian namein the ancient family of Tilney, and lucky to their house, as theyreport. " (Camden. )] If, on the other hand, we take from Gower's list a name which isto-day comparatively rare, e. G. Gilbert, we find it represented by awhole string of surnames, e. G. Gilbart, Gibbs, Gibson, Gibbon, Gibbins, Gipps, Gipson, to mention only the most familiar. From theFrench dim. Gibelot we get the rather rare Giblett; cf. Hewlett forHew-el-et, Hamlet for Ham-el-et (Hamo), etc. DERIVATIVES OF FONT-NAMES In forming patronymics from personal names, it is not always the firstsyllable that is selected. In Toll, Tolley, Tollett, fromBartholomew, the second has survived, while Philpot, dim. Of Philip, has given Potts. From Alexander we get Sanders and Saunders. But, taking, for simplicity, two instances in which the first syllable hassurvived, we shall find plenty of instruction in those two pretty menRobert and Richard. We have seen (Chapter VI) that Roger gave Hodgeand Dodge, which, in the derivatives Hodson and Dodson, have coalescedwith names derived from Odo and the Anglo-Sax. Dodda (Chapter VII). Similarly Robert gave Rob, Hob and Dob, and Richard gave Rick, Hickand Dick. [Footnote: I believe, however, that Hob is in some casesfrom Hubert, whence Hubbard, Hibbert, Hobart, etc. ] Hob, whence Hobbs, was sharpened into Hop, whence Hopps. The diminutive Hopkin, passinginto Wales, gave Popkin, just as ap-Robin became Probyn, ap-Hugh Pugh, ap-Owen Bowen, etc. In the north Dobbs became Dabbs (p. A. Hob alsodeveloped another rimed form Nob cf. To "hob-nob" with anyone), whence Nobbs and Nabbs, the latter, of course, being sometimes rimedon Abbs, from Abel or Abraham. Bob is the latest variant and has notformed many surnames. Richard has a larger family than Robert, for, besides Rick, Hick and Dick, we have Rich and Hitch, Higg and Digg. The reader will be able to continue this genealogical tree forhimself. The full or the shortened name can become a surname, either withoutchange, or with the addition of the genitive -s or the word -son, theformer more usual in the south, the latter in the north. To take asimple case, we find as surnames William, Will, Williams, Wills, Williamson, Wilson. [Footnote: This suffix has squeezed out all theothers, though Alice Johnson is theoretically absurd. In Mid. Englishwe find daughter, father, mother, brother and other terms ofrelationship used in this way, e. G. In 1379, Agnes Dyconwyfdowson, thewife of Dow's son Dick. Dawbarn, child of David, is still found. Seealso Chapter XXI] From the short form we get diminutives by means of the Englishsuffixes -ie or -y (these especially in the north), -kin (Chapter IV), and the French suffixes -et, -ot (often becoming -at in English), -in, -on (often becoming -en in English). Thus Willy, Wilkie, Willett. Igive a few examples of surnames formed from each class Ritchie (Richard), Oddy (Odo, whence also Oates), Lambie (Lambert), Jelley (Julian); [Footnote: Lamb is also, of course, a nickname cf. Agnew, Fr. Agneau] Dawkins, Dawkes (David), Hawkins, Hawkes (Hal), Gilkins (Geoffrey), Perkins, Perks (Peter), Rankin (Randolf); Gillett (Gil, Chapter VI), Collett (Nicholas), Bartlett (Bartholomew), Ricketts (Richard), Marriott, Marryat (Mary), Elliott (Elias, seeChapter IX), Wyatt (Guy), Perrott (Peter); Collins (Nicholas), Jennings (John, see Chapter X), Copping (Jacob, see Chapter I), Rawlin (Raoul, the French form of Radolf, whence Roll, Ralph, Relf), Paton (Patrick), Sisson (Sirs, i. E. Cecilia), Gibbons(Gilbert), Beaton (Beatrice). In addition to the suffixes and diminutives already mentioned, we havethe two rather puzzling endings -man and -cock. Man occurs as anending in several Germanic names which are older than the Conquest, e. G. Ashman, Harman, Coleman; and the simple Mann is also anAnglo-Saxon personal name. It is sometimes to be taken literally, e. G. In Goodman, i. E. Master of the house (Matt. Xx. Ii), Longman, Youngman, etc. In Hickman, Homan (How, Hugh), etc. , it may meanservant of, as in Ladyman, Priestman, or may be merely an augmentativesuffix. In Coltman, Runciman, it is occupative, the man in charge ofthe colts, rouncies or nags. Chaucer's Shipman-- "Rood upon a rouncy as he kouthe" (A. 390). In Bridgeman, Pullman, it means the man who lived near, or had someoffice in connection with, the bridge or pool. But it is often due tothe imitative instinct. Dedman is for the local Debenham, and Lakemanfor Lakenham, while Wyman represents the old name Wymond, and Bowmanand Beeman are sometimes for the local Beaumont (cf. The pronunciationof Belvoir). But the existence in German of the name Bienemann showsthat Beeman may have meant bee-keeper. Sloman may be a nickname, butalso means the man in the slough (Chapter XII), and Godliman is an oldfamiliar spelling of Godalming. We of course get doubtful cases, e. G. Sandeman may be, as explained by Bardsley, the servant of Alexander(Chapter VI), but it may equally well represent Mid. Eng. Sandeman, amessenger, and Lawman, Layman, are rather to be regarded asderivatives of Lawrence (Chapter VI) than what they appear to be. THE SUFFIX -COCK Many explanations have been given of the suffix -cock, but I cannotsay that any of them have convinced me. Both Cock and the patronymicCocking are found as early personal names. The suffix was added tothe shortened form of font-names, e. G. Alcock (Allen), Hitchcock(Richard), was apparently felt as a mere diminutive, and took an -slike the diminutives in -kin, e. G. Willcocks, Simcox. In Hedgecock, 'Woodcock, etc. , it is of course a nickname. The modern Cox is one ofour very common names, and the spelling Cock, Cocks, Cox, can be foundrepresenting three generations in the churchyard of Invergowrie, nearDundee. The two names Bawcock and Meacock had once a special significance. Pistol, urged to the breach by Fluellen, replies "Good bawcock, bate thy rage! use lenity, sweet chuck" (Henry V. , iii, 2); and Petruchio, pretending that his first interview with Katherine hasbeen most satisfactory, says-- "'Tis a world to seeHow tame, when men and women are alone, A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew. " (Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1. ) These have been explained as Fr. Beau coq, which is possible, and meekcock, which is absurd. As both words are found as surnames beforeShakespeare's time, it is probable that they are diminutives whichwere felt as suited to receive a special connotation, just as a manwho treats his thirst generously is vulgarly called a Lushington. Bawcock can easily be connected with Baldwin, while Meacock, Maycock, belong to the personal name May or Mee, shortened from the Old Fr. Mahieu (Chapter IX). Although we are not dealing with Celtic names, a few words as to theScottish, Irish, and Welsh surnames which we find in our directoriesmay be useful. Those of Celtic origin are almost invariablypatronymics. The Scottish and Irish Mac, son, used like the Anglo-Fr. Fitz-, ultimately means kin, and is related to the -mough of Watmough(Chapter XXI) and to the word maid. In MacNab, son of the abbot, andMacPherson, son of the parson, we have curious hybrids. In Manxnames, such as Quilliam (Mac William), Killip (Mac Philip), Clucas(Mac Lucas), we have aphetic forms of Mac. The Irish 0', grandson, descendant, has etymologically the same meaning as Mac, and is relatedto the first part of Ger. Oheim, uncle, of Anglo-Sax. Eam (see Eames, Chapter XXI), and of Lat. Avus, grandfather. Oe or oye is still usedfor grandchild in Scottish-- "There was my daughter's wean, little Eppie Daidle, my oe, ye ken"(Heart of Midlothian, ch. Iv. ). The names of the Lowlands of Scotland are pretty much the same asthose of northern England, with the addition of a very large Frenchelement, due to the close historical connection between the twocountries. Examples of French names, often much corrupted, areBethune (Pas de Calais), often corrupted into Beaton, the name of oneof the Queen's Maries, Boswell (Bosville, Seine Inf. ), Bruce (Brieux, Orne), Comyn, Cumming (Comines, Nord), Grant (le grand), Rennie(René), etc. CELTIC NAMES Welsh Ap or Ab, reduced from an older Map, ultimately cognate withMac, gives us such names as Probyn, Powell (Howell, Hoel), Price(Rhys), Pritchard, Prosser (Rosser), Prothero (Roderick), Bedward, Beddoes (Eddowe), Blood (Lud, Lloyd), Bethell (Ithel), Benyon (Enion), whence also Binyon and the local-looking Baynham. Onion and Onionsare imitative forms of Enion. Applejohn and Upjohn are corruptions ofAp-john. The name Floyd, sometimes Flood, is due to the Englishinability to grapple with the Welsh Ll-- "I am a gentylman and come of Brutes [Brutus'] blood, My name is ap Ryce, ap Davy, ap Flood. " (Andrew Boorde, Book of the Introduction of Knowledge, ii 7. ) While Welsh names are almost entirely patronymic, Cornish names arevery largely local. They are distinguished by the following prefixesand others of less common occurrence: Caer-, fort, Lan-, church, Pen-, hill, Pol-, pool, Ros-, heath, Tre-, settlement, e. G. Carthew, Lanyon, Penruddock, Polwarth, Rosevear, Trethewy. Sometimes these elementsare found combined, e. G. In Penrose. A certain number of Celtic nicknames and occupative names which arefrequently found in England will be mentioned elsewhere (pp. 173, 216). In Gilchrist, Christ's servant, Gildea, servant of God, Gillies, servant of Jesus, Gillespie, bishop's servant, Gilmour, Mary's servant, Gilroy, red servant, we have the Highland "gillie. "Such names were originally preceded by Mac-, e. G. Gilroy is the sameas MacIlroy; cf. MacLean, for Mac-gil-Ian, son of the servant of John. To the same class of formation belong Scottish names in Mal-, e. G. Malcolm, and Irish names in Mul-, e. G. Mulholland, in which the firstelement means tonsured servant, shaveling, and the second is the nameof a saint. CHAPTER VII. GODERIC AND GODIVA "England had now once more (A. D. 1100) a King born on her own soil, aQueen of the blood of the hero Eadmund, a King and Queen whosechildren would trace to AElfred by two descents. Norman insolencemocked at the English King and his English Lady under the Englishnames of Godric and Godgifu. " [Footnote: "Godricum eum, et comparemGodgivam appellantes" (William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum). ] (FREEMAN, Norman Conquest, v. 170. ) In dealing with surnames we begin after the Conquest, for the simplereason that there were no surnames before. Occasionally an importantperson has come down in history with a nickname, e. G. EdmundIron-side, Harold Harefoot, Edward the Confessor; but this isexceptional, and the Anglo-Saxon, as a rule, was satisfied with onename. It is probable that very many of the names in use before theConquest, whether of English or Scandinavian origin, were chosenbecause of their etymological meaning, e. G. That the name Beornheard(Bernard, Barnard, Barnett) was given to a boy in the hope that hewould grow up a warrior strong, just as his sister might be calledAEthelgifu, noble gift. The formation of these old names is bothinteresting and, like all Germanic nomenclature, poetic. FORMATION OF ANGLO-SAXON NAMES As a rule the name consists of two elements, and the number of thoseelements which appear with great frequency is rather limited. Somethemes occur only in the first half of the name, e. G. Aethel-, whenceAethelstan, later Alston; AElf-, whence AElfgar, now Elgar and Agar(AEthel- and AElf- soon got confused, so that Allvey, Elvey mayrepresent both AEthelwig and AElfwig, or perhaps in some casesEaldwig); Cuth-, whence Cuthbeald, now Cobbold [Footnote: This is alsothe origin of Cupples, and probably of Keble and Nibbles. It sharesCobbett and Cubitt with Cuthbeorht. ]; Cyne-, whence Cynebeald nowKimball and Kemble, both of which are also local, Folc-, whenceFolcheard and Folchere, now Folkard and Fulcher; Gund-, whenceGundred, now Gundry and Grundy (Metathesis, Chapter III); Os-, whenceOsbert, Osborn, Other themes only occur as the second half of the name. Such are-gifu, in Godgifu, i. E. Godiva, whence Goodeve; -lac in Guthlac, nowGoodlake and Goodluck (Chapter XXI); -laf in Deorlaf, now Dearlove;-wacer in Eoforwacer, now Earwaker. Other themes, and perhaps the greater number, may occur indifferentlyfirst and second, e. G. Beald, god, here, sige, weald, win, wulf orulf. Thus we have complete reversals in Beald-wine, whence Baldwin, and Wine-beald, whence Winbolt, Here-weald, whence Herald, Harold, Harrod, and Weald-here, whence Walter (Chapter I). With these we maycompare Gold-man and Man-gold, the latter of which has given Mangles. So also we have Sige-heard, whence Siggers, and Wulf-sige, now Wolsey, Wulf-noth, now the imitative Wallnutt, and Beorht-wulf, later Bardolphand Bardell. The famous name Havelock was borne by the hero of amedieval epic, "Havelock the Dane, " but Dunstan is usually for thelocal Dunston. On the other hand, Winston is a personal name, Wine-stan, whence Winstanley. These examples show that the pre-Norman names are by no meansunrepresented in the twentieth century, but, in this matter, one mustproceed with caution. To take as examples the two names that headthis chapter, there is no doubt that Goderic and Godiva are nowrepresented by Goodrich and Goodeve, but these may also belong to thesmall group mentioned in Chapter VI, and stand for good Richard andgood Eve. Also Goodrich comes in some cases from Goodrich, formerlyGotheridge, in Hereford, which has also given Gutteridge. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that our medieval nomenclature ispreponderantly French, as the early rolls show beyond dispute, sothat, even where a modern name appears susceptible of an Anglo-Saxonexplanation, it is often safer to refer it to the Old French cognate;for the Germanic names introduced into France by the Frankishconquerors, and the Scandinavian names which passed into Normandy, contained very much the same elements as our own native names, butunderwent a different phonetic development. Thus I would ratherexplain Bawden, Bowden, Boulders, Boden, and the dims. Body andBodkin, as Old French variants from the Old Ger. Baldawin than ascoming directly from Anglo-Saxon. Boyden undoubtedly goes back to OldFr. Baudouin. Practically all the names given in Gower's lines (Chapter V), and manyothers to which I have ascribed a continental origin, are foundoccasionally in England before the Conquest, but the weight ofevidence shows that they were either adopted in England as Frenchnames or were corrupted in form by the Norman scribes and officials. To take other examples, our Tibbald, Tibbles, Tibbs suggest the Fr. Thibaut rather than the natural development of Anglo-Sax. Thiudbeald, i. E. Theobald; and Ralph, Relf, Roff, etc. , show the regular OldFrench development of Raedwulf, Radolf. Tibaut Wauter, i. E. TheobaldWalter, who lived in Lancashire in 1242, had both his names in an oldFrench form. ANGLO-SAXON NICKNAMES As a matter of fact, the various ways of forming nicknames ordescriptive names, are all used in the pre-Conquest personal names. We find Orme, i. E. Serpent or dragon (cf. Great Orme's Head), Wulf, i. E. Wolf, Hwita, i. E. White, and its derivative Hwiting, now Whiting, Saemann, i. E. Seaman, Bonda, i. E. Bond, Leofcild, dear child, now Leifchild, etc. But, except the case of Orme, so common as the firstelement of place-names, I doubt the survival of these as purelypersonal names into the surname period and regard White, Seaman, Bond, Leif child rather as new epithets of Mid. English formation. Whitingis of course Anglo-Saxon, -ing being the regular patronymic suffix. Cf. Browning, Benning, Dering, Dunning, Gunning, Hemming, Kipping, Manning, and many others which occur in place-names. But not allnames in -ing are Anglo-Saxon, e. G. Baring is German; cf. Behring, ofthe Straits; and Jobling is Fr. Jobelin, a double dim. Of Job. I will now give a few examples of undoubted survival of theseAnglo-Saxon compounds, showing how the suffixes have been corruptedand simplified. Among the commonest of these suffixes are -beald, -beorht, -cytel (Chapter VII. ), -god, -heard, -here, -man, -mund, -raed, -ric, -weald, -weard, -wine, [Footnote: Bold, bright, kettle, god, strong, army, man, protection, counsel, powerful, ruling, guard, friend. ] which survive in Rumball and Rumbold (Rumbeald), Allbright[Footnote: AIbert is of modern German introduction. ] and Allbutt(Ealdbeorht, i. E. Albert), Arkle (Earncytel), Allgood and Elgood(AElfgod), Everett (Eoforheard, i. E. Everard), Gunter (Gundhere), Harman (Hereman), Redmond (Raedmund), [Footnote: Pure Anglo-Saxon, like the names of so many opponents of English tyranny. Parnell is ofcourse not Irish (Chapter X). ] Aldred, Eldred (AEthelraed orEaldraed), Aldridge, Alderick, Eldridge (AEthelric or Ealdric), Thorold (Thurweald), and, through Fr. Turold, Turrell, Terrell, andTyrrell, Harward and Harvard (Hereweard), Lewin (Leofwine). In popular use some of these endings got confused, e. G. Rumboldprobably sometimes represents Rumweald, while Kennard no doubt standsfor Coenweard as well as for Coenheard. Man and round were ofteninterchanged (Chapter VI), so that from Eastmund come both Esmond andEastman. Gorman represents Gormund, and Almond (Chapter XI) is socommon in the Middle Ages that it must sometimes be from AEthelmund. Sometimes the modern forms are imitative. Thus Allchin is forEalhwine (Alcuin), and Goodyear, Goodier and Goodair may representGodhere. [Footnote: This may, however, be taken literally. There isa German name Gutjahr and a Norfolk name Feaveryear. ] Good-beer, Godbehere, Gotobed are classed by Bardsley under Godbeorht, whenceGodber. But in these three names the face value of the words may wellbe accepted (pp. 156, 203, 206). Wisgar or Wisgeard has given theimitative Whisker and Vizard, and, through French, the ScottishWishart, which is thus the same as the famous Norman Guiscard. Garment and Rayment are for Garmund and Regenmund, i. E. Raymond. ANGLO-SAXON SURVIVALS Other names which can be traced directly to the group of Anglo-Saxonnames dealt with above are Elphick (AElfheah), which in Norman Frenchgave Alphege, Elmer (AElfmaer), Allnutt (AElfnoth), Alwin, Elwin, Elvin (AElfwine), Aylmer (AEthelmaer), Aylward (AEthelweard), Kenrick(Coenric), Collard (Ceolheard), Colvin (Ceolwine), Darwin (Deorwine), Edridge (Eadric), Aldwin, Auden (Ealdwine), Baldry (Bealdred orBealdric), Falstaff (Fastwulf), Filmer (Filumaer), Frewin eowine), Garrard, Garrett, Jarrold (Gaerheard, Gaerweald), but probably theseare through French, Garbett (Garbeald, with which cf. The ItalianGaribaldi), Gatliffe (Geatleof), Goddard (Godheard), Goodliffe(Godleof), Gunnell (Gunhild), Gunner (Gunhere), [Footnote: It isunlikely that this name is connected with gun, a word of too lateappearance. It may be seen over a shop in Brentford, perhaps kept bya descendant of the thane of the adjacent Gunnersbury. ] Haines(Hagene), Haldane (Haelfdene), Hastings (Haesten, the Danish chief whogave his name to Hastings, formerly Haestinga-ceaster), Herbert(Herebeorht), Herrick Hereric), Hildyard (Hildegeard), Hubert, Hubbard, Hobart, Hibbert (Hygebeorht), Ingram (Ingelram), Lambert(Landbeorht), Livesey (Leofsige), Lemon (Leofman), Leveridge(Leofric), Loveridge (Luferic), Maynard (Maegenheard), Manfrey(Maegenfrith), Rayner (Regenhere), Raymond (Regenmund), Reynolds(Regenweald), Seabright (Sigebeorht or Saebeorht), Sayers (Saegaer), [Footnote: The simple Sayer is also for "assayer, " either of metals orof meat and drink--"essayeur, an essayer; one that tasts, or takes anessay; and particularly, an officer in the mint, who touches everykind of new Coyne before it be delivered out" (Cotgrave). Robert lesayer, goldsmith, was a London citizen c. 1300. ] Sewell (Saeweald orSigeweald), Seward (Sigeweard), Turbot (Thurbeorht), Thoroughgood(Thurgod), Walthew (Waltheof), Warman (Waermund), Wyberd (Wigbeorht), Wyman (Wigmund), Willard (Wilheard), Winfrey (Winefrith), Ulyett andWoollett (Wulfgeat), Wolmer (Wulfmaer), Woodridge (Wulfric). In several of these, e. G. Fulcher, Hibbert, Lambert, Reynolds, theprobability is that the name came through French. Where analternative explanation is possible, the direct Anglo-Saxon origin isgenerally the less probable. Thus, although Coning occurs as anAnglo-Saxon name, Collings is generally a variant of Collins (cf. Jennings for Jennins), and though Hammond is etymologically Haganmund, it is better to connect it with the very popular French name Hamon. Simmonds might come from Sigemund, but is more likely from Simon withexcrescent -d (Epithesis, Chapter III). In many cases the Anglo-Saxon name was a simplex instead of acompound. The simple Cytel survives as Chettle, Kettle. [Footnote:Connected with the kettle or cauldron of Norse mythology. Therenowned Captain Kettle, described by his creator as a Welshman, musthave descended from some hardy Norse pirate. Many names in thischapter are Scandinavian. ] Beorn is one of the origins of Barnes. Brand also appears as Braund, Grim is common in place-names, and fromGrima we have Grimes. Cola gives Cole, the name of a monarch ofancient legend, but this name is more usually from Nicolas (ChapterVI). Gonna is now Gunn, Serl has given the very common Searle, andWicga is Wigg. From Hacun we have Hack and the dim. Hackett. To these might be added many examples of pure adjectives, such asFreo, Free, Froda, (prudent), Froude, Gods, Good, Leof (dear), Leif, Leaf, Read (red), Read, Reid, Reed, Rica, Rich, Rudda (ruddy), Ruddand Rodd, Snel (swift, valiant), Snell, Swet, Sweet, etc. , or epithetssuch as Boda (messenger), Bode, Cempa (warrior), Kemp, Cyta, Kite, Dreng (warrior), Dring, Eorl, Earl, Godcild, Goodchild, Nunna, Nunn, Oter, Otter, Puttoc (kite), Puttock, Saemann, Seaman, Spearhafoc, Sparhawk, Spark (Chapter I), Tryggr (true), Triggs, Unwine (unfriend), Unwin, etc. But many of these had died out as personal names and, inmedieval use, were nicknames pure and simple. MONOSYLLABIC NAMES Finally, there is a very large group of Anglo-Saxon dissyllabic names, usually ending in -a, which appear to be pet forms of the longernames, though it is not always possible to establish the connection. Many of them have double forms with a long and short vowelrespectively. It is to this class that we must refer the large numberof our monosyllabic surnames, which would otherwise defyinterpretation. Anglo-Sax. Dodds gave Dodd, while Dodson's partnerFogg had an ancestor Focga. Other examples are Bacga, Bagg, Benna, Benn, Bota, Boot and dim. Booty, Botts, Bolt, whence Bolting, Bubba, Bubb, Budda, Budd, Bynna, Binns, Cada, Cade, Cobbs, Cobb, Coda, Coad, Codda, Codd, Cuffs, Cuff, Deda, Deedes, Duda, Dowd, Duna, Down, Donna, Dunn, Dutta, Dull, Eada, Eade, Edes, etc. , Ebba, Ebbs; Eppa, Epps, Hudda, Hud, whence Hudson, Inga, Inge, Sibba, Sibbs, Sicga, Siggs, Tata, Tate and Tait, Tidda, Tidd, Tigga, Tigg, Toca, Tooke, Tucca, Tuck, Wada, Wade, Wadda, Waddy, etc. Similarly French took fromGerman a number of surnames formed from shortened names in -o, with anaccusative in -on, e. G. Old Ger. Bodo has given Fr. Bout and Bouton, whence perhaps our Butt and Button. But the names exemplified above are very thinly represented in earlyrecords, and, though their existence in surnames derived fromplace-names (Dodsley, Bagshaw, Bensted, Bedworth, Cobham, Ebbsworth, etc. ) would vouch for them even if they were not recorded, theircomparative insignificance is attested by the fact that they form veryfew derivatives. Compare, for instance, the multitudinous surnames which go back tomonosyllables of the later type of name, such as John and Hugh, withthe complete sterility of the names above. Therefore, when analternative derivation for a surname is possible, it is usually ten toone that this alternative is right. Dodson is a simplified Dodgson, from Roger (Chapter VI); Benson belongs to Benedict, sometimes toBenjamin; Cobbett is a disguised Cuthbert or Cobbold (cf. Garrett, Chapter II); Down is usually local, at the down or dune; Dunn ismedieval le dun, a colour nickname; names in Ead-, Ed-, are usuallyfrom the medieval female name Eda (Chapter VI); Sibbs generallybelongs to Sibilla or Sebastian; Tait must sometimes be for Fr. Tête, with which cf. Eng. Head; Tidd is an old pet form of Theodore; andWade is more frequently atte wade, i. E. Ford. Even Ebbs and Epps aremore likely to be shortened forms of Isabella, usually reduced to Ib, or Ibbot (Chapter X), or of the once popular Euphemia. To sum up, we may say that the Anglo-Saxon element in our surnames ismuch larger than one would imagine from Bardsley's Dictionary, andthat it accounts, not only for names which have a distinctlyAnglo-Saxon suffix or a disguised form of one, but also for a verylarge number of monosyllabic names which survive in isolation andwithout kindred. In this chapter I have only given sets ofcharacteristic examples, to which many more might be added. It wouldbe comparatively easy, with some imagination and a conscientiousneglect of evidence, to connect the greater number of our surnameswith the Anglo-Saxons. Thus Honeyball might very well represent the Anglo-Sax. Hunbeald, but, in the absence of links, it is better to regard it as a popularperversion of Hannibal (Chapter VIII). In dealing with this subject, the via media is the safe one, and one cannot pass in one stride fromHengist and Horsa to the Reformation period. "HIDEOUS NAMES" Matthew Arnold, in his essay on the Function of Criticism at thePresent Time, is moved by the case of Poor Wragg, who was "incustody, " to the following wail-- "What a touch of grossness in our race, what an original shortcomingin the more delicate spiritual perceptions, is shown by the naturalgrowth amongst us of such hideous names-Higginbottom, Stiggins, Bugg!" But this is the poet's point of view. Though there may have been "noWragg by the Ilissus, " it is not a bad name, for, in its original formRagg, it is the first element of the heroic Ragnar, and probablyunrelated to Raggett, which is the medieval le ragged. Bugg, whichone family exchanged for Norfolk Howard, is the Anglo-Saxon Bucgo, aname no doubt borne by many a valiant warrior. Stiggins, as we haveseen (Chapter XIII), goes back to a name great in history, andHigginbottom (Chapter XII) is purely geographical. CHAPTER VIII. PALADINS AND HEROES "Morz est Rollanz, Deus en ad l'anme es ciels. Li Emperere en Rencesvals parvient... Carles escriet: 'U estes vus, bels niés? U l'Arcevesques e li quens Oliviers? U est Gerins e sis cumpainz Geriers? Otes u est e Ii quens Berengiers? Ives e Ivories que j'aveie tant chiers? Qu'est devenuz li Guascuinz Engeliers, Sansun li dux e Anseïs li fiers? U est Gerarz de Russillun li vielz, Li duze per que j'aveie laissiet?'" (Chanson de Roland, 1. 2397. ) [Footnote: "Dead is Roland, God has his soul in heaven. The Emperorarrives at Roncevaux... Charles cries: 'Where are you, fair nephew?Where the archbishop (Turpin) and Count Oliver? Where is Gerin andhis comrade Gerier? Where is Odo and count Berenger? Ivo and Ivorywhom I held so dear? What has become of the Gascon Engelier? Samsonthe duke and Anseis the proud? Where is Gerard of Roussillon the old, the twelve peers whom I had left?' "] It is natural that many favourite names should be taken from those ofheroes of romance whose exploits were sung all over Europe bywandering minstrels. Such names, including those taken from the RoundTable legends, usually came to us through French, though a few namesof the British heroes are Welsh, e. G. Cradock from Caradoc(Caractacus) and Maddox from Madoc. THE ROUND TABLE But the Round Table stories were versified much later than the trueOld French Chansons de Geste, which had a basis in the nationalhistory, and not many of Arthur's knights are immortalized assurnames. We have Tristram, Lancelot, whence Lance, Percival, Gawainin Gavin, and Kay. But the last named is, like Key, more usually fromthe word we now spell "quay, " though Key and Keys can also beshop-signs, as of course Crosskeys is. Linnell is sometimes forLionel, as Neil, [Footnote: But the Scottish Neil is a Gaelic nameoften exchanged for the unrelated Nigel. ] Neal for Nigel. The ladieshave fared better. Vivian, which is sometimes from the masculineVivien, is found in Dorset as Vye, and Isolt and Guinevere, which longsurvived as font-names in Cornwall, have given several names. FromIsolt come Isard, Isitt, Izzard, Izod, and many other forms, whileGuinever appears as Genever, Jennifer, Gaynor, Gilliver, Gulliver, [Footnote: There is also an Old Fr. Gulafre which will account forsome of the Gullivers. ] and perhaps also as Juniper. It is probablyalso the source of Genn and Ginn, though these may come also fromEugenia or from Jane. The later prose versions of the Arthurianstories, such as those of Malory, are full of musical and picturesquenames like those used by Mr. Maurice Hewlett, but this artificialnomenclature has left no traces in our surnames. Of the paladins the most popular was Roland or Rowland, who survivesas Rowe, Rowlinson, Rolls, Rollit, etc. , sometimes coalescing with thederivations of Raoul, another epic hero. Gerin or Geri gave Jeary, and Oates is the nominative (Chapter VIII) of Odo, an important Normanname. Berenger appears as Barringer and Bellinger (Chapter III). Thesimple Oliver is fairly common, but it also became the Cornish Olver. But perhaps the largest surname family connected with the paladins isderived from the Breton Ives or Ivon [Footnote: A number of Old Frenchnames had an accusative in -on or -ain. Thus we find Otes, Oton, Ives, Ivain, and feminines such as Ide, Idain, all of which survive asEnglish surnames. ] whose name appears in that of two English towns. It is the same as Welsh Evan, and the Yvain of the Arthurian legends, and has given us Ives, Ivison, Ivatts, etc. The modern surname Ivoryis usually an imitative form of Every or Avery (p, 82). Gerard has avariety of forms in Ger- and Gar-, Jerand Jar- (see p. 32). The othersdo not seem to have survived, except the redoubtable ArchbishopTurpin, whose fame is probably less than that of his namesake Dick. Besides the paladins, there are many heroes of Old French epic whosenames were popular during the two centuries that followed theConquest. Ogier le Danois, who also fought at Roncevaux, has given usOdgers; Fierabras occasionally crops up as Fairbrass, Firebrace;Aimeri de Narbonne, from Almaric, [Footnote: A metathesis of Amalric, which is found in Anglo-Saxon. ] whence Ital. Amerigo, is in EnglishAmery, Emery, Imray, etc. ; Renaud de Montauban is represented byReynolds (Chapter VII) and Reynell. The famous Doon de Mayence may have been an ancestor of Lorna, and theequally famous Garin, or Warin, de Monglane has given us Gearing, Gearing, Waring, sometimes Warren, and the diminutives Garnett andWarnett. Milo, of Greek origin, became Miles, with dim. Millett, butthe chief origin of the surname Miles is a contracted form of thecommon font-name Michael. Amis and Amiles were the David and Jonathanof Old French epic and the former survives as Ames, Amies, and Amos, the last an imitative form. We have also Berner from Bernier, Bartram from Bertran, Farrant fromFernand, Terry and Terriss from Thierry, the French form of Ger. Dietrich (Theodoric), which, through Dutch, has given also Derrick. Garner, from Ger. Werner, is our Garner and Warner, though these haveother origins (pp. 154, 185). Dru, from Drogo, has given Drew, withdim. Druitt (Chapter V), and Druce, though the latter may also comefrom the town of Dreux. Walrond and Waldron are for Waleran, usuallyGaleran, and King Pippin had a retainer named Morant. Saint Leger, orLeodigarius, appears as Ledger, Ledgard, etc. , and sometimes in theshortened Legg. Among the heroines we have Orbell from Orable, whileBlancheflour may have suggested Lillywhite; but the part played bywomen in the Chansons de Geste was insignificant. THE CHANSONS DE GESTE As this element in our nomenclature has hitherto received noattention, it may be well to add a few more examples of names whichoccur very frequently in the Chansons de Geste and which haveundoubted representatives in modern English. Allard was one of theFour Sons of Aymon. The name is etymologically identical with Aylward(Chapter VII), but in the above form has reached us through French. Acard or Achard is represented by Haggard, Haggett, and Hatchard, Hatchett, though Haggard probably has another origin (Chapter XXIII). Harness is imitative for Harnais, Herneis. Clarabutt is forClarembaut; cf. Archbutt for Archembaut, the Old French form ofArchibald, Archbold. Durrant is Durand, still a very common Frenchsurname. Ely is Old Fr. Élie, i. E. Elias (Chapter IX), which had thedim. Elyot. [Footnote: For other names belonging to this group seeChapter IX. ] We also find Old Fr. Helye, whence our Healey. Enguerrand is telescoped to Ingram, though this may also come from theEnglish form Ingelram. Fawkes is the Old Fr. Fauques, nominative(Chapter VIII) of Faucon, i. E. Falcon. Galpin is contracted fromGalopin, a famous epic thief, but it may also come from the commonnoun galopin-- "Galloppins, under cookes, or scullions in monasteries. " (Cotgrave. ) In either case it means a "runner. " Henfrey is from Heinfrei orHainfroi, identical with Anglo-Sax. Haganfrith, and Manser fromManesier. Neame (Chapter XXI) may sometimes represent Naime, theNestor of Old French epic and the sage counsellor of Charlemagne. Richer, from Old Fr. Richier, has generally been absorbed by thecognate Richard. Aubrey and Avery are from Alberic, cognate withAnglo-Sax. AElfric. An unheroic name like Siggins may be connectedwith several heroes called Seguin. ANTIQUE NAMES Nor are the heroes of antiquity altogether absent. Along with OldFrench national and Arthurian epics there were a number of romancesbased on the legends of Alexander, Caesar, and the tale of Troy. Alexander, or Saunder, was the favourite among this class of names, especially in Scotland. Cayzer was generally a nickname (ChapterXIII), its later form Cesar being due to Italian influence, [Footnote:Julius Cesar, physician to Queen Elizabeth, was a Venetian(Bardsley). ] and the same applies to Hannibal, [Footnote: But thefrequent occurrence of this name and its corruptions in Cornwallsuggests that it may really have been introduced by Carthaginiansailors. ] when it is not an imitative form of the female name Annabel, also corrupted into Honeyball. Both Dionisius and Dionisia were oncecommon, and have survived as Dennis, Dennett, Denny, and from theshortened Dye we get Dyson. But this Dionisius was the patron saintof France. Apparent names of heathen gods and goddesses are almostalways due to folk-etymology, e. G. Bacchus is for back-house orbake-house, and the ancestors of Mr. Wegg's friend Venus came fromVenice. CHAPTER IX. THE BIBLE AND THE CALENDAR " 'O Now you see, brother Toby, ' he would say, looking up, 'thatChristian names are not such indifferent things;--had Luther here beencalled by any other name but Martin, he would have been damn'd to alleternity' " (Tristram Shandy, ch. Xxxv). OLD TESTAMENT NAMES The use of biblical names as font-names does not date from thePuritans, nor are surnames derived from Abraham, Isaac and Jacobnecessarily Jewish. The Old Testament names which were most popularamong the medieval peasants from whom we nearly all spring werenaturally those connected with the most picturesque episodes of sacredhistory. Taking as an example the father of all men, we find derivedfrom the name Adam the following: Adams, Adamson, Adcock, Addis, Addison, Adds, Addy, Ade, Ades, Adey, Adis, Ady, Addey, Aday, Adee, Addyman, Adkin, Adkins, Adkinson, Adnett, [Footnote: Adenet (littleAdam) le Roi was an Old French epic hero. ] Adnitt, Adnet, Adnot, Atkin, Atkins, Atkinson, and the northern Aitken, etc. This list, compiled from Bardsley's Dictionary of Surnames, is certainly notexhaustive. Probably Taddy is rimed on Addy as Taggy is on Aggy(Agnes). To put together all the derivatives of John or Thomas wouldbe a task almost beyond the wit of man. Names in Abb-, App-, may comefrom either Abraham or Abel, and from Abbs we also have Nabbs. Cainwas of course unpopular. Cain, Cane, Kain, when not Manx, is from thetown of Caen or from Norman quêne, an oak. Moses appears in the French form Moyes (Moïse) as early as 1273, andstill earlier as Moss. Of the patriarchs the favourites were perhapsJacob and Joseph, the name Jessop from the latter having beeninfluenced by Ital. Giuseppe. Benjamin has sometimes given Benson andBennett, but these are generally for Benedict (Chapter IV). TheJudges are poorly represented, except Samson, a name which hasobviously coalesced with the derivatives of Samuel. David had, ofcourse, an immense vogue, especially in Wales (for some of itsderivatives see Chapter VI), and Solomon was also popular, the modernSalmon not always being a Jewish name. But almost the favourite Old Testament name was Elijah, Elias, which, usually through its Old French form Élie, whence Ely, is the parent ofEllis, Elliot, and many other names in El-, some of which, however, have to be shared with Ellen and Alice (Chapter X). Job was alsopopular, and is easily recognized in Jobson, Jobling, etc. , but lesseasily in Chubb (Chapter III) and Jupp. The intermediate form was theobsolete Joppe. Among the prophetic writers Daniel was an easywinner, Dann, Dance (Chapter I), Dannatt, Dancock, etc. Balaam is animitative spelling of the local Baylham. In considering these Old Testament names it must be remembered thatthe people did not possess the Bible in the vernacular. The teachingof the parish priests made them familiar with selected episodes, fromwhich they naturally took the names which appeared to contain thegreatest element of holiness or of warlike renown. It is probablethat the mystery plays were not without influence; for the personalname was not always a fixed quantity, and many of the names mentionedin the preceding paragraph may have been acquired rather on themedieval stage than at the font. This would apply with still more force to names taken from the legendsof saints and martyrs on which the miracle plays were based. We evenfind the names Saint, Martyr and Postill, the regular aphetic form ofapostle (Chapter III), just as we find King and Pope. Camden, speaking of the freedom with which English names are formed, quotes aDutchman, who-- "When he heard of English men called God and Devil, said, that theEnglish borrowed names from all things whatsoever, good or bad. " The medieval name Godde may of course be for Good, Anglo-Sax. Goda, but Ledieu is common enough in France. The name seems to be obsolete, unless it is disguised as Goad. The occurrence in medieval rolls ofDiabolus and le Diable shows that Deville need not always be for deEyville. There was probably much competition for this important part, and the name would not be always felt as uncomplimentary. AmongGerman surnames we find not only Teufel, but also the compoundsManteufel and Teufelskind. NEW TESTAMENT NAMES Coming to the New Testament, we find the four Evangelists stronglyrepresented, especially the first and last. Matthew appears not onlyin an easily recognizable form, e. G. In Matheson, but also as Mayhewand Mayo, Old Fr. Mahieu. From the latter form we have the shortenedMay and Mee, whence Mayes, Makins, Meakin, Meeson, [Footnote: Onefamily of Meeson claims descent from Malvoisin. ] and sometimes Mason. Mark is one of the sources of March (p, 90), as Luke is of Luck, whence Lucock, Luckett, etc, though we more often find the learnedform Lucas. Of John there is no need to speak. Of the apostles the greatfavourites, Simon, or Peter, John, and Bartholomew have already beenmentioned. Almost equally popular was Philip, whence Philp, Phipps, Phelps, and the dim. Philpot, whence the aphetic Pott, Potts. Andrewflourished naturally in Scotland, its commonest derivative beingAnderson, while Dendy is for the rimed form Dandy. Paul has of coursehad a great influence and is responsible for Pawson or Porson, Pawling, Polson, Pollett, and most names in Pol-. [Footnote: This doesnot of course apply to Cornish names in Pol- (Chapter VI)] It isalso, in the form Powell, assimilated to the Welsh Ap Howel. Paul isregularly spelt Poule by Chaucer, and St. Paul's Cathedral is oftencalled Powles in Tudor documents. Paul's companions are poorlyrepresented, for Barnby is local, while names in Sil- and Sel- comefrom shortened form of Cecil, Cecilia, and Silvester. Another greatname from the Acts of the Apostles is that of the protomartyr Stephen, among the numerous derivatives of which we must include Stennett andStimpson. Many non-biblical saints whose names occur very frequently havealready been mentioned, e. G. Antony, Bernard, Gregory, Martin, Lawrence, Nicholas, etc To these may be added Augustine, or Austin, Christopher, or Kit, with the dim. Christie and the patronymic Kitson, Clement, whence a large family of names in Clem-, Gervase or Jarvis, Jerome, sometimes represented by Jerram, and Theodore or Tidd (cf. Tibb fron Theobald), who becomes in Welsh Tudor. Vincent has givenVince, Vincey and Vincett, and Baseley, Blazey are from Basil andBlaine. The Anglo-Saxon saints are poorly represented, thoughprobably most of them survive in a disguised form, e. G. Price issometimes for Brice, Cuthbert has sometimes given Cubitt and Cobbett, and also Cutts. Bottle sometimes represents Botolf, Neate may be forNeot, and Chad (Ceadda) survives as Chatt and in many local names. The Cornish Tangye is from the Breton St. Tanneguy. The ArchangelMichael has given one of our commonest names, Mitchell (Chapter IV). This is through French, but we have also the contracted Miall-- "At Michael's term had many a trial, Worse than the dragon and St. Michael. " (Hudibras, III. Ii. 51. ) [Footnote: Cf. Vialls from Vitalis, also a saint's name. ] This name exists in several other forms, e. G. Mihell, Myhill, Mighill, and most frequently of all as Miles (Chapter VIII). The reader willremember the famous salient of Saint-Mihiel, on the Meuse, held by theGermans for so long a period of the war. From Gabriel we have Gabb, Gabbett, etc. The common rustic pronunciation Gable has given Cable(Chapter III). Among female saints we find Agnes, pronounced Annis, the derivativesof which have become confused with those of Anne, or Nan, Catherine, whence Call, Catlin, etc. , Cecilia, Cicely, whence Sisley, and ofcourse Mary and Margaret. For these see Chapter X. St. Bride, orBridget, survives in Kirkbride. FEAST-DAYS A very interesting group of surnames are derived from font-names takenfrom the great feasts of the Church, date of birth or baptism, etc. [Footnote: Names of this class were no doubt also sometimes given tofoundlings. ] These are more often French or Greco-Latin than English, a fact to be explained by priestly influence. Thus Christmas is muchless common than Noel or Nowell, but we also find Midwinter (ChapterII) and Yule. Easter has a local origin (from a place in Essex) andalso represents Mid. Eng. Estre, a word of very vague meaning for partof a building, originally the exterior, from Lat. Extra. It survivesin Fr. Les êtres d'une maison. Hester, to which Bardsley gives thesame origin, I should rather connect with Old Fr. Hestre (hêtre), abeech. However that may be, the Easter festival is represented in oursurnames by Pascall, Cornish Pascoe, and Pask, Pash, Pace, Pack. Patch, formerly a nickname for a jester (Chapter XX), from his motleyclothes, is also sometimes a variant of Pash. And the dim. Patchetthas become confused with Padgett, from Padge, a rimed form of Madge. Pentecost is recorded as a personal name in Anglo-Saxon times. Michaelmas is now Middleman (Chapter III), and Tiffany is an old namefor Epiphany. It comes from Greco-Latin theophania (while Epiphanyrepresents epiphania), which gave the French female name Tiphaine, whence our Tiffin. Lammas (loaf mass) is also found as a personalname, but there is a place called Lammas in Norfolk. We havecompounds of day in Halliday or Holiday, Hay-day, for high day, Loveday, a day appointed for reconciliations, and Hockaday, for achild born during Hocktide, which begins on the 15th day after Easter. It was also called Hobday, though it is hard to say why; hence thename Hobday, unless this is to be taken as the day, or servant(Chapter XIX), in the service of Hob; cf. Hobman. The days of the week are puzzling, the only one at all common beingMunday, though most of the others are found in earlier nomenclature. We should rather expect special attention to be given to Sunday andFriday, and, in fact, Sonntag and Freytag are by far the most usual inGerman, while Dimanche and its perversions are common in France, andVendredi also occurs. This makes me suspect some other origin, probably local, for Munday, the more so as Fr. Dimanche, Demange, etc. , is often for the personal name Dominicus, the etymologyremaining the same as that of the day-name, the Lord's day. Parts ofthe day seem to survive in Noon, Eve, and Morrow, but Noon is local, Fr. Noyon (cf. Moon, earlier Mohun, from Moyon), Eve is the mother ofmankind, and Morrow is for moor-wro, the second element being Mid. Eng. Wra, comer, whence Wray. MONTH NAMES We find the same difficulty with the names of the months. Several ofthese are represented in French, but our March has four other origins, from March in Cambridgeshire, from march, a boundary, from marsh, orfrom Mark; while May means in Mid. English a maiden (Chapter XXI), andis also a dim. Of Matthew (Chapter IX). The names of the seasons alsopresent difficulty. Spring usually corresponds to Fr. La Fontaine(Chapter II), but we find also Lent, the old name for the season, andFrench has Printemps. [Footnote: The cognate Ger. Lenz is fairlycommon, hence the frequency of Lent in America. ] Summer and Winter[Footnote: Winter was one of Hereward's most faithful comrades. ] arefound very early as nicknames, as are also Frost and Snow; but whyalways Summers or Somers with s and Winter without? [Footnote: Twoother common nicknames were Flint and Steel. ] The latter has no doubtin many cases absorbed Vinter, vintner (Chapter III) but this will notaccount for the complete absence of genitive forms. And what hasbecome of the other season? We should not expect to find the learnedword "autumn, " but neither Fall nor Harvest, the true Englishequivalents, are at all common as surnames. I regard this group, viz. Days, months, seasons, as one of the leastclearly accounted for in our nomenclature, and cannot help thinkingthat the more copious examples which we find in French and German arelargely distorted forms due to the imitative instinct, or aresusceptible of other explanations. This is certainly true in somecases, e. G. Fr. Mars is the regular French development of Medardus, asaint to whom a well-known Parisian church is dedicated; and therelationship of Janvier to Janus may be via the Late Lat. Januarius, for janitor, a doorkeeper. [Footnote: Medardus was the saint who, according to Ingoldsby, livedlargely on oysters obtained by the Red Sea shore. At his church inParis were performed the 'miracles' of the Quietists in theseventeenth century. When the scenes that took place became ascandal, the government intervened, with the result that a wag adornedthe church door with the following: "De par le Roi, défense à DieuDe faire miracle en ce lieu. "] CHAPTER X. METRONYMICS "During the whole evening Mr. Jellyby sat in a corner with his headagainst the wall, as if he were subject to low spirits. " (Bleak House, ch. Iv. ) Bardsley first drew attention to the very large number of surnamesderived from an ancestress. His views have been subjected to muchignorant criticism by writers who, taking upon themselves the task ofdefending medieval virtue, have been unwilling to accept this terriblepicture of the moral condition of England, etc. This anxiety ismisplaced. There are many reasons, besides illegitimacy, for theadoption of the mother's name. In medieval times the children of awidow, especially posthumous children, would often assume the mother'sname. Widdowson itself is sufficiently common. In the case of secondmarriages the two families might sometimes be distinguished by theirmothers' names. Orphans would be adopted by female relatives, and amedieval Mrs. Joe Gargery would probably have impressed her own namerather than that of her husband on a medieval Pip. In a village whichcounted two Johns or Williams, and few villages did not, the childrenof one might assume, or rather would be given by the public voice, themother's name. Finally, metronymics can be collected in hundreds byanyone who cares to work through a few early registers. FEMALE FONT-NAMES Thus, in the Lancashire Inquests 205-1307 occur plenty of peopledescribed as the sons of Alice, Beatrice, Christiana, Eda, Eva, Mariot, Matilda, Quenilda, [Footnote: An Anglo-Saxon name, Cynehild, whence Quennell. ] Sibilla, Ysolt. Even if illegitimacy were the onlyreason, that would not concern the philologist. Female names undergo the same course of treatment as male names. Marygave the diminutives Marion and Mariot, whence Marriott. It waspopularly shortened into Mal (cf. Hal for Harry), which had thediminutive Mally. From these we have Mawson and Malleson, the formeralso belonging to Maud. Mal and Mally became Mol and Molly, henceMollison. The rimed forms Pol, Polly are later, and names inPol- usually belong to Paul (Chapter IX). The name Morris has threeother origins (the font-name Maurice, the nickname Moorish, and the localmarsh), but both Morris and Morrison are sometimes to be referred toMary. Similarly Margaret, popularly Mar-get, became Mag, Meg, Mog, whence Meggitt, Moxon, etc. The rarity of Maggot is easilyunderstood, but Poll Maggot was one of Jack Sheppard's accomplices andShakespeare uses maggot-pie for magpie (Macbeth, iii, 4). Meg wasrimed into Peg, whence Peggs, Mog into Pog, whence Pogson, and Madgeinto Padge, whence Padgett, when this is not for Patchett (ChapterIX), or for the Fr. Paget, usually explained as Smallpage. The royalname Matilda appears in the contracted Maud, Mould, Moule, Mott, Mahood (Old Fr. Maheut). Its middle syllable Till gave Tilly, Tillsonand the dim. Tillet, Tillot, whence Tillotson. From Beatrice we haveBee, Beaton and Betts, and the northern Beattie, which are notconnected with the great name Elizabeth. This is in medieval rollsrepresented by its cognate Isabel, of which the shortened form wasBell (Chapter I), or Ib, the latter giving Ibbot, Ibbotson, and therimed forms Tib-, Nib-, Bib-, Lib-. Here also belong Ebbs and Eppsrather than to the Anglo-Sax. Ebba (Chapter VII). Many names which would now sound somewhat ambitious were common amongthe medieval peasantry and are still found in the outlying parts ofEngland, especially Devon and Cornwall. Among the characters in Mr. Eden Phillpotts's Widecombe Fair are two sisters named Sibley andPetronell. From Sibilla, now Sibyl, come most names in Sib-, thoughthis was used also as a dim. Of Sebastian (see also Chapter VII), while Petronilla, has given Parnell, Purnell. As a female name itsuffered the eclipse to which certain names are accidentally subject, and became equivalent to wench. References to a "prattling Parnel"are common in old writers, and the same fate overtook it in French-- "Taisez-vous, péronnelle" (Tartufe, i. 1). Mention has already been made of the survival of Guinevere (ChapterVIII). From Cassandra we have Cash, Cass, Case, and Casson, fromIdonia, Ide, Iddins, Iddison; these were no doubt confused with thederivatives of Ida. William filius Idae is in the Fine Rolls ofJohn's reign, and John Idonyesone occurs there, temp. Edward I. Pim, as a female font-name, may be from Euphemia, and Siddons appears tobelong to Sidonia, while the pretty name Avice appears as Avis andHaweis. From Lettice, Lat. Laetitia, joy, we have Letts, Lettson, while the corresponding Joyce, Lat. Jocosa, merry, has become confusedwith Fr. Josse (Chapter I). Anstey, Antis, is from Anastasia, Precious from Preciosa, and Royce from Rohesia. DOUBTFUL CASES It is often difficult to separate patronymics from metronymics. Wehave already seen (Chapter VI) that names in Ed- may be from Eda orfrom Edward, while names in Gil- must be shared between Julian, Juliana, Guillaume, Gilbert, and Giles. There are many other caseslike Julian and Juliana, e. G. Custance is for Constance, but Cust mayalso represent the masculine Constant, while among the derivatives ofPhilip we must not forget the warlike Philippa. Or, to take pairswhich are unrelated, Kitson may be from Christopher or from Catherine, and Mattison from Matthew or from Martha, which became Matty andPatty, the derivatives of the latter coalescing with those of Patrick(Chapter VI). It is obvious that the derivatives of Alice would beconfused with those of Allen, while names in El- may represent Eliasor Eleanor. Also names in Al- and El- are sometimes themselvesconfused, e. G. The Anglo-Saxon AElfgod appears both as Allgood andElgood. More Nelsons are derived from Neil, i. E. Nigel, than fromNell, the rimed dim. Of Ellen. Emmett is a dim. Of Emma, but Empsonmay be a shortened Emerson from Emery (Chapter VIII). The rathercommonplace Tibbles stands for both Theobald and Isabella, and thesame is true of all names in Tib- and some in Teb-. Lastly, thecoalescence of John, the commonest English font-name, with Joan, theearlier form of Jane, was inevitable, while the French forms Jean andJeanne would be undistinguishable in their derivatives. These namesbetween them have given an immense number of surnames, the masculineor feminine interpretation of which must be left to the reader'simagination. CHAPTER XI. LOCAL SURNAMES "Now as men have always first given names unto places, so hath itafterwards grown usuall that men have taken their names from places" (VERSTEGAN, Restitution of Decayed Intelligence). There is an idea cherished by some people that the possession of asurname which is that of a village or other locality points toancestral ownership of that region. This is a delusion. In the caseof quite small features of the landscape, e. G. Bridge, Hill, the namewas given from place of residence. But in the case of counties, townsand villages, the name was usually acquired when the locality wasleft. Thus John Tiler leaving Acton, perhaps for Acton's good, wouldbe known in his new surroundings as John Acton. A moment's reflectionwill show that this must be so. Scott is an English name, thearistocratic Scotts beyond the border representing a Norman familyEscot, originally of Scottish origin. English, early spelt Inglis, isa Scottish name. The names Cornish and Cornwallis first became commonin Devonshire, as Devenish did outside that county. French andFrancis, Old Fr. Le franceis, are English names, just as Langlois(l'Anglais) is common in France. For the same reason Cutler is a rarename in Sheffield, where all are cutlers. By exception the nameCurnow, which is Cornish for a Cornishman, is fairly common in itsnative county, but it was perhaps applied especially to thoseinhabitants who could only speak the old Cornish language. CLASSES OF LOCAL NAMES The local name may range in origin from a country to a plant (France, Darbishire, Lankester, Ashby, Street, House, Pound, Plumptre, Daisy), and, mathematically stated, the size of the locality will vary indirect proportion to the distance from which the immigrant has come. Terentius Afer was named from a continent. I cannot find a parallelin England, but names such as the nouns France, Ireland, Pettingell(Portugal), or the adjectives Dench, Mid. Eng. Dense, Danish, Norman, Welsh, (Walsh, Wallis, etc. ), Allman (Allemand), often perverted toAlmond, were considered a sufficient mark of identification for menwho came from foreign parts. But the untravelled inhabitant, ifdistinguished by a local name, would often receive it from some veryminute feature of the landscape, e. G. Solomon Daisy may have beendescended from a Robert Dayeseye, who lived in Hunts in 1273. It isnot very easy to see how such very trifling surnames as this last cameinto existence, but its exiguity is surpassed in the case of aprominent French airman who bears the appropriately buoyant name ofBrindejonc, perhaps from some ancestor who habitually chewed a straw. An immense number of our countrymen are simply named from the pointsof the compass, slightly disguised in Norris, Anglo-Fr. Le noreis, [Footnote: The corresponding le surreis is now represented bySurridge. ] Sotheran, the southron, and Sterling, for Easterling, aname given to the Hanse merchants. Westray was formerly le westreis. A German was to our ancestors, as he still is to sailors, a Dutchman, whence our name Douch, Ger. Deutsch, Old High Ger. Tiutisc, which, through Old French tieis, has given Tyas. [Footnote: Tyars, or Tyers, which Bardsley puts with this, seems to be rather Fr. Thiers, Lat. Tertius. ] But not every local name is to be taken at its face value. Holland isusually from one of the Lancashire Hollands, and England may be forMid. Eng. Ing-land, the land of Ing (cf. Ingulf, Ingold, etc. ), apersonal name which is the first element in many place-names, or froming, a meadow by a stream. Holyland is not Palestine, but theholly-land. Hampshire is often for Hallamshire, a district inYorkshire. Dane is a variant of Mid. Eng. Dene, a valley, theinhabitant of Denmark having given us Dench (Chapter XI) and Dennis(le daneis). Visitors to Margate will remember the valley called theDane, which stretches from the harbour to St. Peters. Saxon is notracial, but a perversion of sexton (Chapter XVII). Mr. BirdofredumSawin, commenting on the methods employed in carrying out the greatmission of the Anglo-Saxon race, remarks that-- "Saxons would be handyTo du the buryin' down here upon the Rio Grandy" (Lowell, Biglow Papers). The name Cockayne was perhaps first given derisively to a sybarite-- "Paris est pour le riche un pays de Cocagne" (Boileau), but it may be an imitative form of Coken in Durham. Names such as Morris, i. E. Moorish, or Sarson, i. E. Saracen (but alsofor Sara-son), are rather nicknames, due to complexion or to anancestor who was mine host of the Saracen's Head. Moor is sometimesof similar origin. Russ, like Rush, is one of the many forms of Fr. Roux, red-complexioned (Chapter II). Pole is for Pool, the native ofPoland being called Polack-- "He smote the sledded Polack on the ice" (Hamlet, I. I). But the name Pollock is local (Renfrewshire). COUNTIES AND TOWNS As a rule it will be found that, while most of our counties have givenfamily names, sometimes corrupted, e. G. Lankshear, Willsher, Cant, Chant, for Kent, with which we may compare Anguish for Angus, thelarger towns are rather poorly represented, the movement having alwaysbeen from country to town, and the smaller spot serving for more exactdescription. An exception is Bristow (Bristol), Mid. Eng. Brig-stow, the place on the bridge, the great commercial city of the west fromwhich so many medieval seamen hailed; but the name is sometimes fromBurstow (Surrey), and there were possibly smaller places called by sonatural a name, just as the name Bradford, i. E. Broad ford, may comefrom a great many other places than the Yorkshire wool town. Rossiteris generally for Rochester, but also for Wroxeter (Salop); Coggeshallis well disguised as Coxall, Barnstaple as Bastable, Maidstone asMayston, Stockport as Stopford. On the other hand, there is not avillage of any antiquity but has, or once had, a representative amongsurnames. NAMES PRECEDED BY DE The provinces and towns of France and Flanders have given us manycommon surnames. From names of provinces we have Burgoyne and Burgin, Champain and Champneys (Chapter II), Gascoyne and Gaskin, Mayne, Mansell, Old Fr. Mancel (manceau), an inhabitant of Maine or of itscapital Le Mans, Brett and Britton, Fr. Le Bret and le Breton, Pickard, Power, sometimes from Old Fr. Pohier, a Picard, Peto, formerly Peitow, from Poitou, Poidevin and Puddifin, for Poitevin, Loring, Old Fr. Le Lohereng, the man from Lorraine, assimilated to Fleming, Hammy, an old name for Hainault, Brabazon, leBrabançon, and Brebner, formerly le Brabaner, Angwin, for Angevin, Flinders, a perversion of Flanders, Barry, which is sometimes forBerri, and others which can be identified by everybody. Among towns we have Allenson, Alençon, Amyas, Amiens, Ainger, Angers, Aris, Arras, Bevis, Beauvais, Bullen, Boulogne, Bloss, Blois, Bursell, Brussels, Callis and Challis, Calais, Challen, from one of the Frenchtowns called Chalon or Chalons, Chaworth, Cahors, Druce, Dreux, Gaunt, Gand (Ghent), Luck, Luick (Liege), Loving, Louvain, Malins, Malines(Mechlin), Raynes, Rennes and Rheims, Roan, Rouen, Sessions, Soissons, Stamp, Old Fr. Estampes (ttampes), Turney, Tournay, etc. The name deVerdun is common enough in old records for us to connect with it boththe fascinating Dolly and the illustrious Harry. [Footnote added byscanner: Some modern readers might not realise that Weekley wasreferring to Harry Vardon, a famous golfer of the late nineteenth andearly twentieth century. Dolly Varden was a character in Dickens'"Barnaby Rudge", a pretty girl in flowered hats and skirts. Her namewas borrowed for various clothing styles, breeds of flowers, shows, theatres and even angling fishes among other things. There seem tohave been several references to "the fascinating Dolly Varden", thoughthe expression does not occur in the book. ] To the above may beadded, among German towns, Cullen, Cologne, and Lubbock, Luebeck, and, from Italy, Janes, Gênes (Genoa), Janaway or Janways, i. E. Genoese, and Lombard or Lombard. Familiar names of foreign towns were oftenanglicized. Thus we find Hamburg called Hamborough, Bruges Bridges, and Tours Towers. To the town of Angers we sometimes owe, besides Ainger, the forbiddingnames Anger and Danger. In many local names of foreign origin thepreposition de has been incorporated, e. G. Dalmain, d'Allemagne, sometimes corrupted into Dallman and Dollman, though these are alsofor Doleman, from the East Anglian dole, a boundary, Dallison, d'Alençon, Danvers, d'Anvers, Antwerp, Devereux, d'Évreux, Daubeney, Dabney, d'Aubigny, Disney, d'Isigny, etc. Doyle is a later form of Doyley, orDolley, for d'Ouilli, and Darcy and Durfey were once d'Arcy andd'Urfé. Dew is sometimes for de Eu. Sir John de Grey, justice ofChester, had in 1246 two Alice in Wonderland clerks named Henry de Euand William de Ho. A familiar example, which has been much disputed, is the Cambridgeshire name Death, which some of its possessors preferto write D'Aeth or De Ath. Bardsley rejects this, without, I think, sufficient reason. It is true that it occurs as de Dethe in theHundred Rolls, but this is not a serious argument, for we find also deDaubeney (Chapter XI), the original de having already been absorbed atthe time the Rolls were compiled. This retention of the de is alsocommon in names derived from spots which have not become recognizedplace-names; see Chapter XIV. But to derive a name of obviously native origin from a place in Franceis a snobbish, if harmless, delusion. There are quite enough moorleys in England without explaining Morley by Morlaix. To connect theMid. English nickname Longfellow with Longueville, or the patronymicHansom (Chapter III) with Anceaumville, betrays the same belief inphonetic epilepsy that inspires the derivation of Barber from thechapelry of Sainte-Barbe. The fact that there are at least threeplaces, in England called Carrington has not prevented one writer fromseeking the origin of that name in the appropriate locality ofCharenton. CHAPTER XII. SPOT NAMES "In ford, in ham, in ley and tunThe most of English surnames run" (VERSTEGAN). Verstegan's couplet, even if it be not strictly true, makes a verygood text for a discourse on our local names. The ham, or home, andthe ton, or town, originally an enclosure (cf. Ger. Zaun, hedge), were, at any rate in a great part of England, the regular nucleus ofthe village, which in some cases has become the great town and inothers has decayed away and disappeared from the map. In an age whenwool was our great export, flock keeping was naturally a mostimportant calling, and the ley, or meadow land, would be quickly takenup and associated with human activity. When bridges were scarce, fords were important, and it is easy to see how the inn, the smithy, the cartwright's booth, etc. , would naturally plant themselves at sucha spot and form the commencement of a hamlet. ELEMENTS OF PLACE-NAMES Each of these four words exists by itself as a specific place-name andalso as a surname. In fact Lee and Ford are among our commonest localsurnames. In the same way the local origin of such names as Clay andChalk may be specific as well as general. But I do not propose todeal here with the vast subject of our English village names, but onlywith the essential elements of which they are composed, elements whichwere often used for surnominal purposes long before the spot itselfhad developed into a village. [Footnote: A good general account ofour village names will be found in the Appendix to Isaac Taylor'sNames and their Histories. It is reprinted as chapter xi of the sameauthor's Words and Places (Everyman Library). See also Johnston'sPlace-names of England and Wales, a glossary of selected names with acomprehensive introduction. There are many modern books on thevillage names of various counties, e. G. Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Suffolk (Skeat), Oxfordshire (Alexander), Lancashire (Wyld and Hirst), West Riding ofYorkshire (Moorman), Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire(Duignan), Nottinghamshire (Mutschmann), Gloucestershire (Baddeley), Herefordshire (Bannister), Wiltshire (Elsblom), S. W. Yorkshire(Goodall), Sussex (Roberts), Lancashire (Sephton), Derbyshire(Walker), Northumberland and Durham (Mawer). ] Thus the name Oakleymust generally have been borne by a man who lived on meadow land whichwas surrounded or dotted with oak-trees. But I should be shy ofexplaining a given village called Oakley in the same way, because thestudent of place-names might be able to show from early records thatthe place was originally an ey, or island, and that the first syllableis the disguised name of a medieval churl. These four simple etymonsthemselves may also become perverted. Thus -ham is sometimes confusedwith -holm (Chapter XII), -ley, as I have just suggested, may in somecases contain -ey, -ton occasionally interchanges with -don and-stone, and -lord with the French -fort (Chapter XIV). In this chapter will be found a summary of the various words appliedby our ancestors to the natural features of the land they lived on. To avoid too lengthy a catalogue, I have classified them under thethree headings-- (1) Hill and Dale, (2) Plain and Woodland, (3) Water and Waterside, reserving for the next chapter the names due to man's interferencewith the scenery, e. G. Roads, buildings, enclosures, etc. They are mostly Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian, the Celtic name remainingas the appellation of the individual hill, stream, etc. (Helvellyn, Avon, etc. ). The simple word has in almost all cases given a fairlycommon surname, but compounds are of course numerous, the firstelement being descriptive of the second, e. G. Bradley, broad lea, Radley and Ridley, red lea, Brockley, brook lea or badger lea (ChapterXXIII), Beverley, beaver lea, Cleverley, clover lea, Hawley, hedgelea, Rawnsley, raven's lea, and so ad infinitum. In the oldestrecords spot names are generally preceded by the preposition at, whence such names as Attewell, Atwood, but other prepositions occur, as in Bythesea, Underwood and the hybrid Suttees, on Tees. Cf. SuchFrench names as Doutrepont, from beyond the bridge. One curious phenomenon, of which I can offer no explanation, is thatwhile many spot names occur indifferently with or without -s, e. G. Bridge, Bridges; Brook, Brooks; Platt, Plaits, in others we find aregular preference either for the singular or plural form. [Footnote:In some cases no doubt a plural, in others a kind of genitive due tothe influence of personal names, such as Wills, Perkins, etc. ]Compare the following couples: Field Meadows Lake Rivers Pool Mears (metes) Spying Wells House Coates (P, 133) Marsh Myers (mires) [Footnote: Myers is very often a Jewish name, from the very commonGer. Meyer, for which see Chapter IV. ] to which many more might be added. So we find regularly Nokes butNash (Chapter III), Beech but Willows. The general tendency iscertainly towards the -s forms in the case of monosyllables, e. G. Banks, Foulds, Hayes, Stubbs, Thwaites, etc. , but we naturally findthe singular in compounds, e. G. Windebank (winding), Nettlefold, Roundhay, etc. There is also a further problem offered by names in -er. We know thata Waller was a mason or wall-builder, but was a Bridger really aPontifex, [Footnote: An example of a Latinized name. Cf. Sutor, Faber, and the barbarous Sartorius, for sartor, a tailor. Pontifexmay also be the latinized form of Pope or Bishop. It is not known whythis title, bridge-builder, was given to high-priests. ] did he merelylive near the bridge, or was he the same as a Bridgman, and what wasthe latter? Did Sam Weller's ancestor sink wells, possess a well, orlive near someone else's well? Probably all explanations may becorrect, for the suffix may have differed in meaning according tolocality, but I fancy that in most cases proximity alone is implied. The same applies to many cases of names in -man, such as Hillman, Dickman (dyke), Parkman. Many of the words in the following paragraphs are obsolete or surviveonly in local usage. Some of them also vary considerably in meaning, according to the region in which they are found. I have included manywhich, in their simple form, seem too obvious to need explanation, because the compounds are not always equally clear. HILL AND DALE We have a fair number of Celtic words connected with natural scenery, but they do not as a rule form compounds, and as surnames are usuallyfound in their simple form. Such are Cairn, a stony hill, Crag, Craig, and the related Carrick and Creagh, Glen or Glynn, and Lynn, acascade. Two words, however, of Celtic origin, don, or down, a hill, and combe, a hollow in the hills, were adopted by the Anglo-Saxons andenter into many compounds. Thus we find Kingdon, whence the imitativeKingdom, Brandon, from the name Brand (Chapter VII), Ashdown, etc. The simple Donne or Dunne is sometimes the Anglo-Saxon name Dunna, whence Dunning, or a colour nickname, while Down and Downing mayrepresent the Anglo-Sax. Duna and Duning (Chapter VII). From Combe, used especially in the west of England, we have Compton, and suchcompounds as Acomb, at combe, Addiscombe, Battiscombe, etc. ButNewcomb is for Newcome (Chapter II). See also Slocomb (Chapter XXI). HILLS The simple Hill and Dale are among our common surnames. Hill alsoappears as Hull and is easily disguised in compounds, e. G. Brummel forbroom-hill, Tootell and Tuttle for Toothill, a name found in manylocalities and meaning a hill on which a watch was kept. It isconnected with the verb to tout, originally to look out "David dwellide in the tote hil" (Wyc, 2 Sam. V. 9). We have Dale and its cognate Dell in Swindell (swine), Tindall (Tyne), Twaddell, Tweddell (Tweed), etc. -- "Mr. H. T. Twaddle announced the change of his name to Tweeddale inthe Times, January 4, 1890" (Bardsley). Other names for a hill are Fell (Scand. ), found in the lake country, whence Grenfell; and Hough or How (Scand. ), as in the north countrynames Greenhow, Birchenough. This is often reduced to -o, as in Clitheroe, Shafto, and is easilyconfused with scough, a wood (Scand. ), as in Briscoe (birch), Ayscough(ash). In the north hills were also called Law and Low, with such compoundsas Bradlaugh, Whitelaw, and Harlow. To these must be added Barrow, often confused with the related borough (Chapter XIII). Both belongto the Anglo-Sax. Beorgan, to protect, cover. The name Leatherbarrowmeans the hill, perhaps the burial mound, of Leather, Anglo-Sax. Hlothere, cognate with Lothair and Luther. A hill-top was Cope or Copp. Chaucer uses it of the tip of theMiller's nose "Upon the cope right of his nose he hadeA werte, and thereon stood a toft of herys. " (A. 554. ) Another name for a hill-top appears in Peak, Pike, Peck, or Pick, butthe many compounds in Pick-, e. G. Pickbourne, Pickford, Pickwick, etc. , suggest a personal name Pick of which we have the dim. InPickett (cf. Fr. Picot) and the softened Piggot. Peak may be in somecases from the Derbyshire Peak, which has, however, no connection withthe common noun peak. A mere hillock or knoll has given the namesKnapp, Knollys or Knowles, Knock, and Knott. But Knapp may also befor Mid. Eng. Nape, cognate with knave and with Low Ger. Knappe, squire-- "Wer wagt es, Rittersmann oder Knapp'. Zu tauchen in diesen Schlund?" (Schiller, Der Taucher, 1. I. ) Redknap, the name of a Richmond boat-builder, is probably a nickname, like Redhead. A Knapper may have lived on a "knap, " or may have beenone of the Suffolk flint-knappers, who still prepare gun-flints forweapons to be retailed to the heathen. Knock and Knocker are both Kentish names, and there is a reef offMargate known as the Kentish Knock. We have the plural Knox (cf. Bax, Settlements and Enclosures, Chapter XIII). Knott is sometimes forCnut, or Canute, which generally becomes Nutt. Both have got mixedwith the nickname Nott. A green knoll was also called Toft (Scand. ), whence Langtoft, and thename was used later for a homestead. From Cliff we have Clift, [Footnote: This may also be from Mid. Eng, clift, a cleft. ] withexcrescent -t, and the cognates Cleeve and Clive. Compounds ofCliff are Radcliffe (red), Sutcliffe (south), Wyclif (white). Thec- sometimes disappears in compounds, e. G. Cunliffe, earlier Cunde-clive, and Topliff; but Ayliffe is for AElfgifu or AEthelgifu and Goodliffefrom Godleof (cf. Ger. Gottlieb). The older form of Stone appears inStaines, Stanhope, Stanton, etc. Wheatstone is either for "whitestone" or for the local Whetstone (Middlesex). In Balderstone, Johnston, Edmondstone, Livingstone, the suffix is -ton, though thefrequence of Johnston points to corruption from Johnson, just as inNottingham we have the converse case of Beeson from the local Beeston. In Hailstone the first element may be Mid. Eng, half, holy. AnotherMid. English name for a stone appears in Hone, now used only of awhetstone. A hollow or valley in the hillside was called in the north Clough, also spelt Clow, Cleugh (Clim o' the Cleugh), and Clew. The compoundFairclough is found corrupted into Faircloth. Another obscurenorthern name for a glen was Hope, whence Allsop, Blenkinsop, thefirst element in each being perhaps the name of the first settler, andBurnup, Hartopp, (hart), Harrap (hare), Heslop (hazel). Gill (Scand. ), a ravine, has given Fothergill, Pickersgill, andGaskell, from Gaisgill (Westmorland). These, like most of our namesconnected with mountain scenery, are naturally found almostexclusively in the north. Other surnames which belong more or less tothe hill country are Hole, found also as Holl, Hoole, and Hoyle, butperhaps meaning merely a depression in the land, Ridge, and itsnorthern form Rigg, with their compounds Doddridge, Langridge, Brownrigg, Hazelrigg, etc. Ridge, Rigg, also appear as Rudge, Rugg. From Mid. Eng. Raike, a path, a sheep-track (Scand. ), we get Raikesand perhaps Greatorex, found earlier as Greatrakes, the name of afamous faith-healer of the seventeenth century. WOODLAND AND PLAIN The compounds of Wood itself are very numerous, e. G. Braidwood, Harwood, Norwood, Sherrard and Sherratt (Sherwood). But, inconsidering the frequency of the simple Wood, it must be rememberedthat we find people described as le wode, i. E. Mad (cf. Ger. Wut, frenzy), and that mad and madman are found as medieval names "Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood; And here am I, and wode within this wood, Because I cannot meet my Hermia. " (Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. ) As a suffix -wood is sometimes a corruption of -ward, e. G. Haywood isoccasionally for Hayward, and Allwood, Elwood are for Aylward, Anglo-Sax. AEthelweard. Another name for a wood was Holt, cognatewith Ger. Holz-- "But right so as thise holtes and thise hayis, That han in winter dede ben and dreye, Revesten hem in grene whan that May is. " (Troilus and Criseyde, iii. 351. ) Hurst or Hirst means a wooded hill (cf. Ger. Horst), and Shaw was oncealmost as common a word as wood itself-- "Wher rydestow under this grene-wode shawe?" (D, 1386. ) Hurst belongs especially to the south and west, though Hirst is verycommon in Yorkshire; Shaw is found in the north and Holt in the eastand south. We have compounds of Shaw in Bradshaw, Crashaw (crow), Hearnshaw (heron), Earnshaw (Mid. Eng, earn, eagle), Renshaw (raven)[Footnote: It is obvious that this may also be for raven's haw(Chapter XIII). Raven was a common personal name and is the firstelement in Ramsbottom (Chapter XII), Ramsden. ], etc. , of Hurst inBuckhurst (beech), Brockhurst (badger), and of Holt in Oakshott. We have earlier forms of Grove in Greaves-- "And with his stremes dryeth in the greves The silver dropes, hangynge on the leves" (A. 1495)-- and Graves, the latter being thus no more funereal than Tombs, fromThomas (cf. Timbs from Timothy). But Greaves and Graves may also bevariants of the official Grieves (Chapter XIX), or may come from Mid. Eng. Graefe, a trench, quarry. Compounds are Hargreave (hare), Redgrave, Stangrave, the two latter probably referring to anexcavation. From Mid. Eng, strope, a small wood, appear to comeStrode and Stroud, compound Bulstrode, while Struthers is the cognatestrother, marsh, still in dialect use. Weald and wold, the cognatesof Ger. Wald, were applied rather to wild country in general than toland covered with trees. They are probably connected with wild. Similarly the Late Lat. Foresta, whence our forest, means only what isoutside, Lat, foris, the town jurisdiction. From the Mid. Eng. Waeldwe have the names Weld and Weale, the latter with the not uncommonloss of final -d. Scroggs (Scand. ) and Scrubbs suggest their meaningof brushwood. Scroggins, from its form, is a patronymic, and probablyrepresents Scoggins with intrusive _r_. This is perhaps from Scogin, a name borne by a poet who was contemporary with Chaucer and by acourt-fool of the fifteenth century-- "The same Sir John, the very same. I saw him break Skogan's head atthe court gate, when he was a crack, not thus high. " (2 Henry IV. , iii. 2. ) With Scrubb of cloudy ammonia fame we may compare Wormwood Scrubbs. Shrubb is the same word, and Shropshire is for Anglo-Sax. Scrob-scire. FOREST CLEARINGS The two northern names for a clearing in the wood were Royd andThwaite (Scand. ). The former is cognate with the second part ofBaireut and Wernigerode, and with the Rütli, the small plateau onwhich the Swiss patriots took their famous oath. It was so called-- "Weil dort die Waldung ausgerodet ward. " (SCHILLER, Wilhelm Tell. ) Among its compounds are Ackroyd (oak), Grindrod (green), Murgatroyd(Margaret), Learoyd (lea), Ormerod, etc. We also find the name Rodd, which may belong here or to Rudd (Chapter VII), and both these namesmay also be for Rood, equivalent to Cross or Crouch (Chapter II), asin Holyrood. Ridding is also related to Royd. Hacking may be a dim. Of Hack (Chapter VII), but we find also de le hacking, which suggestsa forest clearing. Thwaite, from Anglo-Sax. þwitan, to cut, is found chiefly inCumberland and the adjacent region in such compounds as Braithwaite(broad), Hebbelthwaite, Postlethwaite, Satterthwaite. The second ofthese is sometimes corrupted into Ablewhite as Cowperthwaite is intoCopperwheat, for "this suffix has ever been too big a mouthful in thesouth" (Bardsley). A glade or valley in the wood was called a Dean, Dene, Denne, cognate with den. The compounds are numerous, e. G. Borden (boar), Dibden (deep), Sugden (Mid. Eng. Suge, sow), Hazeldeanor Heseltine. From the fact that swine were pastured in these gladesthe names Denman and Denyer have been explained as equivalent toswineherd. As a suffix -den is often confused with -don (ChapterXII). At the foot of Horsenden Hill, near Harrow, two boards announceHorsendon Farm and Horsenden Golf-links. An opening in the wood wasalso called Slade-- "And when he came to Barnesdale, Great heavinesse there hee hadd; He found two of his fellowes Were slain both in a Slade. " (Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne. ) The maps still show Pond Slade in Richmond Park, The compound Hertsletmay be for hart-Slade. Acre, a field, cognate with, but not derived from, Lat. Ager, occursin Goodacre, Hardacre, Linacre, Whittaker, etc. , and Field itselfgives numerous compounds, including Butterfield (bittern, ChapterXXIII), Schofield (school), Streatfeild (street), Whitfield. Pasture-land is represented above all by Lea, for which see ChapterIII. It is cognate with Hohenlohe and Waterloo, while Mead and Meddare cognate with Zermatt (at the mead). Brinsmead thus means the sameas Brinsley. MARSHES Marshy land has given the names Carr or Kerr (Scand. ) and Marsh, originally an adjective, merisc, from mer, mere. The doublet Marrishas usually become Morris. The compounds Tidmarsh and Titchmarshcontain the Anglo-Saxon names Tidda and Ticca. Moor also originallyhad the meaning morass (e. G. In Sedgemoor), as Ger. Moor still has, sothat Fenimore is pleonastic. The northern form is Muir, as inMuirhead. Moss was similarly used in the north; cf. Moss-trooper andSolway Moss, but the surname Moss is generally for Moses (Chapter IX). From slough we get the names Slow, Slowley, and Sloman (also perhaps anickname), with which we may compare Moorman and Mossman. This seemsto be also the most usual meaning of Slack or Slagg, also used of agap in the hills "The first horse that he rode upon, For he was raven black, He bore him far, and very far, But failed in a slack. " (Ballad of Lady Maisry. ) Tye means common land. Platt is a piece, or plot, of level country-- "Oft on a plat of rising ground I hear the far-off curfew sound" (Penseroso, 1. 73); and shape is expressed by Gore, a triangular piece of land (cf. Kensington Gore), of which the older form Gare, Geare, also survives. In Lowndes we have laund or lound-- "And to the laund he rideth hym ful right, For thider was the hart wont have his flight (A. 1691)-- a piece of heath land, the origin of the modern word lawn. In Lundand Lunn it has become confused with the Old Norse lundr, a sacredgrove. Laund itself is of French origin-- "Lande, a land, or laund; a wild, untilled, shrubbie, or bushieplaine" (Cotgrave). Its relation to land is uncertain, and it is not possible todistinguish them in such compounds as Acland (Chapter XII), Buckland, Cleveland, etc. The name Lander or Launder is unconnected with these(see p. 186). Flack is Mid. Eng. Flagge, turf. Snape is a dialectword for boggy ground, and Wong means a meadow. A rather uncouth-looking set of names, which occur chiefly on theborder of Cheshire and Lancashire, are compounded from bottom orbotham, a wide shallow valley suited for agriculture. Hotspur, dissatisfied with his fellow-conspirators' map-drawing, expresses hisintention of damming the Trent so that "It shall not wind with such a deep indent To rob me of so rich a bottom here. " (1 Henry IV, iii. 1. ) Familiar compounds are Higginbottom, Rowbotham, Sidebottom. The firstelement of Shufflebotham is, in the Lancashire Assize Rolls(1176-1285), spelt Schyppewalle- and Schyppewelle-, where schyppe isfor sheep, still so pronounced in dialect. Tarbottom, earlierTarbutton, is corrupted from Tarbolton (Ayrshire). WATER AND WATERSIDE RIVERS Very few surnames are taken, in any language, from the names ofrivers. This is quite natural, for just as the man who lived on ahill became known as Hill, Peake, etc. , and not as Skiddaw or Wrekin, so the man who lived by the waterside would be known as Bywater, Rivers, etc. No Londoner talks of going on the Thames, and thecountry-dweller also usually refers to his local stream as the riveror the water, and not by its geographical name. Another reason forthe absence of such surnames is probably to be found in the fact thatour river (and mountain) names are almost exclusively Celtic, and hadno connotation for the English population. We have many apparentriver names, but most of them are susceptible of another explanation. Dee may be for Day as Deakin is for Dakin, i. E. David, Derwent lookslike Darwin (Chapter VII) or the local Darwen with excrescent -t(Chapter III), Humber is Humbert, a French name corresponding to theAnglo-Sax, Hunbeorht, Medway may be merely "mid-way, " and Trent is aplace in Somerset. This view as to river surnames is supported by thefact that we do not appear to have a single mountain surname, theapparent exception, Snowdon, being for Snowden (see den, Dean, Dene, Denne). [Footnote: But see my Surnames, Chapter XVI. ] Among names for streams we have Beck, [Footnote: The simple Beck isgenerally a German name of modern introduction (see pecch). ] cognatewith Ger. Bach; Bourne, [Footnote: Distinct from bourne, a boundary, Fr. Borne. ] or Burn, cognate with Ger. Brunnen; Brook, related tobreak; Crick, a creek; Fleet, a creek, cognate with Flood; and Syke, atrench or rill. In Beckett and Brockett the suffix is head (ChapterXIII). Troutbeck, Birkbeck explain themselves. In Colbeck we havecold, and Holbrook contains hollow, but in some names -brook has beensubstituted for -borough, -burgh. We find Brook latinized as Torrens. Aborn is for atte bourne, and there are probably many places calledBlackburn and Otterburn. Firth, an estuary, cognate with fjord, often becomes Frith, but thissurname usually comes from frith, a park or game preserve (ChapterXIII). Another word for a creek, wick or wick (Scand. ), cannot bedistinguished from wick, a settlement. Pond, a doublet of Pound(Chapter XIII), means a piece of water enclosed by a dam, whilenatural sheets of water are Lake, or Lack, not limited originally to alarge expanse, Mere, whence Mears and such compounds as Cranmer(crane), Bulmer (bull), etc. , and Pool, also spelt Pull and Pole. Wehave compounds of the latter in Poulton (Chapter I), Claypole, andGlasspool. In Kent a small pond is called Sole, whence Nethersole. The bank of ariver or lake was called Over, cognate with Ger. Ufer, whence Overend, Overall (see below), Overbury, Overland. The surname Shore, for atteshore, may refer to the sea-shore, but the word sewer was onceregularly so pronounced and the name was applied to large drains inthe fen country (cf. Gott, Water, Chapter XIII). Beach is a word oflate appearance and doubtful origin, and as a surname is usuallyidentical with Beech. Spits of land by the waterside were called Hook (cf. Hook of Hollandand Sandy Hook) and Hoe or Hoo, as in Plymouth Hoe, or the Hundred ofHoo, between the Thames and the Medway. From Hook comes Hooker, whereit does not mean a maker of hooks, while Homan and Hooman sometimesbelong to the second. Alluvial land by a stream was called halgh, haugh, whence sometimes Hawes. Its dative case gives Hale and Heal. These often become -hall, -all, in place-names. Compounds areGreenhalgh, Greenall and Featherstonehaugh, perhaps our longestsurname. Ing, a low-lying meadow, Mid. Eng. Eng, survives in Greening, Fenning, Wilding, and probably sometimes in England (Chapter XI). But Inge andIngs, the latter the name of one of the Cato Street conspirators, alsorepresent an Anglo-Saxon personal name. Cf. Ingall and Ingle, fromIngwulf, or Ingold, whence Ingoldsby. ISLANDS Ey, an island, [Footnote: Isle of Sheppey, Mersea Island, etc, arepleonasms. ]survives as the last element of many names, and is notalways to be distinguished from hey (hay, Settlements, Chapter III)and ley. Bill Nye's ancestor lived atten ey (Chapter III). Dowdneyor Dudeney has been explained from the Anglo-Saxon name Duda, but itmore probably represents the very common French name Dieudonné, corresponding to Lat. Deodatus. In the north a river island wascommonly called Holm (Scand. ), also pronounced Home, Hulme, and Hume, in compounds easily confused with -ham, e. G. Durham was onceDun-holmr, hill island. The very common Holmes is probably in mostcases a tree-name (Chapter XII). In Chisholm the first element maymean pebble; cf. Chesil Beach. The names Bent, whence Broadbent, andCrook probably also belong sometimes to the river, but may have arisenfrom a turn in a road or valley. But Bent was also applied to a tractcovered with bents, or rushes, and Crook is generally a nickname(Chapter XXII). Lastly, the crossing of the unbridged stream hasgiven us Ford or Forth whence Stratford, Strafford (street), Stanford, Stamford, Staniforth (stone), etc. The alternative name was Wade, whence the compound Grimwade. The cognate wath (Scand. ) has beenconfused with with (Scand. ), a wood, whence the name Wythe and thecompound Askwith or Asquith. Both -wath and -with have been oftenreplaced by -worth and -wood. TREE NAMES In conclusion a few words must be said about tree names, so common intheir simple form and in topographical compounds. Here, as in thecase of most of the etymons already mentioned in this chapter, theorigin of the surname may be specific as well as general, i. E. Thename Ash may come from Ash in Kent rather than from any particulartree, the etymology remaining the same. Many of our surnames havepreserved the older forms of tree names, e. G. The lime was once theline, hence Lines, Lynes, and earlier still the Lind, as in thecompounds Lyndhurst, Lindley, etc. The older form of Oak appears inAcland, Acton, and variants in Ogden and Braddock, broad oak. We haveash in Aston, Ascham. The holly was once the hollin, whence Hollins, Hollis, Hollings; cf. Hollings-head, Holinshed. But hollin becamecolloquially holm, whence generally Holmes. Homewood is forholm-wood. The holm oak, ilex, is so called from its holly-likeleaves. For Birch we also find Birk, a northern form. Beech oftenappears in compounds as Buck-; cf. Buckwheat, so called because thegrains are of the shape of beech-mast. In Poppleton, Popplewell wehave the dialect popple, a poplar. Yeo sometimes represents yew, spelt yowe by Palsgrave. [Footnote: The yeo of yeoman, which isconjectured to have meant district, cognate with Ger. Gau in Breisgau, Rheingau, etc. , is not found by itself. ] In Sallows we have a provincial name for the willow, cognate with Fr, saule and Lat. Salix. Rowntree is the rowan, or mountain ash, andBawtry or Bawtree is a northern name for the elder. The older formsof Alder and Elder, in both of which the _d_ is intrusive (ChapterIII), appear in Allerton and Ellershaw. Maple is sometimes Mapple andsycamore is corrupted into Sicklemore. Tree-names are common in all languages. Beerbohm Tree is pleonastic, from Ger. Bierbaum, for Birnbaum, pear-tree. A few years ago aprominent Belgian statesman bore the name Vandenpereboom, ratherterrifying till decomposed into "van den pereboom. " Its Mid. Englishequivalent appears in Pirie, originally a collection of pear-trees, but used by Chaucer for the single tree "And thus I lete hym sitte upon the pyrie. " (E. 2217. ) From trees we may descend gradually, via Thorne, Bush, Furze, Gorst(Chapter I), Ling, etc. , until we come finally to Grace, which in somecases represents grass, for we find William atte grase in 1327, whilethe name Poorgrass, in Mr. Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd, seemsto be certified by the famous French names Malherbe and Malesherbes. But Savory is the French personal name Savary. The following list of trees is given by Chaucer in the Knight's tale-- "The names that the trees highte, -- As ook, firre, birch, aspe, alder, holm, popeler, Wylugh, elm, plane, assh, box, chasteyn, lynde, laurer, Mapul, thorn, beck, hasel, ew, whippeltre. " (A. 2920. ) They are all represented in modern directories. CHAPTER XIII. THE HAUNTS OF MAN "One fels downs firs, another of the same With crossed poles a little lodge doth frame: Another mounds it with dry wall about, And leaves a breach for passage in and out: With turfs and furze some others yet more gross Their homely sties in stead of walls inclose: Some, like the swallow, mud and hay doe mixe And that about their silly [p. 209] cotes they fixe Some heals [thatch] their roofer with fearn, or reeds, or rushes, And some with hides, with oase, with boughs, and bushes, " (SYLVESTER, The Devine Weekes, ) In almost every case where man has interfered with nature theresulting local name is naturally of Anglo-Saxon or, in some parts ofEngland, of Scandinavian origin. The Roman and French elements in ourtopographical names are scanty in number, though the former are offrequent occurrence. The chief Latin contributions are -Chester, -cester, -caster, Lat. Castrum, a fort, or plural castra, a camp;-street, Lat. Via strata, a levelled way; -minster, Lat. Monasterium;and -church or -kirk, Greco-Lat. Kuriakon, belonging to the Lord. Eccles, Greco-Lat. Ecclesia, probably goes back to CelticChristianity. Street was the high-road, hence Greenstreet. Minsteris curiously corrupted in Buckmaster for Buckminster and Kittermasterfor Kidderminster, while in its simple form it appears as Minister(Chapter III). We have a few French place-names, e. G. Beamish (Chapter XIV), Beaumont, Richmond, Richemont, and Malpas (Cheshire), the evil pass, with which we may compare Maltravers. We have the apparent oppositein Bompas, Bumpus, Fr. Bon pas, but this was a nickname. Of latethere has been a tendency to introduce the French ville, e. G. Bournville, near Birmingham. That part of Margate which ought to becalled Northdown is known as Cliftonville, and the inhabitants of theopposite end of the town, dissatisfied with such good names asWestbrook and Rancorn, hanker after Westonville. But thesephilological atrocities are fortunately too late to be perpetuated assurnames. I have divided the names in this chapter into those that are connectedwith (1) Settlements and Enclosures, (2) Highways and Byways, (3) Watercourses, (4) Buildings, (5) Shop Signs. And here, as before, names which neither in their simple nor compoundform present any difficulty are omitted. SETTLEMENTS AND ENCLOSURES The words which occur most commonly in the names of the modern townswhich have sprung from early homesteads are borough or bury, [Footnote: Originally the dative of borough. ] by, ham, stoke, stow, thorp, tun or ton, wick, and worth. These names are all of nativeorigin, except by, which indicates a Danish settlement, and wick, which is supposed to be a very early loan from Lat. Vicus, cognatewith Greek oikos, house. Nearly all of them are common, in theirsimple form, both as specific place-names and as surnames. Borough, cognate with Ger. Burg, castle, and related to Barrow (Chapter XII), has many variants, Bury, Brough, Borrow, Berry, whence Berryman, andBurgh, the last of which has become Burke in Ireland. In Atterbury the preposition and article have both remained, while inThornber the suffix is almost unrecognizable. By, related to byre andto the preposition by, is especially common in Yorkshire andLincolnshire. It is sometimes spelt bee, e. G. Ashbee for Ashby. Thesimple Bye is not uncommon. Ham is cognate with home. In compoundsit is sometimes reduced to -um, e. G. Barnum, Holtum, Warnum. But insome such names the -um is the original form, representing an olddative plural (Chapter III). Allum represents the usual Midlandpronunciation of Hallam. Cullum, generally for Culham, may alsorepresent the missionary Saint Colomb. In Newnham the adjective isdative, as in Ger. Neuenheim, at the new home. In Bonham, Frankham, and Pridham the suffix -ham has been substituted for the French hommeof bonhomme, franc homme, prudhomme, while Jerningham is a perversionof the personal name Jernegan or Gernegan, as Garnham is of Gernon, Old French for Beard (Chapter XXI). Stead is cognate with Ger. Stadt, place, town, and with staith, as in Bickersteth(Chapter III). Armstead means the dwelling of the hermit, Bensted the stead of Benna(Chapter VII) or Bennet. Stoke is originally distinct from Stock, a stump, with which it hasbecome fused in the compounds Bostock, Brigstocke. Stow appears inthe compound Bristol (Chapter XI) and in Plaistow, play-ground (cf. Playsted). Thorp, cognate with Ger. Dorf, village, is especiallycommon in the eastern counties "By twenty thorps, a little town, And half a hundred bridges. " (Tennyson, The Brook, 1. 5. ) It has also given Thrupp and probably Thripp, whence Calthrop, Winthrop, Westrupp, etc. Ton, later Town, gave also the northern Toon, still used in Scotlandwith something of its original sense (Chapter XII). Boston isBotolf's town, Gunston Gunolf's town. So also Tarleton (Thurweald), Monkton (monk), Preston (priest). Barton meant originally abarley-field, and is still used in the west of England for a paddock. Wick appears also as Wych, Weech. Its compounds cannot be separatedfrom those of wick, a creek (Chapter XII). Bromage is for Bromwich, Greenidge for Greenwich, Prestage for Prestwich; cf. The place-nameSwanage (Dorset), earlier Swanewic. Worth was perhaps originally applied to land by a river or to a holm(Chapter XII); cf. Ger. Donauwert, Nonnenwert, etc. Harmsworth is forHarmondsworth; cf. Ebbsworth (Ebba), Shuttleworth (Sceotweald), Wadsworth (Wada). Sometimes we find a lengthened form, e. G. Allworthy, from ald, old (cf. Aldworth), Langworthy. Rickworth, further corrupted to Record, is the Anglo-Saxon name Ricweard. Littleworth may belong to this class, but may also be a nickname. This would make it equivalent to the imitative Little-proud, formerlyLittleprow, from Old French and Mid. Eng. Prou, worth, value. To this group may be added two more, which signify a mart, viz. Cheapor Chipp (cf. Chepstow, Chipping Barnet) and Staple, whence Huxtable, Stapleton, etc. Liberty, that part of a city which, though outsidethe walls, shares in the city privileges, and Parish also occur assurnames, but the latter is usually for Paris. Many other words connected with the delimitation of property occurcommonly in surnames. Croft or Craft, a small field, is common incompounds such as Beecroft or Bearcroft (barley), Haycraft (see hay, below), Oscroft(ox), Rycroft, Meadowcroft. [Footnote: I rememberreading in some story of a socially ambitious lady who adopted thiscommonplace name instead of Gubbins. The latter name came over, asGobin, with the Conqueror, and goes back to Old Ger. Godberaht, whenceOld Fr. Godibert. ] Fold occurs usually as Foulds, but we havecompounds such as Nettlefold, Penfold or Pinfold (Chapter XIII). Sty, not originally limited to pigs, has given Hardisty, the sty ofHeardwulf. Frith, a park or game preserve, is probably more often theorigin of a surname than the other frith (Chapter XII). It is cognatewith Ger. Friedhof, cemetery. Chase is still used of a park and Gameonce meant rabbit-warren. Warren is Fr. Garenne. Garth, theScandinavian doublet of Yard, and cognate with Garden, has given thecompounds Garside, Garfield, Hogarth (from a place in Westmorland), and Applegarth, of which Applegate is a corruption. We have acompound of yard in Wynyard, Anglo-Sax. Win, vine. We have also thename Close and its derivative Clowser. Gate, a barrier or opening, Anglo-Sax. Geat, is distinct from the Scandinavian gate, a street(Chapter XIII), though of course confused with it in surnames. Fromthe northern form we have Yates, Yeats, and Yeatman, and the compoundsByatt, by gate, Hyatt, high gate. Agate is for atte gate, andLidgate, whence Lidgett, means a swing gate, shutting like a lid. Fladgate is for flood-gate. Here also belongs Barr. Hatch, the gateat the entrance to a chase, survives in Colney Hatch. The apparentdim. Hatchett is for Hatchard (Chapter VIII); cf. Everett for Everard(Chapter II). Hay, also Haig, Haigh, Haw, Hey, is cognate with Hedge. Like most monosyllabic local surnames, it is commonly found in theplural, Hayes, Hawes. The bird nickname Hedgecock exists also asHaycock. The curious-looking patronymics Townson and Orchardson areof course corrupt. The former is for Tomlinson and the latter perhapsfrom Achard (Chapter VIII). Several places and families in England are named Hide or Hyde, whichmeant a certain measure of land. The popular connection between thisword and hide, a skin, as in the story of the first Jutish settlement, is a fable. It is connected with an Anglo-Saxon word meaninghousehold, which appears also in Huish, Anglo-Sax. Hi-wisc. Dike, orDyke, and Moat, also Mott, both have, or had, a double meaning. Westill use dike, which belongs to dig and ditch, both of a trench and amound, and the latter was the earlier meaning of Fr. Motte, now aclod, In Anglo-French we find moat used of a mound fortress in amarsh. Now it is applied to the surrounding water. From dike comethe names Dicker, Dickman, Grimsdick, etc. Sometimes the name Dykesmay imply residence near some historic earthwork, such as Offa's Dyke, just as Wall, for which Waugh was used in the north, may showconnection with the Roman wall. With these may be mentioned theFrench name Fosse, whence the apparently pleonastic Fosdyke and thename of Verdant Green's friend, Mr. Four-in-hand Fosbrooke. Delves isfrom Mid. Eng. Dell, ditch. Jury is for Jewry, the quarter allottedto the Jews, but Jewsbury is no doubt for Dewsbury; cf. Jewhurst forDewhurst. Here may be mentioned a few local surnames which are hard to classify. We have the apparently anatomical Back, Foot, Head, and, in compounds, -side. Back seems to have been used of the region behind a buildingor dwelling, as it still is at Cambridge. Its plural has given Bax. But it was also a personal name connected with Bacon (Chapter XXIII). We should expect Foot to mean the base of a hill, but it always occursin early rolls without a preposition. It may represent in some casesan old personal name of obscure origin, but it is also a nickname withcompounds such as Barfoot, Lightfoot. The simple Head, found as Mid. Eng. Del heved, is perhaps generally from a shop sign. Fr. Tête, oneorigin of Tait, Tate, and Ger. Haupt, Kopf, also occur as surnames. As a local suffix -head appears to mean top-end and is generallyshortened to -ett, e. G. Birkett (cf. Birkenhead), [Footnote: No doubtsometimes, like Burchett, Burkett, for the personal name Burchard, Anglo-Sax. Burgheard] Brockett (brook), Bromet, Bromhead (broom), Hazlitt (hazel). The same suffix appears to be present in Fossett, from fosse, and Forcett from force, a waterfall (Scand. ). Broadheadis a nickname, like Fr. Grossetête and Ger. Breitkopf. The face-valueof Evershed is boar's head. Morshead may be the nickname of mine hostof the Saracen's Head or may mean the end of the moor. So the namesAked (oak), Blackett, Woodhead may be explained anatomically orgeographically according to the choice of the bearer. Perrett, usually a dim. Of Peter, may sometimes represent the rather effectiveold nickname "pear-head. " Side is local in the uncomfortable sounding Akenside (oak), Fearenside(fern), but Heaviside appears to be a nickname. Handyside may mean"gracious manner, " from Mid. Eng. Side, cognate with Ger. Sitte, custom. See Hendy (Chapter XXII). The simple end survives as Ind orNind (Chapter III) and in Overend (Chapter XII), Townsend. Edgeappears also in the older form Egg, but the frequency of place-namesbeginning with Edge, e. G. Edgeley, Edgington, Edgworth, etc. , suggeststhat it was also a personal name. Lynch, a boundary, is cognate with golf-links. The following soundsmodern, but refers to people sitting in a hollow among thesand-ridges-- "And are ye in the wont of drawing up wi' a' the gangrel bodies thatye find cowering in a sand-bunker upon the links?" (Redgauntlet, ch. Xi. ) Pitt is found in the compound Bulpitt, no doubt the place where thetown bull was kept. It is also the origin of the Kentish names Pettand Pettman (Chapter XVII). Arch refers generally to a bridge. Lastly, there are three words for a corner, viz. Hearne, Herne, Hurne, Horn; Wyke, the same word as Wick, a creek (Chapter XII); and Wray(Scand. ). The franklin tell us that "yonge clerkes" desirous ofknowledge-- "Seken in every halke and every herne Particular sciences for to lerne" (F, 1119). Wray has become confused with Ray (Chapter III). Its compoundthack-wray, the corner where the thatch was stored, has givenThackeray. HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS The word road was not used in its current sense during the surnameperiod, but meant the art of riding, and specifically a raid orinroad. Therefore the name Roades is unconnected with it andrepresents merely a variant of Royds (Chapter XII). This name and itscompounds belong essentially to the north, the prevailing spelling, Rhodes, being artificial. It has no connection with the island ofRhodes. The meaning of Street has changed considerably since the days whenIcknield Street and Watling Street were great national roads. It isnow used exclusively of town thoroughfares, and has become such a meresuffix that, while we speak of the Oxford Róad, we try to suppress thesecond word in Ox'ford Street. To street belong our place-names andsurnames in Strat-, Stret-, etc. , e. G. Stratton, Stretton, Stredwick. Way has a number of compounds with intrusive _a_, e. G. Challaway, Dallaway (dale), Greenaway, Hathaway (heath), Westaway. But Hanway isthe name of a country (Chapter XI), and Otway, Ottoway, is Old Fr. Otouet, a dim. Of Odo. Shipway is for sheep-way. In the north ofEngland the streets in a town are often called gates (Scand. ). It isimpossible to distinguish the compounds of this gate from those of thenative gate, a barrier (Chapter XIII), e. G. Norgate may mean NorthStreet or North Gate. Alley and Court both exist as surnames, but the former is for a'lee, i. E. Atlee (Chapter XII), and the latter is from court in the sense ofmansion, country house. The curious spelling Caught may be seen overa shop in Chiswick. Rowe (Chapter I) sometimes means row of houses, but in Townroe the second element is identical with Wray (ChapterXIII). Cosway, Cossey, is from causeway, Fr. Chaussée; and Twitchers, Twitchell represent dialect words used of a narrow passage andconnected with the Mid. English verb twiselen, to fork, or divide;Twiss must be of similar origin, for we find Robert del twysse in1367. Cf. Birtwistle and Entwistle. With the above may be classedthe west-country Shute, a narrow street; Vennell, a north-country wordfor alley, Fr. Venelle, dim. Of Lat. Versa, vein; Wynd, a court, alsoa north-country word, probably from the verb wind, to twist; and thecognate Went, a passage-- "Thorugh a goter, by a prive wente. " (Troilus and Criseyde, iii. 788. ) WATER Names derived from artificial watercourses are Channell, now replacedas a common noun by the learned form canal; Condy or Cundy, for theearlier Cunditt, conduit; Gott, cognate with gut, used in Yorkshirefor the channel from a mill-dam, and in Lincolnshire for a water-drainon the coast; Lade, Leete, connected with the verb to lead; andsometimes Shore (Chapter XII), which was my grandfather'spronunciation of sewer. From weir, lit. A protection, precaution, cognate with beware and Ger. Wehren, to protect, we have not onlyWeir, but also Ware, Warr, Wear, and the more pretentious Delawarr. The latter name passed from an Earl Delawarr to a region in NorthAmerica, and thus to Fenimore Cooper's noble red men. But this groupof names must sometimes be referred to the Domesday wars, an outlyingpotion of a manor. Lock is more often a land name, to be classed withHatch (Chapter XIII), but was also used of a water-gate. Key was oncethe usual spelling of quay. The curious name Keylock is a perversionof Kellogg, Mid. Eng. Kill-hog. Port seldom belongs here, as the Mid. English is almost always de la Porte, i. E. Gates. From well we have avery large number of compounds, e. G. Cauldwell (cold), Halliwell, thevariants of which, Holliwell, Hollowell, probably all represent Mid. Eng. Hali, holy. Here belongs also Winch, from the device used fordrawing water from deep wells. BUILDINGS The greater number of the words to be dealt with under this headingenter into the composition of specific place-names. A considerablenumber of surnames are derived from the names of religious buildings, usually from proximity rather than actual habitation. Such names arenaturally of Greco-Latin origin, and were either introduced directlyinto Anglo-Saxon by the missionaries, or were adopted later in aFrench form after the Conquest. It has already been noted (Chapter I)that Abbey is not always what it seems; but in some cases it is local, from Fr, abbaye, of which the Provençal form Abadie was introduced bythe Huguenots. We find much earlier Abdy, taken straight from theGreco-Lat. Abbatia. The famous name Chantrey is for chantry, Armitagewas once the regular pronunciation of Hermitage, and Chappell a commonspelling of Chapel-- "Also if you finde not the word you seeke for presently after one sortof spelling, condemne me not forthwith, but consider how it is used tobe spelled, whether with double or single letters, as Chappell, orChapell" (Holyoak, Latin Dict. , 1612). We have also the Norman form Capel, but this may be a nickname fromMid. Eng. Capel, nag-- "Why nadstow (hast thou not) pit the capul in the lathe (barn)?" (A, 4088. ) A Galilee was a chapel or porch devoted to special purposes-- "Those they pursued had taken refuge in the galilee of the church" (Fair Maid of Perth, ch. Ix. ). The tomb of the Venerable Bede is in the Galilee of Durham Cathedral. I had a schoolfellow with this uncommon name, now generally pervertedto Galley. In a play now running (Feb. 1913) in London, there is acharacter named Sanctuary, a name found also in Crockford and theLondon Directory. I have only once come across the contracted form Sentry [Footnote: Onthe development in meaning of this word, first occurring in the phrase"to take sentrie, " i. E. Refuge, see my Romance of Words, ch. Vii. ](Daily Telegraph, Dec. 26, 1912), and then under circumstances whichmight make quotation actionable. Purvis is Mid. Eng. Parvis, a porch, Greco-Lat. Paradises. It may be the same as Provis, the name selectedby Mr. Magwitch on his return from the Antipodes (Great Expectations, ch. Xl. ), unless this is for Provost. Porch and Portch both occur assurnames, but Porcher is Fr. Porcher, a swineherd, and Portal is aHuguenot name. Churcher and Kirker, Churchman and Kirkman, areusually local; cf. Bridges and Bridgman. The names Temple and Templeman were acquired from residence near oneof the preceptories of the Knights Templars, and Spittlehouse (ChapterIII) is sometimes to be accounted for in a similar way (Knights of theHospital). We even find the surname Tabernacle. Musters is Old Fr. Moustiers (moutiers), common in French place-names, from Lat. Monasterium. The word bow, still used for an arch in some old towns, has given the names Bow and Bowes. A medieval statute, recentlyrevived to baffle the suffragettes, was originally directed againstrobbers and "pillers, " i. E. Plunderers, but the name Piller is alsofor pillar; cf. The French name Colonise. With these may be mentionedButtress and Carvell, the latter from Old Fr. Carnet (créneau), abattlement. As general terms for larger dwellings we find Hall, House, alsowritten Hose, and Seal, the last-named from the Teutonic originalwhich has given Fr. Lasalle, whence our surname Sale. To the sameclass belong Place, Plaice, as in Cumnor Place. The possession of such surnames does not imply ancestral possession ofHaddon Hall, Stafford House, etc. , but merely that the founder of thefamily lived under the shadow of greatness. In compounds -house isgenerally treated as in "workus, " e. G. Bacchus (Chapter VIII), Bellows, Brewis, Duffus (dove), Kirkus, Loftus, Malthus, Windus (wynd, Chapter XIII). In connection with Woodhouse it must be rememberedthat this name was given to the man who played the part of a "wild manof the woods" in processions and festivities. William Power, skinner, called "Wodehous, " died in London in 1391. Of similar origin isGreenman. The tavern sign of the Green Man is sometimes explained asrepresenting a forester in green, but it was probably at firstequivalent to the German sign "Zum wilden Mann. " Cassell is sometimesfor Castle, but is more often a local German name of recentintroduction. The northern Peel, a castle, as in the Isle of Man, wasoriginally applied to a stockade, Old Fr. Pel (pieu), a stake, Lat. Palos. Hence also Peall, Peile. Keep comes from the central tower ofthe castle, where the baron and his family kept, i. E. Lived. A moatedGrange is a poetic figment, for the word comes from Fr, grange, a barn(to Lat. Granum); hence Granger. With Mill and the older Milne (Chapter II) we may compare Mullins, Fr. Desmoulins. Barnes is sometimes, but not always, what it seems(Chapter XXI). With it we may put Leathes, from an obsoleteScandinavian word for barn (see quot. Chapter XIII), to which we owealso the names Leatham and Latham. Mr. Oldbuck's "ecstaticdescription" of the Roman camp with its praetorium was spoilt by EdieOchiltree's disastrous interruption "Praetorian here, praetorian there, I mind the bigging o't. "(Antiquary, ch. Iv. ). DWELLINGS The obsolete verb to big, i. E. Build, whence Biggar, a builder, hasgiven us Biggins, Biggs (Chapter III), and Newbigging, while from tobuild we have Newbould and Newbolt. Cazenove, Ital. Casa nuova, meansexactly the same. Probably related to build is the obsolete Bottle, abuilding, whence Harbottle. A humble dwelling was called a Board-- Borde, a little house, lodging, or cottage of timber (Cotgrave)-- whence Boardman, Border. Other names were Booth, Lodge, and Folley, Fr. Feuillée, a hut made of branches-- "Feuillée, an arbor, or bower, framed of leav'd plants, or branches"(Cotgrave). Scale, possibly connected with shealing, is a Scandinavian word usedin the north for a shepherd's hut, hence the surname Scales. Bower, which now suggests a leafy arbour, had no such sense in Mid. English. Chaucer says of the poor widow-- "Ful sooty was hir bour and eek hire halle. " (B, 4022. ) Hence the names Bowerman, Boorman, Burman. But the commonest of names for a humble dwelling was cot or cote Born and fed in rudenesse As in a cote or in an oxe stalle (E, 397) the inhabitant of which was a Colman, Cotter, or, diminutively, Cottrell, Cotterill. Hence the frequent occurrence of the nameCoates. There are also numerous compounds, e. G. Alcott (old), Norcott, Kingscote, and the many variants of Caldecott, Calcott, the colddwelling, especially common as a village name in the vicinity of theRoman roads. It is supposed to have been applied, like Coldharbour, to deserted posts. The name Cotton is sometimes from the dativeplural of the same word, though, when of French origin, it representsColon, dim. Of Cot, aphetic for Jacot. Names such as Kitchin, Spence, a north-country word for pantry(Chapter XX), and Mews, originally applied to the hawk-coops (seeMewer, Chapter XV), point to domestic employment. The simple Mew, common in Hampshire, is a bird nickname. Scammell preserves an olderform of shamble(s), originally the benches on which meat was exposedfor sale. The name Currie, or Curry, is too common to be referredentirely to the Scot. Corrie, a mountain glen, or to Curry inSomerset, and I conjecture that it sometimes represents Old French andMid. Eng. Curie, a kitchen, which is the origin of Petty Cury inCambridge and of the famous French name Curie. Nor can Furness bederived exclusively from the Furness district of Lancashire. It mustsometimes correspond to the common French name Dufour, from four, oven. We also have the name Ovens. Stables, when not identical withStaples (Chapter XIII), belongs to the same class as Mews. Chambers, found in Scotland as Chalmers, is official, the medieval de la Chambreoften referring to the Exchequer Chamber of the City of London. Bellchambers has probably no connection with this word. It appears tobe an imitative spelling of Belencombre, a place near Dieppe, for theentry de Belencumbre is of frequent occurrence. Places of confinement are represented by Gale, gaol (Chapter III), Penn, whence Inkpen (Berkshire), Pond, Pound, and Penfold or Pinfold. But Gales is also for Anglo-Fr. Galles, Wales. Butts may come fromthe archery ground, while Butt is generally to be referred to theFrench name Bout (Chapter VII) or to Budd (Chapter VII). Cordery, forde la corderie, of the rope-walk, has been confused with the much morepicturesque Corderoy, i. E. Coeur de roi. SHOP SIGNS As is well known, medieval shops had signs instead of numbers, andtraces of this custom are still to be seen in country towns. It isquite obvious that town surnames would readily spring into existencefrom such signs. The famous name Rothschild, always mispronounced inEnglish, goes back to the "red shield" over Nathan Rothschild's shopin the Jewry of Frankfurt; and within the writer's memory two brothersnamed Grainge in the little town of Uxbridge were familiarly known asBible Grainge and Gridiron Grainge. Many animal surnames are to bereferred partly to this source, e. G. Bull, Hart, Lamb, Lyon, Ram, Roebuck, Stagg; Cock, Falcon, Peacock, Raven, Swann, etc. , all stillcommon as tavern signs. The popinjay, or parrot, is stilloccasionally found as Pobgee, Popjoy. These surnames all have, ofcourse, an alternative explanation (ch. Xxiii. ). Here also usuallybelong Angel and Virgin. A considerable number of such names probably consist of those takenfrom figures used in heraldry or from objects which indicated thecraft practised, or the special commodity in which the tradesmandealt. Such are Arrow, Bell, Buckle, Crosskeys, Crowne, Gauntlett, Hatt, Horne, Image, Key, Lilley, Meatyard, measuring wand-- "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure" (Lev. Xix. 35)-- Mullett, [Footnote: A five-pointed star, Old Fr. Molette, rowel of aspur. ] Rose, Shears, and perhaps Blades, Shipp, Spurr, Starr, Sword. Thomas Palle, called "Sheres, " died in London, 1376. But here again we must walk delicately. The Germanic name Hatto, borne by the wicked bishop who perished in the Mäuseturm, gave theFrench name Hatt with the accusative form Hatton, [Footnote: In OldFrench a certain number of names, mostly of Germanic origin, had anaccusative in -on, e. G. Guy, Guyon, Hugues, Hugon. From Lat. Pontiuscame Poinz, Poinson, whence our Poyntz, less pleasingly Punch, andPunshon. In the Pipe Rolls these are also spelt Pin-, whence Pinch, Pinchin, and Pinches. ] Horn is an old personal name, as in themedieval romance of King Horn, Shipp is a common provincialism forsheep, [Footnote: Hence the connection between the ship and the"ha'porth of tar. "] Starr has another explanation (see Starling) andBell has several (chapter 1). I should guess that Porteous was thesign used by some medieval writer of mass-books and breviaries. Itsoldest form is the Anglo-Fr. Porte-hors, corresponding to medievalLat. Portiforium, a breviary, lit. What one carries outside, aportable prayer-book-- "For on my porthors here I make an oath. " (B, 1321. ) But as the name is found without prefix in the Hundred Rolls, it mayhave been a nickname conferred on some clericus who was proud of sorare a possession. CHAPTER XIV. NORMAN BLOOD "Such, however, is the illusion of antiquity and wealth that decentand dignified men now existing boast their descent from these filthythieves" (EMERSON, English Traits, ch. Iv. ). Not every Norman or Old French name need be included in the groupdescribed by Emerson when talking down to an uneducated audience. Infact, it is probable that the majority of genuine French names belongto a later period; for, although the baron who accompanied theConqueror would in many cases keep his old territorial designation, the minor ruffian would, as a rule, drop the name of the obscurehamlet from which he came and assume some surname more convenient inhis new surroundings. Local names of Old French origin are usuallytaken from the provinces and larger towns which had a meaning forEnglish ears. I have given examples of such in chapter xi. Of courseit is easy to take a detailed map of Northern France and say, withoutoffering any proof, that "Avery (Chapter VIII) is from Evreux, Belcher(Chapter XXI) from Bellecourt, Custance (Chapter X) from Coutances, "and so on. But any serious student knows this to be idiotic nonsense. The fact that, except in the small minority composed of the seniorbranches of the noblest houses, the surname was not hereditary tillcenturies after the Conquest, justifies any bearer of a Norman nametaken from a village or smaller locality in repudiating all connectionwith the "filthy thieves" and conjecturing descent from some decentartisan belonging to one of the later immigrations. That a considerable number of aristocratic families, and others, bearan easily recognizable French town or village name is of course wellknown, but it will usually be found that such names are derived fromplaces which are as plentiful in France as our own Ashleys, Barton, Burton, Langleys, Newtons, Suttons, etc. , are in England. In somecases a local French name has spread in an exceptional manner. Examples are Baines (Gains, 2 [Footnote: The figures in bracketsindicate the number of times that the French local name occurs in thePostal Directory. The above is the usual explanation of Baines. Found with de in the Hundred Rolls. But I think it was sometimes anickname, bones, applied to a thin man. I find William Banes inLancashire in 1252; cf. Langbain. ] ), Gurney (Gournai, 6), Vernon (3). But usually in such cases we find a large number of spots which mayhave given rise to the surname, e. G. Beaumont (46, without countingBelmont), Dampier (Dampierre, i. E. St. Peter's, 28), Daubeney, Dabney(Aubigné, 4, Aubigny, 17), Ferrers (Ferriéres, 22), Nevill (Neuville, 58), Nugent (Nogent, 17), Villiers (58). This last name, representingVulgar Lat. Villarium, is the origin of Ger. -weiler, so common inGerman village names along the old Roman roads, e. G. Badenweiler, Froschweiler, etc. When we come to those surnames of this class which have remainedsomewhat more exclusive, we generally find that the place-name is alsocomparatively rare. Thus Hawtrey is from Hauterive (7), Pinpoint fromPierrepont (5), Furneaux from Fourneaux (5), Vipont and Vipan fromVieux-Pont (3), and there are three places called Percy. The following have two possible birthplaces each-Bellew or Pellew(Belleau), Cantelo (Canteloup [Footnote: But the doublet Chanteloup iscommon. ]), Mauleverer (Maulévrier), Mompesson (Mont Pinçon orPinchon), Montmorency, Mortimer (Morte-mer). The following areunique--Carteret, Doll [Footnote: This may also be a metronymic, fromDorothy. ] (Dol), Fiennes, Furnival (Fournival), Greville, Harcourt, Melville (Meleville), Montresor, Mowbray (Monbrai), Sackville(Sacquenville), Venables. These names are taken at random, but thesame line of investigation can be followed up by any reader who thinksit worth while. CORRUPT FORMS Apart from aristocratic questions, it is interesting to notice thecontamination which has occurred between English and French surnamesof local origin. The very common French suffix -ville is regularlyconfounded with our -field. Thus Summerfield is the same name asSomerville, Dangerfield is for d'Angerville, Belfield for Belleville, Blomfield for Blonville, and Stutfield for Estouteville, whileGrenville, Granvillehave certainly become confused with our Grenfell, green fell, and Greenfield. Camden notes that Turberville becameTroublefield, and I have found the intermediate Trubleville in thetwelfth century. The case of Tess Durbeyfield will occur to everyreader. The suffix -fort has been confused with our -ford and -forth, so that Rochford is in some cases for Rochefort and Beeforth forBeaufort or Belfort. With the first syllable of Beeforth we maycompare Beevor for Beauvoir, Belvoir, Beecham for Beauchamp, andBeamish for Beaumais. The name Beamish actually occurs as that of village in Durham, theearlier form of which points Old French origin, from beau mes, Lat. Bellum mansum, a fair manse, i. E. Dwelling. Otherwise it would betempting to derive the surname Beamish from Ger, böhmisch, earlierbehmisch, Bohemian. A brief survey of French spot-names which have passed into Englishwill show that they were acquired in exactly the same way as thecorresponding English names. Norman ancestry, is, however, not alwaysto be assumed in this case. Until the end of the fourteenth century alarge proportion of our population was bi-lingual, and namesaccidentally recorded in Anglo-French may occasionally have stuck. Thus the name Boyes or Boyce may spring from a man of pure Englishdescent who happened to be described as del boil instead of atte wood, just as Capron (Chapter XXI) means Hood. While English spot-nameshave as a rule shed both the preposition and the article (ChapterXII), French usually keeps one or both, though these were more oftenlost when the name passed into England. Thus our Roach is not afish-name, but corresponds to Fr. Laroche or Delaroche; and the blindpirate Pew, if not a Welshman, ap Hugh, was of the race of Dupuy, fromOld Fr. Puy, a hill, Lat. Podium, a height, gallery, etc. , whence alsoour Pew, once a raised platform. In some cases the prefix has passed into English; e. G. Diprose is fromdes préaux, of the meadows, a name assumed by Boileau among others. There are, of course, plenty of places in France called Les Préaux, but in the case of such a name we need not go further than possessionof, or residence by, a piece of grass-land-- "Je sais un paysan qu'on appelait Gros-Pierre, Qui, n'ayant pour tout bien qu'un seul quartier de terre, Y fit tout alentour faire un fossé bourbeux, Et de monsieur de l'Isle en prit le nom pompeux. " (Molière L'Ecole des Femmes, i. 1. ) The Old French singular préal is perhaps the origin of Prall, Prawle. Similarly Preece, Prees, usually for Price, may sometimes be for desPres. With Boyes (Chapter XIV) we may compare Tallis from Fr. Taillis, a copse (tailler, to cut). Garrick, a Huguenot name, is Fr, gangue, an old word for heath. TREE NAMES Trees have in all countries a strong influence on topographical names, and hence on surnames. Frean, though usually from the Scandinavianname Fraena, is sometimes for Fr. Frêne, ash, Lat. Fraxinus, whileCain and Kaines [Footnote: There is one family of Keynes derivedspecifically from Chahaignes (Sarthe). ] are Norm. Quêne (chêne), oak. The modern French for beech is hêtre, Du. Heester, but Lat. Fagus has given a great many dialect forms which have supplied us withthe surnames Fay, Foy, and the plural dim. Failes. Here also I shouldput the name Defoe, assumed by the writer whose father was satisfiedwith Foe. With Quatrefages, four beeches, we may compare such Englishnames as Fiveash, Twelvetrees, and Snooks, for "seven oaks. " In Latin the suffix -etum was used to designate a grove or plantation. This suffix, or its plural -eta, is very common in France, becomingsuccessively -ei(e), -oi(e), -ai(e). The name Dobree is a Guernseyspelling of d'Aubray, Lat. Arboretum, which was dissimilated (ChapterIII) into arboretum. Darblay, the name of Fanny Burney's husband, isa variant. From au(l)ne, alder, we have aunai, whence our Dawnay. Soalso frênai has given Freeney, chênai, Chaney, and the Norm. Quênaiis one origin of Kenney, while the older chesnai appears in Chesney. Houssaie, from hoax, holly, gives Hussey; chastenai, chestnut grove, exists in Nottingham as Chastener; coudrai, hazel copse, gives Cowdreyand Cowdery; Verney and Varney are from vernai, grove of alders, ofCeltic origin, and Viney corresponds to the French name Vinoy, Lat. Vinetum. We have also Chinnery, Chenerey from the extended chênerai, andPomeroy from pommerai. Here again the name offers no clue as to theexact place of origin. There are in the French Postal Directory eightplaces called Épinay, from épine, thorn, but these do not exhaust thenumber of "spinnies" in France. Also connected with tree-names areConyers, Old Fr, coigniers, quince-trees, and Pirie, Perry, Anglo-Fr. Périe, a collective from peire (poire). Among Norman names for a homestead the favourite is mesnil, fromVulgar Lat. Mansionile, which enters into a great number of localnames. It has given our Meynell, and is also the first element ofMainwaring, Mannering, from mesnil-Warin. The simple mes, a southernform of which appears in Dumas, has given us Mees and Meese, which arethus etymological doublets of the word manse. With Beamish (ChapterXIV) we may compare Bellasis, from bel-assis, fairly situated. Poyntzis sometimes for des ponts; cf. Pierpoint for Pierrepont. Even Norman names which were undoubtedly borne by leaders among theConqueror's companions are now rarely found among the noble, and manya descendant of these once mighty families cobbles the shoes of morerecent invaders. Even so the descendants of the Spanish nobles whoconquered California are glad to peddle vegetables at the doors of SanFrancisco magnates whose fathers dealt in old clothes in some GermanJudengasse. CHAPTER XV. OF OCCUPATIVE NAMES "When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?" Chant of Wat Tyler's followers. The occupative name would, especially in villages, tend to become avery natural surname. It is not therefore surprising to find so largea number of this class among our commonest surnames, e. G. Smith, Taylor, Wright, Walker, Turner, Clark, Cooper, etc. And, as the samecraft often persisted in a family for generations, it was probablythis type of surname which first became hereditary. On the otherhand, such names as Cook, Gardiner, Carter, etc. , have no doubt insome cases prevailed over another surname lawfully acquired (ChapterI). It is impossible to fix an approximate date for the definiteadoption of surnames of this class. It occurred earlier in towns thanin the country, and by the middle of the fourteenth century we oftenfind in the names of London citizens a contradiction between thesurname and the trade-name; e. G. Walter Ussher, tanner, John Botoner, girdler, Roger Carpenter, pepperer, Richard le Hunte, chaundeler, occur 1336-52. The number of surnames belonging to this group is immense, for everymedieval trade and craft was highly specialized and its privilegeswere jealously guarded. The general public, which now, like Issachar, crouches between the trusts and the trades unions, was in the middleages similarly victimized by the guilds of merchants and craftsmen. Then, as now, it grumblingly recognized that, "Plus ça change, plus çareste la même chose, " and went on enduring. [Footnote: If a studentof philology were allowed to touch on such high matters aslegislation, I would moralize on the word kiddle, meaning an illegalkind of weir used for fish-poaching, whence perhaps the surnameKiddell. From investigations made with a view to discovering theorigin of the word, I came to the conclusion that all the legislativepowers in England spent three centuries in passing enactments againstthese devices, with the inevitable consequence that they became evermore numerous. ] SOCIAL GRADES By dealing with a few essential points at the outset we shall clearthe ground for considering the various groups of surnames connectedwith trade, craft, profession or office. To begin with, it is certainthat such names as Pope, Cayzer, King, Earl, Bishop are nicknames, very often conferred on performers in religious plays or acquired inconnection with popular festivals and processions-- "Names also have been taken of civil honours, dignities and estate, asKing, Duke, Prince, Lord, Baron, Knight, Valvasor or Vavasor, Squire, Castellon, partly for that their ancestours were such, served such, acted such parts; or were Kings of the Bean, Christmas-Lords, etc. "(Camden). We find corresponding names in other languages, and some of the Frenchnames, usually preceded by the definite article, have passed intoEnglish, e. G. Lempriere, a Huguenot name, and Levêque, whence ourLevick, Vick, Veck (Chapter III). Baron generally appears as Barron, and Duke, used in Mid. English of any leader, is often degraded toDuck, whence the dim. Duckett. But all three of these names can alsobe referred to Marmaduke. It would be tempting to put Palsgrave in this class. Prince Rupert, the Pfalzgraf, i. E. Count Palatine, was known as the Palsgrave in hisday, but I have not found the title recorded early enough. With Lord we must put the northern Laird, and, in my opinion, Senior;for, if we notice how much commoner Young is than Old, and Fr. Lejeunethan Levieux, we must conclude that junior, a very rare surname, oughtto be of much more frequent occurrence than Senior, Synyer, a fairlycommon name. There can be little doubt that Senior is usually alatinization of the medieval le seigneur, whence also Saynor. Knightis not always knightly, for Anglo-Sax. Cniht means servant; cf. Ger. Knecht. The word got on in the world, with the consequence that thename is very popular, while its medieval compeers, knave, varlet, villain, have, even when adorned with the adj. Good, dropped out ofthe surname list, Bonvalet, Bonvarlet, Bonvillain are still commonsurnames in France. From Knight we have the compound Road-night, amounted servitor. Thus Knight is more often a true occupative name, and the same applies to Dring or Dreng, a Scandinavian name of similarmeaning. Other names from the middle rungs of the social ladder are also to betaken literally, e. G. Franklin, a freeholder, Anglo-Fr. Frankelein-- "How called you your franklin, Prior Aylmer?" "Cedric, " answered the Prior, "Cedric the Saxon" (Ivanhoe, ch. I. )-- Burgess, Freeman, Freeborn. The latter is sometimes for Freebairn andexists already as the Anglo-Saxon personal name Freobeorn. Denison(Chapter II) is occasionally an accommodated form of denizen, Anglo-Fr. Deinzein, a burgess enjoying the privileges belonging tothose who lived "deinz (in) la cité. " In 1483 a certain EdwardJhonson-- "Sued to be mayde Denison for fer of ye payment of ye subsedy. " (Letter to Sir William Stonor, June 9, 1483. ) Bond is from Anglo-Sax, bonda, which means simply agriculturist. Theword is of Icelandic origin and related to Boor, another word whichhas deteriorated and is rare as a surname, though the cognate Bauer iscommon enough in Germany. Holder is translated by Tennant. For someother names applied to the humbler peasantry see Chapter XIII. To return to the social summit, we have Kingson, often confused withthe local Kingston, and its Anglo-French equivalent Fauntleroy. Faunt, aphetic for Anglo-Fr. Enfaunt, is common in Mid. English. Whenthe mother of Moses had made the ark of bulrushes, or, as Wyclif callsit, the "junket of resshen, " she-- "Putte the litil faunt with ynne" (Exodus ii. 3) The Old French accusative (Chapter I) was also used as a genitive, asin Bourg-le-roi, Bourg-la-rein, corresponding to our Kingsbury andQueensborough. We have a genitive also in Flowerdew, found in Frenchas Flourdieu. Lower, in his Patronymics Britannica (1860), the firstattempt at a dictionary of English surnames, conjectures Fauntleroy tobe from an ancient French war-cry Défendez le roi! for "in course oftime, the meaning of the name being forgotten, the de would bedropped, and the remaining syllables would easily glide intoFauntleroy. " [Footnote: I have quoted this "etymology" because it istoo funny to be lost; but a good deal of useful information can befound in Lower, especially with regard to the habitat of well-knownnames. ] ECCLESIASTICAL NAMES Names of ecclesiastics must usually be nicknames, because medievalchurchmen were not entitled to have descendants. This appears clearlyin such an entry as "Bishop the crossbowman, " or "Johannes Monacus etuxor ejus Emma, " living in Kent in the twelfth century. But thesenames are so numerous that I have put them with the CanterburyPilgrims (ch. Xvii. ). Three of them may be mentioned here inconnection with a small group of occupative surnames of puzzling form. We have noticed (Chapter XII) that monosyllabic, and some other, surnames of local origin frequently take an -s, partly by analogy withnames like Wills, Watts, etc. We rarely find this -s in the case ofoccupative names, but Parsons, Vicars or Vickers, and Monks arecommon, and in fact the first two are scarcely found without the -s. To these we may add Reeves (Chapter XVII), Grieves (Chapter XIX), andthe well-known Nottingham name Mellers (Chapter XVII). Theexplanation seems to be that these names are true genitives, and thatJohn Parsons was John the Parson's man, while John Monks was employedby the monastery. This is confirmed by such entries as "Walter atteParsons, " "John del Parsons, " "Allen atte Prestes, " "William delFreres, " "Thomas de la Vicars, " all from the thirteenth and fourteenthcenturies. Another exceptional group is that of names formed by adding -son tothe occupative names, the commonest being perhaps Clarkson, Cookson, Smithson, and Wrightson. To this class belongs Grayson, whichBardsley shows to be equivalent to the grieve's son. Our occupative names are both English and French, [Footnote: We havealso a few Latinizations, e. G. Faber (wright), Messer (mower). Thistype of name is much commoner in Germany, e. G. Avenarius, oat man, Fabricius, smith, Textor, weaver, etc. Mercator, of map projectionfame, was a Fleming named Kremer, i. E. Dealer. ] the two languagesbeing represented by those important tradesmen Baker and Butcher. Theformer is reinforced by Bollinger, Fr. Boulanger, Pester, Old Fr. Pestour (Lat. Piston), and Furner-- "Fournier, a baker, or one that keeps, or governs a common oven"(Cotgrave). The English and French names for the same trade also survive inCheeseman and Firminger, Old Fr. Formagier (fromage). We have as endings -er, -ier, the latter often made into -yer, -ger, as in Lockyer, Sawyer, Kidger (Chapter XIX), Woodger, [Footnote:Woodyer, Woodger, may also be for wood-hewer. See Stanier] and -or, -our, as in Taylor, Jenoure (Chapter III). The latter ending, corresponding to Modern Fr. -eur, represents Lat. -or, -orem, but wetack it onto English words as in "sailor, " or substitute it for -er, -ier, as in Fermor, for Farmer, Fr. Fermier. In the Privy PurseExpenses of that careful monarch Henry VII. Occurs the item-- "To bere drunken at a fermors house . . . 1s. " In the same way we replace the Fr. -our, -eur by -er, as in Turner, Fr. Tourneur, Ginner, Jenner for Jenoure. The ending -er, -ier represents the Lat. -arius. It passed not onlyinto French, but also into the Germanic languages, replacing theTeutonic agential suffix which consisted of a single vowel. We have afew traces of this oldest group of occupative names, e. G. Webb, Mid. Eng. Webbe, Anglo-Sax. Webb-a, and Hunt, Mid. Eng. Hunte, Anglo-Sax. Hunt-a-- "With hunte and horne and houndes hym bisyde" (A, 1678)-- which still hold the field easily against Webber and Hunter. So also, the German name Beck represents Old High Ger. Pecch-o, baker. To these must be added Kemp, a champion, a very early loan-wordconnected with Lat. Campus, field, and Wright, originally the worker, Anglo-Sax. Wyrht-a. Camp is sometimes for Kemp, but is also from thePicard form of Fr, champ, i. E. Field. Of similar formation to Webb, etc. , is Clapp, from an Anglo-Sax. Nickname, the clapper-- "Osgod Clapa, King Edward Confessor's staller, was cast upon thepavement of the Church by a demon's hand for his insolent pride inpresence of the relics (of St. Edmund, King and Martyr). " (W. H. Hutton, Bampton Lectures, 1903. ) NAMES IN -STER The ending -ster was originally feminine, and applied to tradeschiefly carried on by women, e. G. Baxter, Bagster, baker, Brewster, Simister, sempster, Webster, etc. , but in process of time thedistinction was lost, so that we find Blaxter and Whitster forBlacker, Blakey, and Whiter, both of which, curiously enough, have thesame meaning-- "Bleykester or whytster, candidarius" (Prompt. Parv. )-- for this black represents Mid. Eng. Bla-c, related to bleak andbleach, and meaning pale-- "Blake, wan of colour, blesme (blême)" (Palsgrave). Occupative names of French origin are apt to vary according to theperiod and dialect of their adoption. For Butcher we find alsoBooker, Bowker, and sometimes the later Bosher, Busher, with the samesound for the ch as in Labouchère, the lady butcher. But Booker mayalso mean what it appears to mean, as Mid. Eng. Bokere is used byWyclif for the Latin scriba. Butcher, originally a dealer in goat's flesh, Fr. Bouc, has oustedflesher. German still has half a dozen surnames derived from namesfor this trade, e. G. Fleischer, Fleischmann, [Footnote: Hellenized asSarkander. This was a favourite trick of German scholars at theRenaissance period. Well-known examples are Melancthon (Schwarzerd), Neander (Neumann). ] Metzger, Schlechter; but our flesher has beenabsorbed by Fletcher, a maker of arrows, Fr. Flêche. Fletcher Gate atNottingham was formerly Flesher Gate. The undue extension of Taylorhas already been mentioned (Chapter IV). Another example is Barker, which has swallowed up the Anglo-Fr. Berquier, a shepherd, Fr. Berger, with the result that the Barkers outnumber the Tanners by three to one "'What craftsman are you?' said our King, 'I pray you, tell me now. ''I am a barker, ' quoth the tanner;'What craftsman art thou?'" (Edward IV. And the Tanner of Tamworth. ) The name seems to have been applied also to the man who barked treesfor the tanner. MISSING TRADESMEN With Barker it seems natural to mention Mewer, of which I find onerepresentative in the London Directory. The medieval le muur hadcharge of the mews in which the hawks were kept while moulting (Fr. Muer, Lat. Mutare). Hence the phrase "mewed up. " The word seems tohave been used for any kind of coop. Chaucer tells us of theFranklin-- "Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in muw" (A, 349). I suspect that some of the Muirs (Chapter XII) spring from thisimportant office. Similarly Clayer has been absorbed by the localClare, Kayer, the man who made keys, by Care, and Blower, whether ofhorn or bellows, has paid tribute to the local Bloor, Blore. Sewer, an attendant at table, aphetic for Old Fr. Asseour, a setter, is now a very rare name. As we know that sewer, a drain, becameshore, it is probable that the surname Shore sometimes represents thisofficial or servile title. And this same name Shore, though notparticularly common, and susceptible of a simple local origin, laboursunder grave suspicion of having also enriched itself at the expense ofthe medieval le suur, the shoemaker, Lat. Sutor-em, whence Fr. Lesueur. This would inevitably become Sewer and then Shore, as above. Perhaps, in the final reckoning, Shaw is not altogether guiltless, forI know of one family in which this has replaced earlier Shore. The medieval le suur brings us to another problem, viz. The poor showmade by the craftsmen who clothed the upper and lower extremities ofour ancestors. The name Hatter, once frequent enough, is almostextinct, and Capper is not very common. The name Shoemaker has metwith the same fate, though the trade is represented by the Lat. Sutor, whence Scot. Souter. Here belong also Cordner, Codner, [Footnote:Confused, of course, with the local Codnor (Derbyshire)] Old Fr. Cordouanier (cordonnier), a cordwainer, a worker in Cordovan leather, and Corser, Cosser, earlier corviser, corresponding to the French nameCourvoisier, also derived from Cordova. Chaucer, in describing theequipment of Sir Thopas, mentions "His shoon of cordewane" (B, 1922). The scarcity of Groser, grocer, is not surprising, for the word, aphetic for engrosser, originally meaning a wholesale dealer, one whosold en gros, is of comparatively late occurrence. His medievalrepresentative was Spicer. On the other hand, many occupative titles which are now obsolete, orpractically so, still survive strongly as surnames. Examples of thesewill be found in chapters xvii. -xx. Some occupative names are rather deceptive. Kisser, which is saidstill to exist, means a maker of cuishes, thigh-armour, Fr, cuisses-- "Helm, cuish, and breastplate streamed with gore. " (Lord of the Isles, iv. 33. ) Corker is for caulker, i. E. One who stopped the chinks of ships andcasks, originally with lime (Lat. Calx)-- "Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches, caulk'd and bitumed ready"(Pericles iii. 1). Cleaver represents Old Fr, clavier, a mace-bearer, Lat. Clava, a club, or a door-keeper, Lat. Clavis, a key. Perhaps even clavus, a nail, must also be considered, for a Latin vocabulary of the fifteenthcentury tells us-- "Claves, -vos vet -vas qui fert sit claviger. " Neither Bowler nor Scorer are connected with cricket. The former madewooden bowls, and the latter was sometimes a scourer, or scout, Mid. Eng. Scurrour, a word of rather complicated origin, but perhaps morefrequently a peaceful scullion, from Fr. écurer, to scour, Lat. Ex-curare-- "Escureur, a scourer, cleanser, feyer" (Cotgrave). [Footnote: Feyer: A sweeper, now perhaps represented by Fayer. ] A Leaper did not always leap (Chapter XVII). The verb had also inMid. English the sense of running away, so that the name may meanfugitive. In some cases it may represent a maker of leaps, i. E. Fishbaskets, or perhaps a man who hawked fish in such a basket. A Slayer made slays, part of a weaver's loom, and a Bloomer worked ina bloom-smithy, from Anglo-Sax. Blo-ma, a mass of hammered iron. Weightman and Warman represent Mid. Eng, waþeman, hunter; cf. Thecommon German surname Weidemann, of cognate origin. Reader and Bookerare not always literary. The former is for Reeder, a thatcher-- "Redare of howsys, calamator, arundinarius" (Prompt. Parv. )-- and the latter is a Norman variant of Butcher, as already mentioned. SPELLING OF TRADE-NAMES The spelling of occupative surnames often differs from that nowassociated with the trade itself. In Naylor, Taylor, and Tyler wehave the archaic preference for y. [Footnote: It may be noted herethat John Tiler of Dartford, who killed a tax-gatherer for insultinghis daughter, was not Wat Tiler, who was killed at Smithfield forinsulting the King. The confusion between the two has led to muchsympathy being wasted on a ruffian. ] Our ancestors thought sope asgood a spelling as soap, hence the name Soper. A Plummer, i. E. A manwho worked in lead, Lat. Plumbum, is now written, by etymologicalreaction, plumber, though the restored letter is not sounded. A manwho dealt in 'arbs originated the name Arber, which we should nowreplace by herbalist. We have a restored spelling in clerk, thougheducated people pronounce the word as it was once written "Clarke, or he that readeth distinctly, clericus. " (Holyoak's Lat. Dict. , 1612. ) In many cases we are unable to say exactly what is the ocpupationindicated. We may assume that a Setter and a Tipper did setting andtipping, and both are said to have been concerned in the arrowindustry. If this is true, I should say that Setter might representthe Old Fr, saieteur, arrow-maker, from saiete, an arrow, Lat. Sagitta. But in a medieval vocabulary we find "setter of mes, dapifer, " which would make it the same as Sewer (Chapter XV). Similarly, when we consider the number of objects that can be tipped, we shall be shy of defining the activity of the Tipper too closely. Trinder, earlier trenden, is from Mid. Eng. Trender, to roll (cf. Roller). In the west country trinder now means specifically awool-winder-- "Lat hym rollen and trenden withynne hymself the lyght of his ynwardesighte" (Boece, 1043). There are also some names of this class to which we can with certaintyattribute two or more origins. Boulter means a maker of bolts forcrossbows, [Footnote: How many people who use the expression "boltupright, " associate it with "straight as a dart"?] but also a sifter, from the obsolete verb to bolt-- "The fanned snow, that's bolted By the northern blasts twice o'er. " (Winter's Tale, iv. 3. ) Corner means horn-blower, Fr, cor, horn, and is also a contraction ofcoroner, but its commonest origin is local, in angulo, in the corner. Curren and Curryer are generally connected with leather, but HenryVII. Bestowed £3 on the Curren that brought tidings of PerkinWar-beck. Garner has five possible origins: (i) a contraction ofgardener, (ii) from the French personal name Garner, Ger. Werner, (iii) Old Fr. Grenier, grain-keeper, (iv) Old Fr, garennier, warrenkeeper, (v) local, from garner, Fr. Grenier, Lat. Granarium. In thenext chapter will be found, as a specimen problem, an investigation ofthe name Rutter. PHONETIC CHANGES Two phonetic phenomena should also be noticed. One is the regularinsertion of n before the ending -ger, as in Firminger (Chapter XV), Massinger (Chapter XX), Pottinger (Chapter XVIII), and in Arminger, Clavinger, from the latinized armiger, esquire, and claviger, mace-bearer, etc. (Chapter XV). The other is the fact that manyoccupative names ending in -rer lose the -er by dissimilation (ChapterIII). Examples are Armour for armourer, Barter for barterer, Bucklerfor bucklerer, but also for buckle-maker, Callender for calenderer, one who calendered, i. E. Pressed, cloth "And my good friend the Callender Will lend his horse to go. " (John Gilpin, 1. 22)-- Coffer, for cofferer, a treasurer, Cover, for coverer, i. E. Tiler, Fr. Couvreur, when it does not correspond to Fr. Cuvier, i. E. A maker ofcoves, vats, Ginger, Grammer, for grammarer, Paternoster, maker ofpaternosters or rosaries, Pepper, Sellar, for cellarer (Chapter III), Tabor, for Taberer, player on the taber. Here also belongs Treasure, for treasurer. Salter is sometimes for sautrier, a player on thepsaltery. We have the opposite process in poulterer for Pointer(Chapter II), and caterer for Cator (Chapter III). NAMES FROM WARES Such names as Ginger, Pepper, may however belong to the class ofnicknames conferred on dealers in certain commodities; cf. Pescod, Peskett, from pease-cod. Of this we have several examples which canbe confirmed by foreign parallels, e. G. Garlick, found in German asKnoblauch, [Footnote: The cognate Eng. Clove-leek occurs as a surnamein the Ramsey Chartulary. ] Straw, represented in German by thecognate name Stroh, and Pease, which is certified by Fr. Despois. Wefind Witepease in the twelfth century. Especially common are those names which deal with the two staple foodsof the country, bread and beer. In German we find several compoundsof Brot, bread, and one of the greatest of chess-players bore theamazing name Zuckertort, sugar-tart. In French we have such names asPainchaud, Painlevê, Pain-tendre-- "Eugene Aram was usher, in 1744, to the Rev. Mr. Painblanc, inPiccadilly" (Bardsley). Hence our Cakebread and Whitbread were probably names given to bakers. Simnel is explained in the same way, and Lambert Simnel is understoodto have been a baker's lad, but the name could equally well be fromFr. Simonel, dim. Of Simon. Wastall is found in the Hundred Rolls asWasted, Old Fr. Gastel (gâteau). Here also belongs Cracknell-- "Craquelin, a cracknell; made of the yolks of egges, water, andflower; and fashioned like a hollow trendle" (Cotgrave). Goodbeer is explained by Bardsley as a perversion of Godber (ChapterVII), which may be true, but the name is also to be taken literally. We have Ger. Gutbier, and the existence of Sourale in the HundredRolls and Sowerbutts at the present day justifies us in accepting bothGoodbeer and Goodale at their face-value. But Rice is an imitativeform of Welsh Rhys, Reece, and Salt, when not derived from Salt inStafford, is from Old Fr. Sault, a wood, Lat. Saltus. [Footnote: Thisis common in place-names, and I should suggest, as a guess, thatSacheverell is from the village of Sault-Chevreuil-du-Tronchet(Manche). ] It is doubtful whether the name Cheese is to be includedhere. Jan Kees, for John Cornelius, said to have been a nickname fora Hollander, may easily have reached the Eastern counties. Bardsley'searliest instance for the name is John Chese, who was living inNorfolk in 1273. But still I find Furmage as a medieval surname. We also have the dealer in meat represented by the classical exampleof Hogsflesh, with which we may compare Mutton and Veal, two nameswhich may be seen fairly near each other in Hammersmith Road (but forthese see also Chapter XXIII), and I have known a German namedKalbfleisch. Names of this kind would sometimes come into existencethrough the practice of crying wares; though if Mr. Rottenherring, whowas a freeman of York in 1332, obtained his in this way, he must havedeliberately ignored an ancient piece of wisdom. CHAPTER XVI. A SPECIMEN PROBLEM: RUTTER "Howe sayst thou, man? am not I a joly rutter?" (Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1. 762. ) The fairly common name Rutter is a good example of the difficulty ofexplaining a surname derived from a trade or calling no longerpractised. Even so careful an authority as Bardsley has gonehopelessly astray over this name. He says, "German ritter, a rider, i. E. A trooper, " and quotes from Halliwell, "rutter, a rider, atrooper, from the German; a name given to mercenary soldiers engagedfrom Brabant, etc. " Now this statement is altogether opposed tochronology. The name occurs as le roter, rotour, ruter in the HundredRolls of 1273, i. E. More than two centuries before any German name fortrooper could possibly have become familiar in England. Any strayMid. High Ger. Riter would have been assimilated to the cognate Eng. Rider. It is possible that some German Reuters have become EnglishRutters in comparatively modern times, but the German surname Reuterhas nothing to do with a trooper. It represents Mid. High Ger. Riutaere, a clearer of land, from the verb riuten (reuten), corresponding to Low Ger. Roden, and related to our royd, a clearing(Chapter XII). This word is apparently not connected with our root, though it means to root out, but ultimately belongs to a root ru whichappears in Lat. Rutrum, a spade, rutabulum, a rake, etc. There is another Ger. Reuter, a trooper, which has given thesixteenth-century Eng. Rutter, but not as a surname. The word appearsin German about 1500, i. E. Rather late for the surname period, andcomes from Du. Ruiter, a mercenary trooper. The German for trooper isReiter, really the same word as Ritter, a knight, the two forms havingbeen differentiated in meaning; cf. Fr. Cavalier, a trooper, andchevalier, a knight. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ger. Reiter was confused with, and supplanted by, this borrowed wordReuter, which was taken to mean rider, and we find the cavalry calledReuterei well into the eighteenth century. As a matter of fact thetwo words are quite unrelated, though the origin of Du. Ruiter isdisputed. The New English Dictionary gives, from the year 1506, rutter (var. Ruter, ruiter), a cavalry soldier, especially German, from Du. Ruiter, whence Ger. Reuter, as above. It connects the Dutch word withmedieval Lat. Rutarius, i. E. Ruptarius, which is also Kluge's view. [Footnote: Deutsches Etymologisches Wrterbuch. ] But Franck [Footnote:Etymologisch Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal. ] sees phoneticdifficulties and prefers to regard ruiter as belonging rather toruiten, to uproot. The application of the name up-rooter to a lawlessmercenary is not unnatural. But whatever be the ultimate origin of this Dutch and German militaryword, it is sufficiently obvious that it cannot have given an Englishsurname which is already common in the thirteenth century. There is amuch earlier claimant in the field. The New English Dictionary has roter (1297), var. Rotour, rotor, androuter (1379), a lawless person, robber, ruffian, from Old Fr. Rotier(routier), and also the form rutar, used by Philemon Holland, who, inhis translation of Camden's Britannia (1610), says "That age calledforaine and willing souldiours rutars. " The reference is to KingJohn's mercenaries, c. 1215. Fr, routier, a mercenary, is usuallyderived from route, a band, Lat. Rupta, a piece broken off, adetachment. References to the grander routes, the great mercenarybands which overran France in the fourteenth century, are common inFrench history. But the word was popularly, and naturally, connectedwith route, Lat. (via) rupta, a highway, so that Godefroy [Footnote:Dictionnaire de rancien Français. ] separates routier, a vagabond, from routier, a bandit soldier. Cotgrave has-- "Routier, an old traveller, one that by much trotting up and down isgrown acquainted with most waies; and hence, an old beaten souldier;one whom a long practise hath made experienced in, or absolute masterof, his profession; and (in evill part) an old crafty fox, notablebeguiler, ordinary deceiver, subtill knave; also, a purse-taker, or arobber by the high way side. " It is impossible to determine the relative shares of route, a band, and route, a highway, in this definition, but there has probably beennatural confusion between two words, separate in meaning, thoughetymologically identical. Now our thirteenth-century rotors and rulers may represent Old Fr. Routier, and have been names applied to a mercenary soldier or avagabond. But this cannot be considered certain. If we consult duCange, [Footnote: Glossarium ad Scriptures medics et inflowsLatinitatis. ] we find, s. V. Rumpere, "ruptarii, pro ruptuarii, quidampraedones sub xi saeculum, ex rusticis. . . Collecti ac conflati, "which suggests connection with "ruptuarius, colonus qui agrum seuterram rumpit, proscindit, colic, " i. E. That the ruptarii, also calledrutarii, rutharii, rotharii, rotarii, etc. , were so named because theywere revolting peasants, i. E. Men connected with the roture, orbreaking of the soil, from which we get roturier, a plebeian. Thatwould still connect our Rutters with Lat. Rumpere, but by a thirdroad. Finally, Old French has one more word which seems to me quite as gooda candidate as any of the others, viz. Roteur, a player on the rote, i. E. The fiddle used by the medieval minstrels, Chaucer says of hisFrere-- "Wel koude he synge and playen on a rote. " (A, 236. ) The word is possibly of Celtic origin (Welsh crwth) and a doublet ofthe archaic crowd, or crowth, a fiddle. Both rote and crowth are usedby Spenser. Crowd is perhaps not yet obsolete in dialect, and thefiddler in Hudibras is called Crowdero. Thus Rutter may be a doubletof Crowther. There may be other possible etymologies for Rutter, butthose discussed will suffice to show that the origin of occupativenames is not always easily guessed. Since the above was written I have found strong evidence for the"fiddler" derivation of the name. In 1266 it was decided by aLancashire jury that Richard le Harper killed William le Roter, orRuter, in self-defence. I think there can be little doubt that some, if not all, of our Rutters owe their names to the professionrepresented by this enraged musician. William le Citolur and Williamle Piper also appear from the same record (Patent Rolls) to haveindulged in homicide in the course of the year. CHAPTER XVII. THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS "In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay, Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage, To Caunterbury with ful devout corage, At nyght were come into that hostelrye Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye Of sondry folk, by aventure y-falle In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle, That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde. " (Prologue, 1. 20. ) This famous band of wayfarers includes representatives of all classes, save the highest and the lowest, just at the period when our surnameswere becoming fixed. It seems natural to distinguish the followinggroups. The leisured class is represented by the Knight (Chapter XV)and his son the Squire, also found as Swire or Swyer, Old Fr. Escuyer(écuyer), a shield-bearer (Lat. Scutum), with their attendant Yeoman, a name that originally meant a small landowner and later a trustedattendant of the warlike kind-- "And in his hand he baar a myghty bow" (A, 108. ) With these goes the Franklin (Chapter XV), who had been Sherriff, i. E. Shire-reeve. He is also described as a Vavasour (p. Ii)-- "Was nowher such a worthy vavasour" (A, 360. ) From the Church and the professions we have the Nunn, her attendantpriests, whence the names Press, Prest, the Monk, the Frere, or Fryer, "a wantowne and a merye, " the Clark of Oxenforde, the Sargent of thelawe, the Sumner, i. E. Summoner or apparitor, the doctor of physic, i. E. The Leech or Leach-- "Make war breed peace; make peace stint war; make each Prescribe to other, as each other's leech" (Timon of Athens, v. 4)-- [Footnote: The same word as the worm leech, from an Anglo-Saxon wordfor healer. ] and the poor parson. Le surgien and le fisicien were once commonsurnames, but the former is almost swallowed up by Sargent, and thelatter seems to have died out. The name Leach has been reinforced bythe dialect lache, a bog, whence also the compounds Blackleach, Depledge. Loosely attached to the church is the Pardoner, with hiswallet-- "Bret-ful of pardon, comen from Rome al hoot. " (A, 687. ) His name still survives as Pardner, and perhaps as Partner, thoughboth are very rare. Commerce is represented by the Marchant, depicted as a character ofweight and dignity, and the humbler trades and crafts by-- "An haberdasher, and a Carpenter, A Webbe, a deyer (Dyer), and a tapiser. " (A, 361. ) To these may be added the Wife of Bath, whose comfortable means weredrawn from the cloth trade, then our staple industry. From rural surroundings come the Miller and the Plowman, as kindly aman as the poor parson his brother, for-- "He wolde threshe, and therto dyke and delve, For Cristes sake, for every poure wight, Withouten hire, if it lay in his myght. " (A, 536. ) The Miller is the same as the Meller or Mellor-- "Upon the whiche brook ther stant a melle; And this is verray sooth, that I yow tell. " (A, 3923. ) [Footnote: Melle is a Kentish form, used by Chaucer for the rime; cf. Pet for pit (Chapter XIII). ] The oldest form of the name is Milner, from Anglo-Sax. Myln, Lat. Molina; cf. Kilner from kiln, Lat. Culina, kitchen. The official or servile class includes the manciple, or buyer for afraternity of templars, otherwise called an achatour, whence Cator, Chaytor, Chater (Chapter III), [Footnote: Chater, Chaytor may be alsofrom escheatour, an official who has given us the word cheat. ] theReeve, an estate steward, so crafty that-- "Ther nas baillif (Chapter IV), ne herde (Chapter III), nor oother hyne (Chapter III), That he ne knew his sleights and his covyne" (A, 603); and finally the Cook, or Coke (Chapter I)-- "To boylle the chicknes and the marybones. " (A, 380. ) In a class by himself stands the grimmest figure of all, the Shipman, of whom we are told "If that he faught, and hadde the hyer hond, By water he sente hem hoom to every lond. " (A, 399. ) The same occupation has given the name Marner, for mariner, andSeaman, but the medieval forms of the rare name Saylor show that it isfrom Fr. Sailleur, a dancer, an artist who also survives as Hopper andLeaper-- "To one that leped at Chestre, 6s. 8d. " (Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VII, 1495. ) [Footnote: He was usually more generous to the high arts, e. G. "To aSpaynarde that pleyed the fole, £2, " "To the young damoysell thatdaunceth, £30. " With which cf. "To Carter for writing of a boke, 7s. 4d. "] The pilgrims were accompanied by the host of the Tabard Inn, whoseoccupation has given us the names Inman and Hostler, Oastler, Old Fr. Hostelier (hôtelier), now applied to the inn servant who looks afterthe 'osses. Another form is the modern-looking Hustler. Distinctfrom these is Oster, Fr. Oiseleur, a bird-catcher; cf. Fowler. ECCLESIASTICAL NAMES If we deal here with ecclesiastical names, as being really nicknames(Chapter XV), that will leave the trader and craftsman, the peasant, and the official or servile class to be treated in separate chapters. Social, as distinguished from occupative, surnames have already beentouched on, and the names, not very numerous, connected with warfarehave also been mentioned in various connections. Among ecclesiastical names Monk has the largest number of variants. Its Anglo-French form is sometimes represented by Munn and Moon, whileMoney is the oldest Fr. Monie; cf. Vicary from Old Fr. Vicarie. Butthe French names La Monnaie, de la Monnaie, are local, from residencenear the mint. The canon appears as Cannon, Channen, and Shannon, Fr. Chanoine-- "With this chanoun I dwelt have seven yere" (G, 720); but Dean is also local sometimes (Chapter XII) and Deacon is animitative form of Dakin or Deakin, from David (Chapter VI). Charterwas used of a monk of the Charter-house, a popular corruption ofChartreuse "With a company dyde I mete, As ermytes, monkes, and freres, Chanons, chartores . . . " (Cock Lorelles Bote. ) Charter also comes from archaic Fr. Chartier (charretier), a carter, and perhaps sometimes from Old Fr. Chartrier, "a jaylor; also, aprisoner" (Cotg. ), which belongs to Lat. Carcer, prison. [Footnote:The sense development of these two words is curious. ] Charters may be from the French town Chartres, but is more likely aperversion of Charterhouse, as Childers is of the obsolete"childer-house, " orphanage. Among lower orders of the church we have Lister, a reader, [Footnote:Found in Late Latin as legista, from Lat. Legere, to read. ] Bennet, an exorcist, and Collet, aphetic for acolyte. But each of these issusceptible of another origin which is generally to be preferred. Chaplin is of course for chaplain, Fr. Chapelain. The legate appearsas Leggatt. Crosier or Crozier means cross-bearer. At the funeral ofAnne of Cleves (1557) the mass was executed-- "By thabbott in pontificalibus wthis croysyer, deacon and subdeacon. " Canter, Caunter is for chanter, and has an apparent dim. Cantrell, corresponding to the French name Chantereau. The practice, unknown inEnglish, of forming dims. From occupative names is very common inFrench, e. G. From Mercier we have Mercerot, from Berger, i. E. Shepherd, a number of derivatives such as Bergerat, Bergeret, Bergerot, etc. Sanger and Sangster were not necessarilyecclesiastical Singers. Converse meant a lay-brother employed as adrudge in a monastery. Sacristan, the man in charge of the sacristy, from which we have Secretan, is contracted into Saxton and Sexton, aname now usually associated with grave-digging and bell-ringing, though the latter task once belonged to the Knowler-- "Carilloneur, a chymer, or knowler of bells" (Cotgrave). This is of course connected with "knell, " though the only Kneller whohas become famous was a German named Kniller. Marillier, probably a Huguenot name, is an Old French form ofmarguillier, a churchwarden, Lat. Matricularius. The hermit survivesas Armatt, Armitt, with which cf. The Huguenot Lermitte (l'ermite), and the name of his dwelling is common (Chapter XIII); Anker, nowanchorite, is also extant. Fals-Semblant says-- "Somtyme I am religious, Now lyk an anker in an hous. " (Romaunt of the Rose, 6348. ) PILGRIMS While a Pilgrim acquired his name by a journey to any shrine, a Palmermust originally have been to the Holy Land, and a Romer to Rome. Butthe frequent occurrence of Palmer suggests that it was often anickname for a pious fraud. We have a doublet of Pilgrim in Pegram, though this may come from the name Peregrine, the etymology being thesame, viz. Lat. Peregrines, a foreigner. CHAPTER XVIII. TRADES AND CRAFTS "What d'ye lack, noble sir?--What d'ye lack, beauteous madam?" (Fortunes of Nigel, ch. I. ) In the Middle Ages there was no great class of retail dealers distinctfrom the craftsmen who fashioned objects. The same man made and soldin almost every case. There were of course general dealers, such asthe French Marchant or his English equivalent the Chapman (ChapterII), the Dutch form of which has given us the Norfolk name Copeman. The Broker is now generally absorbed by the local Brooker. There werealso the itinerant merchants, of whom more anon; but in the greatmajority of cases the craftsman made and sold one article, and was, infact, strictly forbidden to wander outside his special line. ARCHERY Fuller tells us that-- "England were but a fling, Save for the crooked stick and the gray-goose-wing, " and the importance of the bow and arrow is shown by the number ofsurnames connected with their manufacture. We find the Bowyer, Boweror Bowmaker, who trimmed and shaped the wand of yew, [Footnote: Thisis also one source of Boyer, but the very common French surname Boyermeans ox-herd. ] the Fletcher (Chapter XV), Arrowsmith, or Flower, whoprepared the arrow-- "His bowe he bente and sette therinne a flo" (H, 264)-- [Footnote: The true English word for arrow, Anglo-Sax. Fla. ] and the Tipper, Stringer, and Horner, who attended to smaller details, though the Tipper and Stringer probably tipped and strung otherthings, and the Horner, though he made the horn nocks of the long-bow, also made horn cups and other objects. The extent to which specialization was carried is shown by the tradedescription of John Darks, longbowstringemaker, who died in 1600. TheArblaster may have either made or used the arblast or cross-bow, medieval Lat. Arcubalista, bow-sling. His name has given theimitative Alabaster. We also find the shortened Ballister andBalestier, from which we have Bannister (Chapter III). Or, to take anexample from comestibles, a Flanner limited his activity to the makingof flat cakes called flans or flawns, from Old Fr. Flaon (flan), aword of Germanic origin, ultimately related to flat "He that is hanged in May will eat no flannes in Midsummer. " (The Abbot, ch. Xxxiii. ) Some names have become strangely restricted in meaning, e. G. Mercer, now almost limited to silk, was a name for a dealer in any kind ofmerchandise (Lat. Merx); in Old French it meant pedlar-- "Mercier, a good pedler, or meane haberdasher of small wares"(Cotgrave). On the other hand Chandler, properly a candle-maker, is now used inthe compounds corn-chandler and ship's chandler. Of all the -mongersthe only common survival is Ironmonger or Iremonger, with the variantIsemonger, from Mid. Eng. Isen, iron. Ironmonger is also dealer ineggs, Mid. Eng. Eiren. CLOTHIERS The wool trade occupied a very large number of workers and has given agood many surnames. The Shearer was distinct from the Shearman orSherman, the former operating on the sheep and the latter on the napof the cloth. For Comber we also have the older Kempster, andprobably Kimber, from the Mid. Eng. Kemben, to comb, which survives in"unkempt". The Walker, Fuller, and Tucker, all did very much the samework of "waulking, " or trampling, the cloth. All three words are usedin Wyclif's Bible in variant renderings of Mark ix. 3. Fuller is fromFr. Fouler, to trample, and Tucker is of uncertain origin. Fuller isfound in the south and south-east, Tucker in the west, and Walker inthe north. A Dyer was also called Dyster, and the same trade is theorigin of the Latin-looking Dexter (Chapter II). From Mid. Eng. Litster, a dyer, a word of Scandinavian origin, comes Lister, as inLister Gate, Nottingham. With these goes the Wadman, who dealt in, orgrew, the dye-plant called woad; cf. Flaxman. A beater of flax wascalled Swingler-- "Fleyl, swyngyl, verga, tribulum" (Prompt. Parv. ). A Tozer teased the cloth with a teasel. In Mid. English the verb istaesen or tosen, so that the names Teaser and Towser, sometimes givento bull-terriers, are doublets. Secker means sack-maker. We have already noticed the predominance of Taylor. This is the moreremarkable when we consider that the name has as rivals the nativeSeamer and Shapster and the imported Parmenter, Old Fr. Parmentier, amaker of parements, now used chiefly of facings on clothes. Butanother, and more usual, origin of Parmenter, Parminter, Parmiter, isparchmenter, a very important medieval trade. The word wouldcorrespond to a Lat. Pergamentarius, which has given also the Germansurname Berminter. Several old German cities had a Permentergasse, i. E. Parchment-makers' street. A Pilcher made pilches, i. E. Furcloaks, an early loan-word from Vulgar Lat. Pellicia (pellis, skin). Chaucer's version of "Till May is out, ne'er cast a clout" is "After greet heet cometh colde; No man caste his pilche away. " Another name connected with clothes is Chaucer, Old Fr. Chaussier, ahosier (Lat. Calceus, boot), while Admiral Hozier's Ghost reminds usof the native word. The oldest meaning of hose seems to have beengaiters. It ascended in Tudor times to the dignity of breeches (cf. Trunk-hose), the meaning it has in modern German. Now it has become atradesman's euphemism for the improper word stocking, a fact which leda friend of the writer's, imperfectly acquainted with German, to ask agifted lady of that nationality if she were a Blauhose. A Chaloner orChawner dealt in shalloon, Mid. Eng. Chalons, a material supposed tohave been made at Châlons-sur-Marne-- "And in his owene chambre hem made a bed, With sheetes and with chalons faire y-spred. " (A. 4139. ) Ganter or Gaunter is Fr. Gantier, glove-maker. METAL WORKERS Some metal-workers have already been mentioned in connection withSmith (Chapter IV), and elsewhere. The French Fèvre, from Lat. Faber, is found as Feaver. Fearon comes from Old Fr, feron, ferron, smith. Face le ferrun, i. E. Boniface (Chapter III) the smith, lived inNorthampton in the twelfth century. This is an example of the Frenchuse of -on as an agential suffix. Another example is Old Fr. Charton, or charreton, a waggoner, from the Norman form of which we haveCarton. In Scriven, from Old Fr. Escrivain (écrivain), we have anisolated agential suffix. The English form is usually lengthened toScrivener. In Ferrier, for farrier, the traditional spelling hasprevailed over the pronunciation, but we have the latter in Farrar. Ferrier sometimes means ferryman, and Farrar has absorbed the commonMid. English nickname Fayrhayr. Aguilar means needle-maker, Fr. Aiguille, but Pinner is more often official (Chapter XIX). Culler, Fr. Coutelier, Old Fr. Coutel, knife, and Spooner go together, but thefork is a modern fad. Poynter is another good example of thespecialization of medieval crafts: the points were the metal tags bywhich the doublet and hose were connected. Hence, the play on wordswhen Falstaff is recounting his adventure with the men in buckram-- Fal. "Their points being broken--" Poins. "Down fell their hose. " (I Henry IV. , ii, 4. ) Latimer, Latner sometimes means a worker in latten, a mixed metal ofwhich the etymological origin is unknown. The Pardoner-- "Hadde a croys of latoun ful of stones" (A, 699). For the change from -n to -m we may compare Lorimer for Loriner, abridle-maker, belonging ultimately to Lat. Lorum, "the reyne of abrydle" (Cooper). But Latimer comes also from Latiner, a man skilledin Latin, hence an interpreter, Sir John Mandeville tells us that, onthe way to Sinai-- "Men alleweys fynden Latyneres to go with hem in the contrees. " The immortal Bowdler is usually said to take his name from the art ofpuddling, or buddling, iron ore. But, as this process iscomparatively modern, it is more likely that the name comes from thesame verb in its older meaning of making impervious to water by meansof clay. Monier and Minter are both connected with coining, theformer through French and the latter from Anglo-Saxon, both going backto Lat. Moneta, [Footnote: On the curiously accidental history of thisword see the Romance of Words, ch. X. ] mint. Conner, i. E. Coiner, isnow generally swallowed up by the Irish Connor. Leadbitter is for Leadbeater. The name Hamper is a contraction ofhanapier, a maker of hanaps, i. E. Goblets. Fr. Hanap is from Old HighGer. Hnapf (Napf), and shows the inability of French to pronounceinitial hn- without inserting a vowel: cf. Harangue from Old High Ger. Hring. There is also a Mid. Eng. Nap, cup, representing the cognateAnglo-Sax. Hnaep, so that the name Napper may sometimes be a doubletof Hamper, though it is more probably for Napier (Chapter I) orKnapper (Chapter XII). The common noun hamper is from hanapier in asense something like plate-basket. With metal-workers we may also putFurber or Frobisher, i. E. Furbisher, of armour, etc. Poyser, frompoise, scales, is official. Two occupative names of Celtic origin areGow, a smith, as in The Fair Maid of Perth, and Caird, a tinker-- "The fellow had been originally a tinker or caird. " (Heart of Midlothian, ch. Xlix. ) A few more names, which fall into no particular category, may concludethe chapter. Hillyer or Hellier is an old name for a Thacker, orthatcher, of which we have the Dutch form in Dekker. It comes fromMid. Eng. Helen, to cover up. In Hillard, Hillyard we sometimes havethe same name (cf. The vulgar scholard), but these are more oftenlocal (Chapter XIII). Hellier also meant tiler, for the famous Wat isdescribed as tiler, tegheler, and hellier. An Ashburner prepared wood-ash for the Bloomer (Chapter XV), andperhaps also for the Glaisher, or glass-maker, and Asher is bestexplained in the same way, for we do not, I think, add -er totree-names. Apparent exceptions can be easily accounted for, e. G. Elmer is Anglo-Sax. AElfmaer, and Beecher is Anglo-Fr. Bechur, digger(Fr. Bêche, spade). Neither Pitman nor Collier had their modernmeaning of coal-miner. Pitman is local, of the same class asBridgeman, Pullman, etc. , and Collier meant a charcoal-burner, as inthe famous ballad of Rauf Colyear. Not much coal was dug in theMiddle Ages. Even in 1610 Camden speaks with disapproval, in hisBritannia, of the inhabitants of Sherwood Forest who, with plenty ofwood around them, persist in digging up "stinking pit-cole. " Croker is for Crocker, a maker of crocks or pitchers. The Miller'sguests only retired to bed-- "Whan that dronken al was in the crowke" (A, 4158) The spelling has affected the pronunciation, as in Sloper and Smoker(Chapter III). Tinker is sometimes found as the frequentativeTinkler, a name traditionally due to his approach being heralded bythe clatter of metal utensils-- "My bonny lass, I work on brass, A tinkler is my station. " (BURNS, Jolly Beggars, Air 6. ) The maker of saddle-trees was called Fewster, from Old Fr. Fust (fût), Lat. Fustis. This has sometimes given Foster, but the latter is moreoften for Forster, i. E. Forester-- "An horn he bar, the bawdryk was of grene, A forster was he soothly as I gesse, " (A, 116. ) The saddler himself was often called by his French name sellier, whence Sella', but both this and Sellars are also local, at thecellars (Chapter III). Pargeter means dauber, plasterer, from Old Fr. Parjeter, to throw over. A Straker made the strakes, or tires, ofwheels. A Stanger made stangs, i. E. Poles, shafts, etc. The fine arts are represented by Limmer, for limner, a painter, anaphetic form of illumines, and Tickner is perhaps from Dutch tekener, draughtsman, cognate with Eng, token, while the art of self-defencehas given us the name Scrimgeoure, with a number of corruptions, including the local-looking Skrimshire. It is related to scrimmageand skirmish, and ultimately to Ger. Schirmen, to fence, lit. Toprotect. The name was applied to a professional swordplayer-- "Qe nul teigne escole de eskermerye ne de bokeler deins la citee. " (Liber Albus. ) SURNOMINAL SNOBBISHNESS A particularly idiotic form of snobbishness has sometimes led peopleto advance strange theories as to the origin of their names. ThusTurner has been explained as from la tour noire. Dr. Brewer, in hisDictionary of Phrase and Fable, [Footnote: Thirteenth edition, revisedand corrected. ] apparently desirous of dissociating himself from maltliquor, observes that-- "Very few ancient names are the names of trades. . . A few examplesof a more scientific derivation will suffice for a hint:-- Brewer. This name, which exists in France as Bruhière and Brugère, isnot derived from the Saxon briwan (to brew), but the French bruyère(heath), and is about tantamount to the German Plantagenet (broomplant). Miller is the old Norse melia, our mill and maul, and means amauler or fighter. Ringer is the Anglo-Saxon hring-gar (the mailed warrior). Tanner, German Thanger, Old German Dane-gaud, is the Dane-Goth... This list might easily be extended. " There is of course no reason why such a list should not beindefinitely extended, but the above excerpt is probably quite longenough to make the reader feel dizzy. The fact is that there is nogetting away from a surname of this class, and the bearer must try tolook on the brighter side of the tragedy. Brewer is occasionally anaccommodated form of the French name Bruyère or Labruyère, but isusually derived from an occupation which is the high-road to the Houseof Lords. The ancestor of any modern Barber may, like Salvation Yeo'sfather, have "exercised the mystery of a barber-surgeon, " which isgetting near the learned professions. A Pottinger (Chapter XV) lookedafter the soups, Fr. Potage, but the name also represents Pothecary(apothecary), which had in early Scottish the aphetic forms Poticar, potigar-- "'Pardon me, ' said he, 'I am but a poor pottingar. Nevertheless, Ihave been bred in Paris and learnt my humanities and my cursusmedendi'" (Fair Maid of Perth, ch. Vii. ). CHAPTER XIX. HODGE AND HIS FRIENDS "Jacque, il me faut troubler ton Somme; Dans le village, un gros huissier Rôde et court, suivi du messier. C'est pour l'impôt, las! mon pauvre homme. Lève-toi, Jacque, lève-toi: Voici venir I'huissier du roi. " BÉRANGER. General terms for what we now usually call a farmer are preserved inthe surnames Bond (Chapter XV), whence the compound Husband, used bothfor the goodman of the house and in the modern sense, and Tillman. The labouring man was Day, from the same root as Ger. Dienen, toserve. It persists in "dairy" and perhaps in the puzzling nameDoubleday (? doing two men's work). A similar meaning is containedin the names Swain, Hind, for earlier Hine (Chapter III), Tasker, Mann. But a Wager was a mercenary soldier. The mower has given usthe names Mather (cf. Aftermath), and Mawer, while Fenner is sometimesfor Old Fr. Feneur, haymaker (Lat. Foenum, hay). For mower we alsofind the latinized messor, whence Messer. Whether the Ridler and theSivier made, or used, riddles and sieves can hardly be decided. [Footnote: Riddle is the usual word for sieve in the Midlands. Hencethe phrase "riddled with holes, or wounds. "] With the Wenman, who drove the wain, we may mention the Leader orLoader. The verbs "lead" and "load" are etymologically the same, andin the Midlands people talk of "leading, " i. E. Carting, coal. Butthese names could also come from residence near an artificialwatercourse (Chapter XIII). Beecher has already been explained, andShoveler is formed in the same way from dialect showl, a shovel-- " 'I, ' said the owl, 'With my spade and showl. ' " To the variants of the Miller (Chapter XXIII) may be added Mulliner, from Old French. Tedder means a man who teds, i. E. Spreads, hay, theorigin of the word being Scandinavian "I teede hey, I tourne it afore it is made in cockes, je fene. "(Palsgrave. ) But the greater number of surnames drawn from rural occupations areconnected with the care of animals. We find names of this class inthree forms, exemplified by Coltman, Goater, Shepherd, and it seemslikely that the endings -er and -erd have sometimes been interchanged, e. G. That Goater may stand for goat-herd, Calver for calf-herd, andNutter sometimes for northern nowt-herd, representing the dialectneat-herd. The compounds of herd include Bullard, Calvert, Coltard, Coward, for cow-herd, not of course to be confused with the commonnoun coward (Fr. Couard, a derivative of Lat. Cauda, tail), Evart, ewe-herd, but also a Norman spelling of Edward, Geldard, Goddard, sometimes for goat-herd, Hoggart, often confused with the localHogarth (Chapter XIII), Seward, for sow-herd, or for the historicSiward, Stobart, dialect stob, a bull, Stodart, Mid. Eng. Stot, meaning both a bullock and a nag. Chaucer tells us that-- "This reve sat upon a ful good stot" (A, 615 ). Stoddart is naturally confused with Studdart, stud-herd, stud beingcognate with Ger. Stute, mare. We also have Swinnert, and lastlyWeatherhead, sometimes a perversion of wether-herd, though usually anickname, sheep's head. The man in charge of the tups, or rams, wascalled Tupman or Tupper, the latter standing sometimes for tup-herd, just as we have the imitative Stutter for Stodart or Studdart. Wehave also Tripper from trip, a dialect word for flock, probablyrelated to troop. Another general term for a herdsman was Looker, whence Luker. BUMBLEDOM I have headed this chapter "Hodge and his Friends, " but as, a matterof strict truth he had none, except the "poure Persons, " the mostradiant figure in Chaucer's pageant. But his enemies wereinnumerable. Béranger's lines impress one less than the uncouth "Songof the Husbandman" (temp. Edward I. ), in which we find the woes ofpoor Hodge incorporated in the persons of the hayward, the bailif, thewodeward, the budel and his cachereles (catchpoles)-- "For ever the furthe peni mot (must) to the kynge. " The bailiff has already been mentioned (Chapter IV). The budel, orbeadle, has given us several surnames. We have the word in two forms, from Anglo-Sax. Bytel, belonging to the verb to bid, whence the namesBiddle and Buddle, and from Old Fr. Bedel (bedeau), whence Beadle andits variants. The animal is probably extinct under his original name, but modern democracy is doing its best to provide him with an army ofsuccessors. The "beadle" group of names has been confused withBithell, Welsh Ap Ithel. Names in -ward are rather numerous, and, as they mostly come from thetitles of rural officials and are often confused with compounds of-herd, they are all put together here. The simple Ward, cognate withFr. Garde, is one of our commonest surnames. Like its derivativeWarden it had a very wide range of meanings. The antiquity of theoffice of church-warden is shown by the existence of the surnameChurchward. Sometimes the surname comes from the abstract or localsense, de la warde. As the suffix -weard occurs very frequently inAnglo-Saxon personal names, it is not always possible to say whether asurname is essentially occupative or not, e. G. Whether Durward israther "door-ward" or for Anglo-Sax. Deorweard. Howard, which isphonetically Old Fr. Huard, is sometimes also for Hayward or Haward(Hereward), or for Hayward. It has no doubt interchanged with thelocal Howarth, Haworth. Owing to the loss of w- in the second part of a word (Chapter III), -ward and -herd often fall together, e. G. Millard for Milward, andWoodard found in Mid. English as both wode-ward and wode-hird. Hayward belongs to hay, hedge, enclosure (Chapter XIII), from which wealso get Hayman. The same functionary has given the name Haybittle, acompound of beadle. Burward and Burrard may represent the oncefamiliar office of bear-ward; cf. Berman. I had a schoolfellow calledLateward, apparently the man in charge of the lade or leet (ChapterXIII). Medward is for mead-ward. The name Stewart or Stuart became royal with Walter the Steward ofScotland, who married Marjorie Bruce in 1315. It stands for sty-ward, where sty means pen, not necessarily limited to pigs. Like mostofficial titles, it has had its ups and downs, with the result thatits present meaning ranges from a high officer of the crown to thesympathetic concomitant of a rough crossing. The Reeve, Anglo-Sax. Ge-refa, was in Chaucer a kind of land agent, but the name was also applied to local officials, as in port-reeve, shire-reeve. It is the same as Grieve, also originally official, butused in Scotland of a land steward-- "He has got a ploughman from Scotland who acts as grieve. " (Scott, Diary, 1814. ) This may be one source of the names Graves and Greaves. The nameWoodruff, Woodroffe is too common to be referred to the plantwoodruff, and the fact that the male and female of a species ofsand-piper are called the ruff and reeve suggests that Woodruff mayhave some relation to wood-reeve. It is at any rate a curiouscoincidence that the German name for the plant is Waldmeister, wood-master. Another official surname especially connected withcountry life is Pinder, also found as Pinner, Pender, Penner, Ponderand Poynder, the man in charge of the pound or pinfold; cf. Parker, the custodian of a park, of which the Palliser or Pallister made thepalings. ITINERANT MERCHANTS The itinerant dealer was usually called by a name suggesting the packwhich he carried. Thus Badger, Kidder, Kiddier, Pedder, now pedlar, are from bag, kid, related to kit, and the obsolete ped, basket; cf. Leaper, Chapter XV. The badger, who dealt especially in corn, wasunpopular with the rural population, and it is possible that his namewas given to the stealthy animal formerly called the bawson (ChapterI. ), brock or gray (Chapter XXIII). That Badger is a nickname takenfrom the animal is chronologically improbable, as the word is firstrecorded in 1523 (New English Dictionary). To the above names may be added Cremer, Cramer, a huckster with astall in the market, but this surname is sometimes of modernintroduction, from its German cognate Krämer, now generally used for agrocer. Packman, Pakeman, and Paxman belong more probably to thefont-name Pack (Chapter IX), which also appears in Paxon, eitherPack's son, or for the local Paxton. The name Hawker does not belong to this group. Nowadays a hawker is apedlar, and it has been assumed, without sufficient evidence, that theword is of the same origin as huckster. The Mid. Eng. Le haueker orhaukere (1273) is quite plainly connected with hawk, and the name mayhave been applied either to a Falconer, Faulkner, or to a dealer inhawks. As we know that itinerant vendors of hawks travelled fromcastle to castle, it is quite possible that our modern hawker is anextended use of the same name. Nor is the name Coster to be referred to costermonger, originally adealer in costards, i. E. Apples. It is sometimes for Mid. Eng. Costard (cf. Such names as Cherry and Plumb), but may also representPort. Da Costa and Ger. Köster, both of which are found in earlylists of Protestant refugees. Jagger was a north-country name for a man who worked draught-horsesfor hire. Mr. Hardy's novel Under the Greenwood Tree opens with "theTranter's party. " A carrier is still a "tranter" in Wessex. InMedieval Latin he was called travetarius, a word apparently connectedwith Lat. Transvehere, to transport. CHAPTER XX. OFFICIAL AND DOMESTIC "Big fleas have little fleas Upon their backs to bite 'em Little fleas have smaller fleas, And so ad infinitum. " Anon. It is a well-known fact that official nomenclature largely reflectsthe simple housekeeping of early times, and that many titles, now ofgreat dignity, were originally associated with rather lowly duties. We have seen an example in Stewart. Another is Chamberlain. Hencesurnames drawn from this class are susceptible of very variedinterpretation. A Chancellor was originally a man in charge of achancel, or grating, Lat. Cancelli. In Mid. English it is usuallyglossed scriba, while it is now limited to very high judicial orpolitical office. Bailey, as we have seen (Chapter IV), has also awide range of meanings, the ground idea being that of care-taker. Cotgrave explains Old Fr. Mareschal maréchal as-- "A marshall of a kingdoms, or of a camp (an honourable place); also, ablacksmith; also, a farrier, horse-leech, or horse-smith; also, aharbinger, " [Footnote: i. E. A quartermaster. See Romance of Words, ch. Vii. ] which gives a considerable choice of origins to any modern Marshall orMaskell. Another very vague term is sergeant, whence our Sargent. Its oldestmeaning is servant, Lat. Serviens, servient--. Cotgrave definessergent as-- "A sergeant, officer, catchpole, pursuyvant, apparitor; also (in OldFr. ) a footman, or souldier that serves on foot. " I Probably catchpole was the commonest meaning-- "Sargeauntes, katche pollys, and somners" (Cocke Lorelles Bote). The administration of justice occupied a horde of officials, from theJustice down to the Catchpole. The official title Judge is rarelyfound, and this surname is usually from the female name Judge, which, like Jug, was used for Judith, and later for Jane-- "Jannette, Judge, Jennie; a woman's name" (Cotgrave). The names Judson and Juxon sometimes belong to these. Catchpole hasnothing to do with poles or polls. It is a Picard cache-poule(chasse-poule), collector of poultry in default of money. Anothername for judge was Dempster, the pronouncer of doom, a title whichstill exists in the Isle of Man. We also find Deemer-- "Demar, judicator" (Prompt. Parv. ). Mayor is a learned spelling of Mair, Fr. Maire, Lat. Major, but Major, which looks like its latinized form, is perhaps imitative for the OldFrench personal name Mauger. Bishop Mauger of Worcester pronouncedthe interdict in 1208, and the surname still exists. Gaylor, Galer, is the Norman pronunciation of gaoler-- "And Palamon, this woful prisoner, As was his wone, bi leve of his gayler, Was risen" (A, 1064). THE HOUSEHOLD Usher is Fr. Huissier, door-keeper, Fr. Huis, door, Lat. Ostium. Iconjecture that Lusher is the French name Lhuissier, and that Lush islocal, for Old Fr. Le huis; cf. Laporte. Wait, corruptly Weight, nowused only of a Christmas minstrel, was once a watchman. It is adialect form of Old Fr. Gaite, cognate with watch. The older sensesurvives in the expression "to lie in wait. " Gate is the same name, when not local (Chapter XIII). The Todhunter, or fox-hunter (Chapter XXIII), was an official whoseduty was to exterminate the animal now so carefully preserved. Warneris often for Warrener. The Grosvenor (gros veneur), great hunter, wasa royal servant. Bannerman is found latinized as Penninger (ChapterXV). Herald may be official or from Harold (Chapter VII), thederivation being in any case the same. Toller means a collector oftolls. Cocke Lorelle speaks of these officials as "false Towlers. "Connected with administration is the name Mainprice, lit. Taken byhand, used both for a surety and a man out on bail-- "Maynprysyd, or memprysyd, manucaptus, fideijussus" (Prompt. Parv. ); and Shurety also exists. The individual bigwig had a very large retinue, the members of whichappear to have held very strongly to the theory of one man, one job. The Nurse, or Norris, Fr. Nourrice, was apparently debarred fromrocking the cradle. This was the duty of the rocker-- "To the norice and rokker of the same lord, 25s. 8d. " (Household Accounts of Elizabeth of York, March, 1503), from whom Mr. Roker, chief turnkey at the Fleet in Mr. Pickwick'stime, may have sprung The Cook was assisted by the Baster and Hasler, or turnspit, the latter from Old Fr. Hastille, spit, dim. Of Lat. Hasta, spear. The Chandler was a servant as well as a manufacturer. A Trotter and a Massinger, i. E. Messenger, were perhaps much the samething. Wardroper is of course wardrobe keeper, but Chaucer useswardrope (B. 1762) in the sense which Fr. Garde-robe now usually has. The Lavender, Launder or Lander saw to the washing. Napier, from Fr. Nappe, cloth, meant the servant who looked after the napery. Themartial sound with which this distinguished name strikes a modern earis due to historical association, assisted, as I have somewhere read, by its riming with rapier! The water-supply was in charge of theEwer. The provisioning of the great house was the work of the Lardner, Fr. Lard, bacon, the Panter, or Pantler, who was, at least etymologically, responsible for bread, and the Cator (Chapter III) and Spencer(Chapter III), whose names, though of opposite meaning, buyer andspender, come to very much the same thing. Spence is still thenorth-country word for pantry, and is used by Tennyson in the sense ofrefectory-- "Bluff Harry broke into the Spence And turn'd the cowls adrift. " (The Talking Oak, 1. 47. ) Purser, now used in connection with ships only, was also a medievalform of bursar, and every castle and monastery had its almoner, nowAmner. Here also belongs Carver. In Ivey Church (Bucks) is a tabletto Lady Mary Salter with a poetic tribute to her husband-- "Full forty years a carver to two kings. " As the importance of the horse led to the social elevation of themarshal and constable (Chapter IV), so the hengstman, now henchman, became his master's right-hand man. The first element is Anglo-Sax. Hengest, stallion, and its most usual surnominal forms are Hensman andHinxman. Historians now regard Hengist and Horsa, stallion and mare, as nicknames assumed by Jutish braves on the war-path. Sumpter, OldFr. Sommetier, from Somme, burden, was used both of a packhorse andits driver, its interpretation in King Lear being a matter of dispute-- "Return with her? Persuade me rather to be slave and Sumpter To this detested groom" (Lear, ii, 4). As a surname it probably means the driver, Medieval Lat. Sumetarius. Among those who ministered to the great man's pleasures we mustprobably reckon Spelman, Speller, Spillman, Spiller, from Mid. Eng. Spel, a speech, narrative, but proof of this is lacking "Now holde your mouth, par charitee, Bothe knyght and lady free, And herkneth to my spelle" (B, 2081). The cognate Spielmann, lit. Player, was used in Medieval German of awandering minstrel. The poet is now Rymer or Rimmer, while Trover, Fr. Trouvère, a poet, minstrel, lit. Finder, has been confused with Trower, for Thrower, aname connected with weaving. Even the jester has come down to us asPatch, a name given regularly to this member of the household inallusion to his motley attire. Shylock applies it, to Launcelot-- "The patch is kind enough; but a huge feeder. " (Merchant of Venice, ii. 5. ) But the name has another origin (Chapter IX). Buller and Cocker arenames taken from the fine old English sports of bull-baiting andcock-fighting. Two very humble members of the parasitic class have given the namesBidder and Maunder, both meaning beggar. The first comes from Mid. Eng. Bidden, to ask. Piers Plowman speaks of "bidderes and beggers. "Maunder is perhaps connected with Old Fr. Quemander-- "Quemander, or caimander, to beg; or goe a begging; to beg from dooreto doore" (Cotgrave), but it may mean a maker of "maunds, " i. E. Baskets. A Beadman spent his time in praying for his benefactor. A medievalunderling writing to his superior often signs himself "your servantand bedesman. " CHAPTER XXI. OF NICKNAMES IN GENERAL "Here is Wyll Wyly the myl pecker, And Patrick Pevysshe heerbeter, With lusty Hary Hangeman, Nexte house to Robyn Renawaye; Also Hycke Crokenec the rope maker, And Steven Mesyllmouthe muskyll taker. " (Cocke Lorelles Bote. ) [Footnote: This humorous poem, inspired by Sebastian Brandt'sNarrenschiff, known in England in Barclay's translation, was printedearly in the reign of Henry VIII. It contains the fullest list wehave of old trade-names. ] Every family name is etymologically a nickname, i. E. An eke-name, intended to give that auxiliary information which helps inidentification. But writers on surnames have generally made a specialclass of those epithets which were originally conferred on the bearerin connection with some characteristic feature, physical or moral, orsome adjunct, often of the most trifling description, with which hispersonality was associated. Of nicknames, as of other things, it maybe said that there is nothing new under the sun. Ovidius Naso mighthave received his as a schoolboy, and Moss cum nano, whom we find inSuffolk in 1184, lives on as "Nosey Moss" in Whitechapel. Some of ournicknames occur as personal names in Anglo-Saxon times (Chapter VII), but as surnames they are seldom to be traced back to that period, forthe simple reason that such names were not hereditary. An Anglo-Saxonmight be named Wulf, but his son would bear another name, while ourmodern Wolfe does not usually go farther back than some Ranulf le wolfof the thirteenth or fourteenth century. This is of course statingthe case broadly, because the personal name Wolf also persisted andbecame in some cases a surname. In this and the following chapters Ido not generally attempt to distinguish between such double origins. Nicknames are formed in very many ways, but the two largest classesare sobriquets taken from the names of animals, e. G. Hogg, or fromadjectives, either alone or accompanied by a noun, e. G. Dear, Goodfellow. Each of these classes requires a chapter to itself, whilehere we may deal with the smaller groups. Some writers have attempted to explain all apparent nicknames aspopular perversions of surnames belonging to the other three classes. As the reader will already have noticed, such perversions areextremely common, but it is a mistake to try to account for obviousnicknames in this way. Any of us who retain a vivid recollection ofearly days can call to mind nicknames of the most fantastic kind, andin some cases of the most apparently impossible formation, which stuckto their possessors all through school-life. A very simple test forthe genuineness of a nickname is a comparison with other languages. Camden says that Drinkwater is a corruption of Derwentwater. Theincorrectness of this guess is shown by the existence as surnames ofFr. Boileau, It. Bevilacqua, and Ger. Trinkwasser. It is in fact aperfectly natural nickname for a medieval eccentric, the more normalattitude being represented by Roger Beyvin (boi-vin), who died inLondon in 1277. FOREIGN NICKNAMES Corresponding to our Goodday, we find Ger. Gutentag and Fr. Bonjour. The latter has been explained as from a popular form of George, butthe English and German names show that the explanation is. Unnecessary. With Dry we may compare Fr. Lesec and Ger. Dürr, withGarlick Ger. Knoblauch (Chapter XV), and with Shakespeare Ger. Schüttespeer. Luck is both for Luke and Luick (Liège, Chapter XI), but Rosa Bonheur and the composer Gluck certify it also as a nickname. Merryweather is like Fr. Bontemps, and Littleboy appears in the ParisDirectory as Petitgas, gas being the same as gars, the old nominative(Chapter I) of garçon-- "Gars, a lad, boy, stripling, youth, yonker" (Cotgrave). Bardsley explains Twentyman as an imitative corruption of twinter-man, the man in charge of the twinters, two-year-old colts. This may beso, but there is a German confectioner in Hampstead called Zwanziger, and there are Parisians named Vingtain. Lover is confirmed by theFrench surnames Amant and Lamoureux, and Wellbeloved by Bienaimé. Allways may be the literal equivalent of the French name Partout. Onthe other hand, the name Praisegod Barebones has been wrongly fixed onan individual whose real name was Barbon or Barborne. It may seem strange that the nickname, conferred essentially on theindividual, and often of a very offensive character, should havepersisted and become hereditary. But schoolboys know that, in thecase of an unpleasant nickname, the more you try to pull it off, themore it sticks the faster. Malapert and Lehideux are still wellrepresented in the Paris Directory. Many objectionable nicknameshave, however, disappeared, or have been so modified as to becomeinoffensive. Sometimes such disappearance has resulted from the depreciation in themeaning of a word, e. G. Le lewd, the layman, the unlettered, was onceas common as its opposite le learned, whence the name Larned. Butmany uncomplimentary names are no longer objected to because theirowners do not know their earlier meanings. A famous hymn-writer ofthe eighteenth century bore all unconsciously a surname that wouldalmost have made Rabelais blush. Drinkdregs, Drunkard, Sourale, Sparewater, Sweatinbed, etc. Have gone, but we still have Lusk-- "Falourdin, a luske, loot, lurden, a lubberlie sloven, heavie sot, lumpish hoydon" (Cotgrave)-- and many other names which can hardly have gratified their originalpossessors. A very interesting group of surnames consists of those which indicatedegrees of kinship or have to do with the relations existing betweenindividuals. We find both Master and Mann, united in Masterman, meaning the man in the service of one locally known as the master. With this we may compare Ladyman, Priestman, etc. But Mann is often oflocal origin, from the Isle of Man. In some cases such names areusually found with the patronymic -s, e. G. Masters, Fellows, while inothers this is regularly absent, e. G. Guest, Friend. The latter nameis sometimes a corruption of Mid. Eng. Fremed, stranger, cognate withGer. Fremd, so that opposite terms, which we find regularly contrastedin Mid. Eng. "frend and fremed, " have become absorbed in one surname. The frequent occurrence of Fellows is due to its being sometimes forthe local Fallows. From Mid. Eng. Fere, a companion, connected withfaren, to travel, we get Littlefair and Playfair. In Wyclif's Biblewe read that Jephthah's daughter-- "Whanne sche hadde go with hir felowis and pleiferis, sche biwept hirmaydynhed in the hillis" (Judges xi. 38). Springett is for springald, and Arlett is Mid. Eng. Harlot, fellow, rascal, a word which has changed its gender and meaning-- "He was a gentil harlot and a kynde, A betre felawe sholde men noght fynde. " (A, 647. ) KINSHIP In surnames taken from words indicating family relationship we comeacross some survivals of terms no longer used, or occurring only inrustic dialect. The Mid. Eng. Eme, uncle, cognate with Ger. Oheim, has given Eames. In Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, the heroineaddresses Pandarus as "uncle dere" and "uncle mine, " but also uses theolder word-- "'In good feith, em, ' quod she, 'that liketh me'" (ii. 162); and the word is used more than once by Scott-- "Didna his eme die. . . Wi' the name of the Bluidy Mackenzie?" (Heart of Midlothian, ch. Xii. ) It is also one of the sources of Empson, which thus corresponds toCousins or Cozens. In Neame we have a prosthetic n- due to thefrequent occurrence of min eme (cf. The Shakespearean nuncle, Lear, i. 4). The names derived from cousin have been reinforced by those fromCuss, i. E. Constant or Constance (Chapter X). Thus Cussens is fromthe Mid. English dim. Cussin. Anglo-Sax. Nefa, whence Mid. Eng. Neve, neave, is cognate with, but not derived from, Lat. Nepos. [Footnote:In all books on surnames that I have come across this is referred toOld Fr. Le neve. There is no such word in old French, which has nom. Niés, acc. Neveu. ] This is now replaced as a common noun by the French word nephew, butit survives in the surname Neave. It also meant in Mid. English aprodigal or parasite, as did also Lat. Nepos-- "Neve, neverthryfte, or wastowre" (Prompt. Parv. ). It is likely that Nevison and Nevinson are sometimes derivatives ofthis word. Child was sometimes used in the special sense of youth of gentleblood, or young knight; cf. Childe Harold and Childe Rowland (Lear, iii. 4). But the more general meaning may be assumed in itscompounds, of which the most interesting is Leifchild, dear-child, afairly common name in Anglo-Saxon. The corresponding Faunt, whenceFauntleroy (Chapter XV), is now rare. Another word, now only used indialect or by affectation, is "bairn, " a frequent source of the verycommon surname Barnes; cf. Fairbairn and Goodbairn, often perverted toFairburn, Goodburn, Goodban. Barnfather is about equivalent to Lat. Paterfamilias, but Pennefather is an old nickname for a miser-- "Caqueduc, a niggard, micher, miser, scrape-good, pinch-penny, penny-father; a covetous and greedy wretch" (Cotgrave). The name Bastard was once considered no disgrace if the dishonour camefrom a noble source, and several great medieval warriors bore thissobriquet. With this we may compare Leman or Lemon, Mid. Eng. Leof-man, dear man, beloved, and Paramor, Fr. Par amour, an example ofan adverbial phrase that has become a noun. This expression, used oflawful love in Old French, in the stock phrase "aimer une belle damepar amour, " had already an evil meaning by Chaucer's time-- "My fourthe housbonde was a revelour, This is to seyn, he hadde a paramour" (D, 453). With these names we may put Drewry or Drury, sweetheart, from the OldFrench abstract druerie, of Germanic origin and cognate with true-- "For certeynly no such beeste To be loved is not worthy, Or bere the name of druerie. " (Romaunt of the Rose, 5062. ) Suckling is a nickname applied to a helpless person; cf. Littlechildand "milksop, " which still exists, though rare, in the forms Milsoppand Mellsop. The heir survives as Ayre and Eyre. Batchelor, theorigin of which is one of the etymological problems yet unsolved, hadin Old French and Mid. English also the meaning of young warrior orsquire. Chaucer's Squier is described as-- "A lovyere and a lusty bacheler" (A, 80). May, maiden, whence Mildmay, is used by Chaucer for the Holy Virgin "Now, lady bright, to whom alle woful cryen, Thow glorie of wommanhede, thow faire may, Thow haven of refut, brighte sterre of day" (B, 850). This is the same word as Mid. Eng. Mai, relative, cognate with maidand Gaelic Mac- (Chapter VI). A form of it survives in the Nottinghamname Watmough and perhaps in Hickmott-- "Mow, housbandys sister or syster in law" (Prompt. Parv. ). I imagine that William Echemannesmai, who owed the Treasury a mark in1182, was one of the sponging fraternity. Virgoe, a latinization of Virgin, is perhaps due to a shop-sign. Rigmaiden, explained by Lower as "a romping girl, " is local, from aplace in Westmorland. Richard de Riggemayden was living in Lancashirein 1307. With this group of names we may put Gossip, originally agod-parent, lit. Related in God, from Mid. Eng. Sib, kin. With names like Farebrother, Goodfellow, we may compare some of Frenchorigin such as Bonser (bon sire), Bonamy, and Bellamy "Thou beel amy, thou pardoner, he sayde, Telle us som myrth, or japes, right anon. " (B, 318. ) Beldam (belle dame), originally a complimentary name for grandmotheror grandam, has become uncomplimentary in meaning-- First Witch. "Why, how now, Hecate! you look angerly. " Hecate. "Have I not reason, beldams as you are, Saucy and overbold?" (Macbeth, iii. 5). From the corresponding Old Fr. Bel-sire, beau-sire, we have Bewsher, Bowser, and the Picard form Belcher "The great belsire, the grandsire, sire, and sonne, Lie here interred under this grave stone. " (Weever, Ancient Funeral Monuments. ) Relationship was often expressed by the use of French words, so thatfor son-in-law we find Gender, Ginder, corresponding to Fr. Legendre. Fitch, usually an animal nickname (Chapter XXIII), is occasionally forle fiz, the son, which also survives as Fitz. Goodson, from thepersonal name Good (Chapter I), is sometimes registered as Fiz Deu. Cf. Fr. Lefilleul, i. E. The godson. ABSTRACTS A possible derivative of the name May (Chapter XXI) is Ivimey. Hollyand Ivy were the names of characters in Christmas games, and an oldrime says "Holy and his mery men, they dawnsyn and they syng, Ivy and hur maydins, they wepen and they wryng. " If Ivimey is from this source, the same origin must sometimes beallowed to Holliman (Chapter I). This conjecture [Footnote: Probablya myth. See my Surnames, p. 197. ] has in its favour the fact thatmany of our surnames are undoubtedly derived from characters assumedin dramatic performances and popular festivities. To this classbelong many surnames which have the form of abstract nouns, e. G. Charity, Verity, Virtue, Vice. Of similar origin are perhaps Bliss, Chance, Luck, and Goodluck; cf. Bonaventure. Love, Luff, occursgenerally as a personal name, hence the dim. Lufkins, but it issometimes a nickname. Lovell, Lovett, more often mean little wolf. Both Louvet and Louveau are common French surnames. The name Lovell, in the wolf sense, was often applied to a dog, as in the famouscouplet "The ratte, the catte, and Lovell, our dogge Rule all England under the hogge, " for which William Collingborne was executed in 1484. Lowell is avariant of Lovell. But many apparent abstract names are due to folk-etymology, e. G. Marriage is local, Old Fr. Marage, marsh, and Wedlock is imitative forWedlake; cf. Mortlock for Mortlake and perhaps Diplock for deep-lake. Creed is the Anglo-Saxon personal name Creda. Revel, a common Frenchsurname, is a personal name of obscure origin. Want is the Mid. Eng. Wont, mole, whence Wontner, mole-catcher. It is difficult to see howsuch names as Warr, Battle, and Conquest came into existence. Theformer, found as de la warre, is no doubt sometimes local (ChapterXIII), and Battle is a dim. Of Bat (Chapter VI). But de la batayle isalso a common entry, and Laguerre and Labataille are common Frenchsurnames. COSTUME A nickname was often conferred in connection with some external objectregularly associated with the individual. Names taken from shop-signsreally belong to this class. Corresponding to our Hood [Footnote:Hood may also be for Hud (Chapter I), but the garment is made into apersonal name in Little Red Ridinghood, who is called in French lepetit Chaperon Rouge. ] we have Fr. Capron (chaperon). Burdon, Fr. Bourdon, meant a staff, especially a pilgrim's staff. Daunger isdescribed as having-- "In his honde a gret burdoun" (Romaunt of the Rose, 3401). But the name Burdon is also local. Bracegirdle, i. E. Breeks-girdle, must have been the nickname of one who wore a gorgeous belt. It is acurious fact that this name is chiefly found in the same region(Cheshire) as the somewhat similar Broadbelt. The Sussex name Quailerepresents the Norman pronunciation of coif. More usually anadjective enters into such combinations. With the historic Curthose, Longsword, Strongbow we may compare Shorthouse, a perversion ofshorthose, Longstaff, Horlock (hoar), Silverlock, Whitlock, etc. Whitehouse is usually of local origin, but has also absorbed themedieval names Whitehose and White-hawse, the latter from Mid. Eng. Hawse, neck. Woollard may be the Anglo-Saxon personal name Wulfweard, but is more probably from woolward, i. E. Without linen, a costumeassumed as a sign of penitence "Wolwarde, without any lynnen nexte ones body, sans chemyse. "(Palsgrave. ) The three names Medley, Medlicott, and Motley go together, though allthree of them may be local (the mid-lea, the middle-cot, and themoat-lea). Medley mixed, is the Anglo-French past participle of OldFr. Mesler (mêler). Motley is of unknown origin, but it was notnecessarily a fool's dress-- "A marchant was ther with a forked berd, In mottelye, and hye on horse he sat, Upon his heed a Flaundryssh bevere hat" (A, 270). So also the Serjeant of the Law was distinguished his, for the period, plain dress-- "He rood but hoomly in a medlee cote" (A, 328). Gildersleeve is now rare in England, though it still flourishes in theUnited States. [Footnote: We have several instances of thisphenomenon. A familiar example is Lippincott, a surname of localorigin (Devonshire). But Bardsley's inclusion of American statisticsis often misleading. It is a well-known fact that the foreign namesof immigrants are regularly assimilated to English forms in the UnitedStates. In some cases, such as Cook for Koch, Cope (Chapter XII) forKopf, Stout (Chapter XXII) for Stolz or Stultz, the change isetymologically justified. But in other cases, such as Tallman forThalmann, dale-man, Trout for Traut, faithful, the resemblance isaccidental. Beam and Chestnut, common in the States but very rare inEngland, represent an imitative form of Böhm or Behm, Bohemian, and atranslation of Kestenbaum, chestnut tree, both Jewish names. TheBecks and Bowmans of New York outnumber those of London by about fiveto one, the first being for Beck, baker (Chapter XV), and the secondfor Baumann, equivalent to Bauer, farmer. Bardsley explains thecommon American name Arrison by the fact that there are Cockneys inAmerica. It comes of course from Arend, a Dutch name related toArnold. "A remarkable record in changes of surname was cited some years ago byan American correspondent of Notes and Queries. 'The changes whichbefell a resident of New Orleans were that when he moved from anAmerican quarter to a German neighbourhood his name of Flint becameFeuerstein, which for convenience was shortened to Stein. Upon hisremoval to a French district he was re-christened Pierre. Hence uponhis return to an English neighbourhood he was translated into Peters, and his first neighbours were surprised and puzzled to find Flintturned Peters. '" (Daily Chronicle, April 4, 1913. )] PHYSICAL FEATURES Names like Beard, Chinn, Tooth were conferred because of someprominent feature. In Anglo-French we find Gernon, moustache, nowcorrupted to Garnham, and also al gernon, with the moustache, whichhas become Algernon. But we have already seen (Chapter XIII) thatsome names which appear to belong to this class are of local origin. So also Tongue is derived from one of several places named Tong orTonge, though the ultimate origin is perhaps in some cases the same, a"tongue" of land. Quartermain is for Quatre-mains, perhaps bestowedon a very acquisitive person; Joscius Quatre-buches, four mouths, andRoger Tunekes, two necks, were alive in the twelfth century; and thereis record of a Saracen champion named Quinze-paumes, though this isperhaps rather a measure of height. Cheek I conjecture to be forChick. The odd-looking Kidney is apparently Irish. There is a rarename Poindexter, appearing in French as Poingdestre, "right fist. "[Footnote: President Poincaré's name appears to mean "square fist. "]I have seen it explained as from the heraldic term point dexter, butit is rather to be taken literally. I find Johannes cum pugno in1184, and we can imagine that such a name may have been conferred on amedieval bruiser. There is also the possibility, considering thebrutality of many old nicknames, that the bearer of the name had beenjudicially deprived of his right hand, a very common punishment, especially for striking a feudal superior. Thus Renaut de Montauban, finding that his unknown opponent is Charlemagne, exclaims-- "J'ai forfait le poing destre dont je l'ai adesé (struck). " We have some nicknames describing gait, e. G. Ambler and Shaylor-- "I shayle, as a man or horse dothe that gothe croked with his leggs, je vas eschays" (Palsgrave)-- and perhaps sometimes Trotter. If George Eliot had been a student ofsurnames she would hardly have named a heroine Nancy Lammiter, i. E. Cripple-- "Though ye may think him a lamiter, yet, grippie for grippie, he'llmake the bluid spin frae under your nails" (Black Dwarf, ch. Xvii. ). Pettigrew and Pettifer are of French origin, pied de grue (crane) andpied de fer. The former is the origin of the word pedigree, from asign used in drawing genealogical trees. The Buckinghamshire namePuddifoot or Puddephatt (Podefat, 1273) and the aristocraticPauncefote are unsolved. The former may be a corruption of Pettifer, which occurs commonly, along with the intermediate Puddifer, in thesame county. But the English Dialect Dictionary gives as an obsoleteNorthants word the adjective puddy, stumpy, pudgy, applied especiallyto hands, fingers, etc. , and Pudito (puddy toe) occurs as a surname inthe Hundred Rolls. As for Pauncefote, I believe it simply means whatit appears to, viz. "belly-foot, " a curious formation, though notwithout parallels, among obsolete rustic nicknames. If these twoconjectures are correct, both Puddifoot and Pauncefote may be almostliteral equivalents of the Greek OEdipus, i. E. "swell-foot. " In other languages as well as English we find money nicknames. It iseasy to understand how some of these come into existence, e. G. ThatPierce. Pennilesse was the opposite of Thomas Thousandpound, whosename occurs c. 1300. With the latter we may compare Fr. Centlivre, the name of an English lady dramatist of the eighteenth century. Moneypenny is found in 1273 as Manipeni, and a Londoner named Manypenydied in 1348. The Money- is partly north country, partly imitative. Money itself is usually occupative or local (Chapter XVII), andShilling is the Anglo-Saxon name Scilling. The oldest and commonestof such nicknames is the simple Penny, with which we may compare theGerman surname Pfennig and its compounds Barpfennig, Weisspfennig, etc. The early adoption of this coin-name as a personal name is dueto the fact that the word was taken in the sense of money in general. We still speak of a rich man as "worth a pretty penny. " Hallmark isfolk-etymology for the medieval Half-mark. Such medieval names asFour-pence, Twenty-mark, etc. , probably now obsolete, are paralleledby Fr. Quatresous and Sixdenier, still to be found in the ParisDirectory. It would be easy to form conjectures as to the variousways in which such names may have come into existence. To the sameclass must belong Besant, the name of a coin from Byzantium, itsforeign origin giving it a dignity which is absent from the nativeFarthing and Halfpenny, though the latter, in one instance, wasimproved beyond recognition into MacAlpine. IMPRECATIONS There is also a small group of surnames derived from oaths orexclamations which by habitual use became associated with certainindividuals. We know that monarchs had a special tendency to indulgein a favourite expletive. To Roger de Collerye we owe someinformation as to the imprecations preferred by four French kings-- "Quand la Pasque-Dieu (Louis XI. ) décéda, Le Bon Jour Dieu (Charles VIII. ) luy succéda, Au Bon Jour Dieu deffunct et mort Succéda le Dyable m'emport (Louis XII). Luy décédé, nous voyons comme Nous duist (governs) la Foy de Gentilhomme (Francis I. ). " So important was this branch of linguistics once considered thatPalsgrave, the French tutor of Princess Mary Tudor, includes in hisEsclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse a section on "The Maners ofCursyng. " Among the examples are "Le grant diable luy rompe le col etles deux jambes, " "Le diable l'emporte, corps et ame, tripes etboyaux, " which were unfortunately too long for surname purposes, butan abridged form of "Le feu Saint Anthoyne l'arde" [Footnote: SaintAnthony's fire, i. E. Erysipelas, burn him!] has given the French nameFeulard. Such names, usually containing the name of God, e. G. Godmefetch, Helpusgod, have mostly disappeared in this country; butDieuleveut and Dieumegard are still found in Paris, and Gottbehüt, Godforbid, and Gotthelf, God help, occur in German. Godbehere stillexists, and there is not the slightest reason why it should not be ofthe origin which its form indicates. In Gracedieu, thanks to God, thesecond element is an Old French dative. Pardoe, Purdue, whencePurdey, is for par Dieu-- "I have a wyf pardee, as wel as thow" (A, 3158). There is a well-known professional footballer named Mordue ('sdeath), and a French composer named Boieldieu (God's bowels). The Frenchnickname for an Englishman, goddam-- "Those syllables intense, Nucleus of England's native eloquence" (Byron, The Island, iii. 5)-- goes back to the fifteenth century, in which invective references tothe godons are numerous. [Footnote: "Les Anglais en vérité ajoutentpar-ci, par-là quelques autres mots en conversant; mais il est bienaisé de voir que goddam est le fond de la langue" (Beaumarchais, Mariage de Figaro, iii. 5). ] Such nicknames are still in common use in some parts of France-- "Les Berrichons se désignent souvent par le juron qui leur estfamilier. Ainsi ils diront: 'Diable me brûle est bien malade. Nomd'un rat est à la foire. La femme à Diable m'estrangouille est morte. Le garçon à Bon You (Dieu) se marie avec la fille à Dieu me confonde. '" (Nyrop, Grammaire historique de la langue française, iv. 209). PHRASE-NAMES Perhaps the most interesting group of nicknames is that of which wemay take Shakespeare as the type. Incidentally we should be thankfulthat our greatest poet bore a name so much more picturesque thanCorneille, crow, or Racine, root. It is agreed among all competentscholars that in compounds of this formation the verb was originallyan imperative. This is shown by the form; cf. Ne'er-do-well, Fr. Vaurien, Ger. Taugenichts, good-for-naught. Thus Hasluck cannotbelong to this class, but must be an imitative form of the personalname Aslac, which we find in Aslockton. As Bardsley well says, it is impossible to retail all the nonsensethat has been written about the name Shakespeare--"never a name inEnglish nomenclature so simple or so certain in its origin; it isexactly what it looks--shake-spear. " The equivalent Schüttespeer isfound in German, and we have also in English Shakeshaft, Waghorn, Wagstaff, Breakspear, Winspear. "Winship the mariner" was a freemanof York in the fourteenth century. Cf. Benbow (bend-bow), Hurlbatt, and the less athletic Lovejoy, Makepeace. Gathergood and its oppositeScattergood are of similar origin, good having here the sense ofgoods. Dogood is sometimes for Toogood, and the latter may be, likeThoroughgood, an imitative form of Thurgod (Chapter VII); but bothnames may also be taken literally, for we find Ger. Thunichtgut, do nogood, and Fr. Trodoux (trop doux). As a pendant to Dolittle we find a medieval Hack-little, no doubt alazy wood-cutter, while virtue is represented by a twelfth-centuryTire-little. Sherwin represents the medieval Schere-wynd, applied toa swift runner; cf. Ger. Schneidewind, cut wind, and Fr. Tranchevent. A nurseryman at Highgate has the appropriate name Cutbush, the Frenchequivalent of which, Taillebois, has given us Tallboys; and a famousherbalist was named Culpepper. In Gathercole the second element maymean cabbage or charcoal. In one case, Horniblow for horn-blow, theverb comes after its object. Names of this formation are very common in Mid. English as in OldFrench, and often bear witness to a violent or brutal nature. ThusScorch-beef, which is found in the Hundred Rolls, has no connectionwith careless cookery; it is Old Fr. Escorche (écorche) -buef, flayox, a name given to some medieval "Skin-the-goat. " Catchpole (ChapterXX) is formed in the same way, and in French we find, applied to lawofficials, the surnames Baillehart, give halter, [Footnote: Bailler, the usual Old French for to give, is still used colloquially and indialect. ] and Baillehache, give axe, the latter still appropriatelyborne, as Bailhache, by an English judge. It has sometimes been assumed that most names of this class are due tofolk-etymology. The frequency of their occurrence in Mid. English andin continental languages makes it certain that the contrary is thecase and that many surnames of obscure origin are perversions of thisvery large and popular class. I have seen it stated somewhere thatShakespeare is a corruption of an Old French name Sacquespée, [Footnote: Of common occurrence in Mid. English records. ] thetheorist being apparently unable to see that this latter, meaningdraw-sword, is merely an additional argument, if such were needed, forthe literal interpretation of the English name. [Footnote: In oneday's reading I came across the following Mid. English names:Baillebien (give good), Baysedame (kiss lady), Esveillechien (wakedog), Lievelance (raise lance), Metlefrein (put the bridle), Tracepurcel (track hog), Turnecotel (turn coat), together with thenative Cachehare and Hoppeschort. ] Tredgold seems to have been conferred on some medieval stoic, for wefind also Spurnegold. Without pinning our faith to any particularanecdote, we need have no hesitation in accepting Turnbull as asobriquet conferred for some feat of strength and daring on a stalwartBorderer. We find the corresponding Tornebeuf in Old French, andTurnbuck also occurs. Trumbull and Trumble are variants due tometathesis followed by assimilation (Chapter III), while Tremble is avery degenerate form. In Knatchbull we have the obsolete verb knatch, which in Mid. English meant to strike on the head, fell. Crawcour isFr. Crèvecoeur, breakheart, which has also become a local name inFrance. With Shacklock, shake-lock, and Sherlock, Shurlock, shear-lock, we may compare Robin Hood's comrade Scathelock, though theprecise interpretation of all three names is difficult. Rackstraw, rake-straw, corresponds to Fr. Grattepaille. Golightly means much thesame as Lightfoot (Chapter XIII), nor need we hesitate to regard theJohn Gotobed who lived in Cambridgeshire in 1273 as a notorioussluggard compared with whom his neighbour Serl Gotokirke was a shiningexample. [Footnote: The name is still found in the same county. Undergraduates contemporary with the author occasionally slaked theirthirst at a riverside inn kept by Bathsheba Gotobed. ] Telfer is Fr. Taillefer, the iron cleaver, and Henry II. 's yachtcaptain was Alan Trenchemer, the sea cleaver. He had a contemporarynamed Ventados, wind abaft. Slocomb has assumed a local aspect, but may very well correspond toFr. Tardif or Ger. Mühsam, applied to some Weary Willie of the MiddleAges. Doubtfire is a misspelling of Dout-fire, from the dialect dout, to extinguish (do out), formed like don and doff. Fullalove, whichdoes not belong to the same formation, is also found as Plein d'amour-- "Of Sir Lybeux and Pleyndamour" (B, 2090)-- and corresponds to Ger. Liebevoll. Waddilove actually occurs in theHundred Rolls as Wade-in-love, presumably a nickname conferred on somemedieval Don Juan. MISCELLANEOUS There is one curious little group of nicknames which seem tocorrespond to such Latin names as Piso, from pisum, a pea, and Cicero, from cicer-- "Cicer, a small pulse, lesse than pease" (Cooper). Such are Barleycorn and Peppercorn, the former found in French asGraindorge. The rather romantic names Avenel and Peverel seem to beof similar formation, from Lat. Avena, oats, and piper, pepper. Infact Peverel is found in Domesday as Piperellus, and Pepperell stillexists. With these may be mentioned Carbonel, corresponding to theFrench surname Charbonneau, a little coal. CHAPTER XXII. ADJECTIVAL NICKNAMES "The man replied that he did not know the object of the building; andto make it quite manifest that he really did not know, he put anadjective before the word 'object, ' and another--that is, thesame--before the word 'building. ' With that he passed on his way, andLord Jocelyn was left marvelling at the slender resources of ourlanguage, which makes one adjective do duty for so manyqualifications. " (BESANT, All Sorts and Conditions of Men, ch. Xxxviii. ) The rejection by the British workman of all adjectives but one is dueto the same imaginative poverty which makes the adjective "nice"supreme in refined circles, and which limits the schoolgirl to"ripping" and her more self-conscious brother to the tempered"decent. " But dozens of useful adjectives, now either obsolete orbanished to rustic dialect, are found among our surnames. Thetendency to accompany every noun by an adjective seems to belong tosome deep-rooted human instinct. To this is partly due the Proteancharacter of this part of speech, for the word, like the coin, becomesdulled and worn in circulation and needs periodically to be withdrawnand replaced. An epithet which is complimentary in one generation isironical in the next and eventually offensive. Moody, with itsnorthern form Mudie, which now means morose, was once valiant (ChapterI); and pert, surviving in the name Peart, meant active, brisk, etc. -- "Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth. " (Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1. ) ARCHAIC MEANINGS To interpret an adjectival nickname we must go to its meaning inChaucer and his contemporaries. Silly, Seeley, Seely "This sely, innocent Custance" (B, 682)-- still means innocent when we speak of the "silly sheep, " and happy inthe phrase "silly Suffolk. " It is cognate with Ger. Selig, blessed, often used in speaking of the dead. We have compounds in Sillilant, simple child (Chapter X), and Selibarn. Seely was also used for Cecilor Cecilia. Sadd was once sedate and steadfast "But thogh this mayde tendre were of age, Yet in the brest of hire virginitee Ther was enclosed rype and sad corage" (E, 218); and as late as 1660 we find a book in defence of Charles I. Describedas-- "A sad and impartial inquiry whether the King or Parliament began thewar. " Stout, valiant, now used euphemistically for fat, is cognate with Ger. Stolz, proud, and possibly with Lat. Stultus, foolish. The threeideas are not incompatible, for fools are notoriously proud of theirfolly and are said to be less subject to fear than the angels. Sturdy, Sturdee, once meant rebellious, pig-headed-- "Sturdy, unbuxum, rebellis, contumax, inobediens. " (Prompt. Parv. ) Cotgrave offers a much wider choice for the French original-- "Estourdi (étourdi), dulled, amazed, astonished, dizzie-headed, orwhose head seemes very much troubled; (hence) also, heedlesse, inconsiderate, unadvised, witlesse, uncircumspect, rash, retchlesse, or carelesse; and sottish, blockish, lumpish, lusk-like, without life, metall, spirit" Sly and its variant Sleigh have degenerated in the same way as craftyand cunning, both of which once meant skilled. Chaucer calls thewings of Daedalus "his playes slye, " i. E. His ingenious contrivances. Quick meant alert, lively, as in "the quick and the dead. " Slight, cognate with Ger. Schlecht, bad, once meant plain or simple. Many adjectives which are quite obsolete in literary English surviveas surnames. Mid. Eng. Lyle has been supplanted by its derivativeLittle, the opposite pair surviving as Mutch and Mickle. The poorparson did not fail-- "In siknesse nor in meschief to visite The ferreste in his parisshe, muche and lyte. " (A, 493. ) We have for Lyte also the imitative Light; cf. Lightwood. With Littlemay be mentioned Murch, an obsolete word for dwarf-- "Murch, lytyl man, nanus. " (Prompt. Parv. ) Lenain is a fairly common name in France. Snell, swift or valiant, had become a personal name in Anglo-Saxon, but we find le snel in theMiddle Ages. Freake, Frick, also meant valiant or warrior-- "Ther was no freke that ther wolde flye" (Chevy Chase); but the Promptorium Parvulorum makes it equivalent to Craske (ChapterXXII)-- "Fryke, or craske, in grete helth, crassus. " It is cognate with Ger. Frech, which now means impudent. Nott hasalready been mentioned (Chapter II). Of the Yeoman we are told-- "A not hed hadde he, with a broun visage. " (A, 109. ) Stark, cognate with starch, now usually means stiff, rather thanstrong-- "I feele my lymes stark and suffisaunt To do al that a man bilongeth to. " (E, 1458. ) DISGUISED SPELLINGS But Stark is also for an earlier Sterk (cf. Clark and Clerk), whichrepresents Mid. Eng. Stirk, a heifer. In the cow with the crumpledhorn we have a derivative of Mid. Eng. Crum, crooked, whence the namesCrum and Crump. Ludwig's German Dict. (1715) explains krumm as"crump, crooked, wry. " The name Crook generally has the same meaning, the Ger. Krummbein corresponding to our Cruikshank or Crookshanks. Itis possible that Glegg and Gleig are Mid. Eng. Gleg, skilful, ofScand. Origin. There are some adjectival surnames which are not immediatelyrecognizable. Bolt, when not local (Chapter XIII) is for bold, Leafis imitative for lief, i. E. Dear. Dear itself is of course hopelesslymixed up with Deer... The timorous-looking Fear is Fr. Le fier, theproud or fierce. Skey is an old form of shy; Bligh is for Blyth;Hendy and Henty are related to handy, and had in Mid. English thesense of helpful, courteous-- "Oure hoost tho spak, 'A, sire, ye sholde be hende And curteys, as a man of youre estat. '" (D, 1286. ) For Savage we find also the archaic spelling Salvage (Lat. Silvaticus). Curtis is Norman Fr. Curteis (courtois). The adjectivegarish, now only poetical, but once commonly applied to gaudiness indress, has given Gerrish. Quaint, which has so many meaningsintermediate between its etymological sense of known or familiar (Lat. Cognitus) and its present sense of unusual or unfamiliar, survives asQuint. But Coy is usually local, from Quy (Cambridgeshire). Orpwood is a corruption of Mid. Eng. Orped, bold, warlike. Craske isan East Anglian word for fat, and Crouse is used in the north forsprightly, confident. To these we may add Ketch, Kedge, Gedge, froman East Anglian adjective meaning lively-- "Kygge, or joly, jocundus" (Prompt. Parv. )-- and Spragg, etymologically akin to Spry. Bragg was once used for boldor brave, without any uncomplimentary suggestion. The New EnglishDictionary quotes (c. 1310) from a lyric poem-- "That maketh us so brag and bolde And biddeth us ben blythe. " Crease is a West-country word for squeamish, but the East Anglian nameCreasey, Cressy, is usually for the local Kersey (Suffolk). The onlysolution of Pratt is that it is Anglo-Sax. Praett, cunning, adoptedearly as a personal name, while Storr, of Scandinavian origin, meansbig, strong. It is cognate with Steer, a bull. Devey and Dombey seemto be diminutive forms of deaf and dumb, still used in dialect inreference to persons thus afflicted. We find in French and Germansurnames corresponding to these very natural nicknames. Cf. Crombiefrom Crum (Chapter XXII). FRENCH ADJECTIVES A large proportion of our adjectival nicknames are of French origin. Le bel appears not only as Bell but also, through Picard, as Beal. Other examples are Boon, Bone, Bunn (bon), Grant (grand), Bass (bas)and its derivative Bassett, Dasent (décent), Follett and Folliott, dim. Of fol (fou), mad, which also appears in the compound Foljambe, Fulljames. Mordaunt means biting. Power is generally Anglo-Fr. Le poure (lepauvre) and Grace is for le gras, the fat. Jolige represents the OldFrench form of joli-- "This Absolon, that jolif was and gay, Gooth with a sencer (censer) on the haliday. " (A, 3339. ) Prynne, now Pring, is Anglo-Fr. Le prin, the first, from the OldFrench adjective which survives in printemps. Cf. Our name Prime andthe French name Premier. The Old French adjective Gent, now replacedby gentil, generally means slender in Mid. English-- "Fair was this yonge wyf, and therwithal As any wezele hir body gent and smal. " (A, 3233) Petty and Pettit are variant forms of Fr. Petit, small. In Prowse andProut we have the nominative and objective (Chapter I) of an OldFrench adjective now represented by preux and prude, generally thoughtto be related in some way to Lat. Pro in prosum, and perhaps also thesource of our Proud. Gross is of course Fr. Le gros, but Grote represents Du. Groot, great, probably unconnected with the French word. The Devonshire nameCoffin, which is found in that county in the twelfth century, is thesame as Caffyn, perhaps representing Fr. Chauvin, bald, the name ofthe theologian whom we know better in the latinized form Calvin. Herebelongs probably Shovel, Fr. Chauvel. We also have the simple Chaffe, Old Fr. Chauf (chauve), bald. Gaylard, sometimes made into theimitative Gaylord, is Fr. Gaillard, brisk, lively "Gaillard he was as goldfynch in the shawe. " (A, 4367. ) COLOUR NAMES Especially common are colour nicknames, generally due to thecomplexion, but sometimes to the garb. As we have already seen(Chapter XV), Black and its variant Blake sometimes mean pale. Blaggis the same word; cf. Jagg for Jack. White has no doubt beenreinforced by wight, valiant "Oh for one hour of Wallace wight Or well-skilled Bruce to rule the fight. " (Marmion, vi. 20. ) As an epithet applied to the hair we often find Hoar; cf. Horlock. Redd is rare, the usual forms being the northern Reid, Reed, Read; butwe also have Rudd from Anglo-Sax. Rud, whence ruddy and the nameRuddock, really a bird nickname, the redbreast. To these must beadded Rudge, Fr. Rouge, Rouse, Rush and Russ, Fr, roux, and Russell orRowsell, Old Fr. Roussel (Rousseau). The commonest nickname for afair-haired person was Blunt, Blount, Fr. Blond, with its dim. Blundell, but the true English name is Fairfax, from Anglo-Sax. Feax, hair. The New English Dictionary quotes from the fifteenth century "Then they lowsyd hur feyre faxe, That was yelowe as the waxe. " The adjective dun was once a regular name, like Dobbin or Dapple, fora cart-horse; hence the name of the old rural sport "Dun in the mire"-- "If thou art dun we'll draw thee from the mire. " (Romeo and Juliet, i. 4. ) It is possible that the name Dunn is sometimes due to this specificapplication of the word. The colour blue appears as Blew-- "At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blew: To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new" (Lycidas, 1. 192)-- and earlier still as Blow-- "Blak, blo, grenysh, swartysh, reed. " (House of Fame, iii. 557. ) Other colour names of French origin are Morel, swarthy, like a Moor, also found as Murrell [Footnote: This, like Merrill, is sometimes fromMuriel. ]; and Burnell, Burnett, dims. Of brun, brown. Chaucer speaksof-- "Daun Burnet the asse" (B, 4502); [Footnote: Lat. Dominus; the masculine form of dame in Old French. ] "Daun Russel the fox" (B, 4524. ) But both Burnell and Burnett may also be local from places ending in-hill and -head (), and Burnett is sometimes for Burnard. The sameapplies to Burrell, usually taken to be from Mid. Eng. Borel, a roughmaterial, Old Fr. Burel (bureau), also used metaphorically in thesense of plain, uneducated "And moore we seen of Cristes secree thynges Than burel folk, al though they weren kynges. " (D, 1871. ) The name can equally well be the local Burhill or Burwell. Murray is too common to be referred entirely to the Scottish name andis sometimes for murrey, dark red (Fr. Mûre, mulberry). It may alsorepresent merry, in its variant form murie, which is Mid. English, andnot, as might appear, Amurrican-- "His murie men comanded he To make hym bothe game and glee. " (B, 2029. ) Pook, of uncertain origin, is supposed to have been a dark russetcolour. Bayard, a derivative of bay, was the name of several famouswar-horses. Cf. Blank and Blanchard. The name Soar is from the OldFrench adjective sor, bright yellow. It is of Germanic origin andcognate with sere. The dim. Sorrel may be a colour name, but it was applied in venery toa buck in the third year, of course in reference to colour; and someof our names, e. G. Brocket and Prickett, [Footnote: Both words areconnected with the spiky young horns, Fr. Broche, spit, being appliedin venery to the pointed horns of the second year. ] both applied to atwo-year-old stag, must sometimes be referred to this importantdepartment of medieval language. Holofernes uses some of these termsin his idiotic verses "The preyful princess pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleasing priket; Some say a sore; but not a sore, till now made sore with shooting. The dogs did yell; put l to sore, then sorel jumps from thicket. " (Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2. ) A few adjective nicknames of Celtic origin are so common in Englandthat they may be included here. Such are the Welsh Gough, Goff, Gooch, Gutch, red, Gwynn and Wynne, white, Lloyd, grey, Sayce, Saxon, foreigner, Vaughan, small, and the Gaelic Bain, Bean, white, Boyd, Bowie, yellow-haired, Dow, Duff, black, Finn, fair, Glass, grey, Roy, Roe, red. From Cornish come Coad, old, and Couch, [Footnote: Cognatewith Welsh Gough. ] red, while Bean is the Cornish for small, andTyacke means a farmer. It is likely that both Begg and Moore owesomething to the Gaelic adjectives for little and big, as in thewell-known names of Callum Beg, Edward Waverley's gillie, and McCallumMore. The Gaelic Begg is cognate with the Welsh Vaughan. Two otherfamous Highland nicknames which are very familiar in England areCameron, crooked nose, and Campbell, wry mouth. With these may bementioned the Irish Kennedy, ugly head, the name of the father ofBrian Boru. CHAPTER XXIII. BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES "As I think I have already said, one of Umslopogaas' Zulu names was The Woodpecker. " (HAGGARD, Allan Quatermain, ch. Vii. ) The great majority of nicknames coming under the headings typified byBird and Fowell, Best, and Fish or Fisk (Scand. ) are easilyidentified. But here, as everywhere in the subject, pitfalls abound. The name Best itself is an example of a now misleading spellingretained for obvious reasons-- "First, on the wal was peynted a forest, In which ther dwelleth neither man nor best. " (A, 1976. ) We do not find exotic animals, nor even the beasts of heraldry, at allfrequently. Leppard, leopard, is in some cases for the Ger. Liebhart;and Griffin, when not Welsh, should no doubt be included amonginn-signs. Oliphant, i. E. Elephant-- "For maystow surmounten thise olifauntes in gretnesse or weighte ofbody" (Boece, 782)-- may be a genuine nickname, but Roland's ivory horn was also called bythis name, and the surname may go back to some legendary connection ofthe same kind. Bear is not uncommon, captive bears being familiar toa period in which the title bear-ward is frequently met with. It is possible that Drake may sometimes represent Anglo-Sax. Draca, dragon, rather than the bird, but the latter is unmistakable inSheldrick, for sheldrake. As a rule, animal nicknames were takenrather from the domestic species with which the peasantry werefamiliar and whose habits would readily suggest comparisons, generallydisparaging, with those of their neighbours. BIRDS Bird names are especially common, and it does not need muchimagination to see how readily and naturally a man might be nicknamedHawke for his fierceness, Crowe from a gloomy aspect, or Nightingalefor the gift of sweet song. Many of these surnames go back to wordswhich are now either obsolete or found only in dialect. The peacockwas once the Poe, an early loan from Lat. Pavo, or, more fully, Pocock "A sheaf of pocok arwes, bright and kene, Under his belt he bar ful thriftily. " (A, 104. ) The name Pay is another form of the same word. Coe, whence Hedgecoe, is an old name for the jackdaw-- "Cadow, or coo, or chogh (chough), monedula" (Prompt. Parv. )-- but may also stand for cow, as we find, in defiance of gender and sex, such entries as Robert le cow, William le vache. Those birds whichhave now assumed a font-name, such as Jack daw, Mag pie, of courseoccur without it as surnames, e. G. Daw and Pye-- "The thief the chough, and eek the jangelyng pye" (Parliament ofFowls, 305). The latter has a dim. Pyatt. Rainbird is a local name for the green woodpecker, but as anEast-Anglian name it is most likely an imitative form of Fr. Rimbaudor Raimbaud, identical with Anglo-Sax. Regenbeald. Knott is the nameof a bird which frequents the sea-shore and, mindful of Cnut's wisdom, retreats nimbly before the advancing surf-- "The knot that called was Canutus' bird of old. " (Drayton, Polyolbion, xxv. 368. ) This historical connection is most probably due to folk-etymology. Titmus is of course for tit-mouse. Dialect names for the woodpeckersurvive in Speight, Speke, and Spick, Pick (Chapter III). The samebird was also called woodwall-- "In many places were nyghtyngales, Alpes, fynches, and wodewales" (Romaunt of the Rose, 567)-- hence, in some cases, the name Woodall. The Alpe, or bullfinch, mentioned in the above lines, also survives as a surname. Dunnock andPinnock are dialect names for the sparrow. It was called inAnglo-Norman muisson, whence Musson. Starling is a dim. Of Mid. Eng. Stare, which has itself given the surname Starr "The stare, that the counseyl can be-wrye. " (Parliament of Fowls, 348. ) Heron is the French form of the bird-name which was in English Herne-- "I come from haunts of coot and hern. " (Tennyson, The Brook, 1. 1. ) The Old French dim. Heronceau also passed into English-- "I wol nat tellen of hir strange sewes (courses), Ne of hir swannes, ne of hire heronsewes. " (F, 67. ) As a surname it has been assimilated to the local, and partlyidentical, Hearnshaw (Chapter XII). Some commentators go to this wordto explain Hamlet's use of handsaw-- "I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw" (Hamlet, ii. 2). When the author's father was a boy in Suffolk eighty years ago, thelocal name for the bird was pronounced exactly like answer. Grew isFr. Grue, crane, Lat. Grus, gru-. Butter, Fr. Butor, "a bittor"(Cotgrave), is a dialect name for the bittern, called a "butter-bump"by Tennyson's Northern Farmer (1. 31). Culver is Anglo-Sax. Culfre, a pigeon-- "Columba, a culver, a dove" (Cooper)-- hence the local Culverhouse. Dove often becomes Duff. Gaunt issometimes a dialect form of gannet, used in Lincolnshire of thecrested grebe. Popjoy may have been applied to the successful archerwho became king of the popinjay for the year. The derivation of theword, Old Fr. Papegai, whence Mid. Eng. Papejay-- "The briddes synge, it is no nay, The sparhawk and the papejay, That joye it was to heere" (B, 1956)-- is obscure, though various forms of it are found in most of theEuropean languages. In English it was applied not only to the parrot, but also to the green woodpecker. The London Directory form isPobgee. With bird nicknames may be mentioned Callow, unfledged, cognate withLat. Calvus, bald. Its opposite also survives as Fleck and Flick-- "Flygge, as byrdis, maturus, volabilis. " (Prompt. Parv. ) Margaret Paston, writing (1460) of the revived hopes of Henry VI. , says-- "Now he and alle his olde felawship put owt their fynnes, and arnryght flygge and mery. " HAWK NAMES We have naturally a set of names taken from the various species offalcons. To this class belongs Haggard, probably related toAnglo-Sax. Haga, hedge, and used of a hawk which had acquiredincurable habits of wildness by preying for itself. But Haggard isalso a personal name (Chapter VIII). Spark, earlier Sparhawk, is thesparrow-hawk. It is found already in Anglo-Saxon as a personal name, and the full Sparrowhawk also exists. Tassell is a corruption oftiercel, a name given to the male peregrine, so termed, according tothe legendary lore of venery-- "Because he is, commonly, a third part lesse than the female. "(Cotgrave, ) Juliet calls Romeo her "tassell gentle" (ii. 2). Muskett was a namegiven to the male sparrow-hawk. "Musket, a lytell hauke, mouchet. " (Palsgrave. ) Mushet is the same name. It comes from Ital. Moschetto, a little fly. For its later application to a firearm cf. Falconet. Other names ofthe hawk class are Buzzard and Puttock, i. E. Kite-- "Milan, a kite, puttock, glead" (Cotgrave); and to the same bird we owe the name Gleed, from a Scandinavian namefor the bird "And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind. " (Deut. Xiv. 13. ) To this class also belongs Ramage-- "Ramage, of, or belonging to, branches; also, ramage, hagard, wild, homely, rude" (Cotgrave)-- and sometimes Lennard, an imitative form of "lanner, " the name of aninferior hawk-- "Falcunculus, a leonard. " (Holyoak, Lat. Dict. , 1612. ) Povey is a dialect name for the owl, a bird otherwise absent from thesurname list. BEASTS Among beast nicknames we find special attention given, as in modernvituperation, to the swine, although we do not find this true Englishword, unless it be occasionally disguised as Swain. Hogg does notbelong exclusively to this class, as it is used in dialect both of ayoung sheep and a yearling colt. Anglo-Sax. Sugu, sow, survives inSugg. Purcell is Old Fr. Pourcel (pourceau), dim. Of Lat. Porcus, andI take Pockett to be a disguised form of the obsolete porket-- "Porculus, a pygg: a shoote: a porkes. " (Cooper. ) The word shoote in the above gloss is now the dialect shot, a youngpig, which may have given the surname Shott. But Scutt is from a Mid. English adjective meaning short-- "Scute, or shorte, curtus, brevis" (Prompt. Parv. )-- and is also an old name for the hare. Two other names for the pig arethe northern Galt and the Lincolnshire Grice-- "Marcassin, a young wild boare; a shoot or grice. " (Cotgrave. ) Grice also represents le gris, the grey; cf. Grace for le gras(Chapter XXII). Bacon looks like a nickname, but is invariably foundwithout the article. As it is common in French, it would appear to bean Old French accusative to Back, going back to Germanic Bacco(Chapter XIII). Hinks is Mid. Eng. Hengst, a stallion, and is thusidentical with Hengist (Chapter XX). Stott means both a bullock and anag (Chapter XIX). Everyone remembers Wamba's sage disquisition on the names of animalsin the first chapter of Ivanhoe. Like much of Scott's archaeology itis somewhat anachronistic, for the live animals were also called vealsand muttons for centuries after Wamba's death "Mouton, a mutton, a weather"; "veau, a calfe, or veale. " (Cotgrave. ) Calf has become very rare as a surname, though Kalb is still common inGermany. Bardsley regards Duncalf and Metcalf as perverted fromdun-croft and meadow-croft. It seems possible that they may be fordown-calf and mead-calf, from the locality of the pasture, but this isa pure guess on my part. It is curious that beef does not appear tohave survived, though Leboeuf is common in French, and bullocks arestill called "beeves" in Scotland. Tegg is still used by butchers fora two-year-old sheep. Palsgrave gives it another meaning-- "Tegg, or pricket (Chapter XXII), saillant. " Roe is also found in the older forms Rae and Ray, of course confusedwith Wray (Chapter XIII), as Roe itself is with Rowe (Chapter I). Doeoften becomes Dowe. Hind is usually occupative (Chapter III), but Fr. Labiche suggests that it must sometimes be a nickname-- "Biche, a hind; the female of a stagge. " (Cotgrave. ) Pollard was applied to a beast or stag that had lost its horns-- "He has no horns, sir, has he? "No, sir, he's a pollard. " (Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, v. 4. ) Leverett is certified by the French surname Levrault. Derivation fromLever, Anglo-Sax. Leofhere, whence Levers, Leverson, or Leveson, ismuch less probable, as these Anglo-Saxon names rarely form dims. (Chapter VII). Luttrel is in French Loutrel, perhaps a dim. Ofloutre, otter, Lat. Lutra. From the medieval lutrer or lutrarius, otter hunter, we get Lutterer, no doubt confused with the musicalLuter. While Catt is fairly common in the eastern counties, Robertus le chienand Willelmus le curre, who were living about the end of the twelfthcentury, are now completely disguised as Ken and Kerr. Modern Frenchhas both Lechien and the Norman Lequien. [Footnote: Lekain, the nameof a famous French actor, has the same origin. ] We owe a few othersurnames to the friend of man. Kennett, from a Norman dim. Of chien, meant greyhound-- "Kenette, hounde, leporarius. " (Prompt. Parv. ) The origin of the name Talbot is unknown, and it is uncertain whetherthe hound or the family should have precedence; but Chaucer seems touse it as the proper name of a hound "Ran Colle our dogge, and Talbot, and Gerland, And Malkyn, with a dystaf in hir hand. " (B, 4573. ) The great Earl of Shrewsbury is affectionately called "Talbot, ourgood dogge" in political rimes of the fifteenth century. In early dictionaries may be found long lists of the fanciful names, such as Bright, Lightfoot, Ranger, Ringwood, Swift, Tempest, given tohounds. This practice seems to throw some light on such surnames asTempest, with which we may compare the German names Storm and Sturm. In the Pipe Rolls the name le esturmi, the stormy, occurs severaltimes. To the same class belongs Thunder, found in the Pipe Rolls asTonitruus, and not therefore necessarily a perversion of Tunder, i. E. Sherman (Chapter XVIII)-- "Tondeur de draps, a shearman, or clothworker. " (Cotgrave. ) Garland, used by Chaucer as a dog's name, was earlier graland, and, asle garlaund is also found, it may be referred to Old Fr. Grailler, totrumpet. It no doubt has other origins. We should expect Fox to be strongly represented, and we find thecompounds Colfox and Stelfox. The first means black fox-- "A colfox ful of sly iniquitee" (B, 4405)-- and I conjecture that the first part of Stelfox is connected withstealing, as in the medieval name Stele-cat-- "The two constables made a thorough search and found John Stelfoxhiding behind some bushes. Some of the jewellery was found upon him" (Daily Chronicle, June 3, 1913). In the north a fox is called Tod, whence Todhunter. This Tod isprobably a personal name, like the French Renard and the ScottishLawrie or Lowrie, applied to the same animal. Allan Ramsay calls him"slee Tod Lowrie. " From the badger we have Brock and sometimes Gray-- Blaireau, a badger, gray, boason, brock (Cotgrave)-- but Badger itself is occupative (Chapter XIX). The polecat survivesas Fitch, Fitchett, and Fitchew-- "Fissau, a filch, or fulmart. " (Cotgrave. ) FISHES On fish-names Bardsley remarks, "We may quote the famous chapter on'Snakes in Iceland': 'There are no snakes in Iceland, ' and say thereare no fish-names in England. " This is almost true. The absence ofmarked traits of character in the, usually invisible, fish wouldmilitate against the adoption of such names. We should not expect tofind the shark to be represented, for the word is of too lateoccurrence. But Whale is fairly common. Whale the mariner receivedtwo pounds from Henry VII's privy purse in 1498. The story of Jonah, or very generous proportions, may have originated the name Whalebelly, "borne by a respectable family in south-east England" (Bardsley). But there would obviously be no great temptation to go fishing fornicknames when the beasts of the farmyard and the forest, the birds ofthe marshes and the air, offered on every side easily understoodcomparisons. At the same time Bardsley's statement goes a little toofar. He explains Gudgeon as a corruption of Goodison. But this, truethough it may be in some cases, will not explain the very commonFrench surname Goujon. The phrase "greedy gudgeon" suggests that inthis case a certain amount of character had been noticed in the fish. Sturgeon also seems to be a genuine fish-name. We find Fr. Lesturgeonand Ger. Stoer, both meaning the same. We have also Smelt and thesynonymous Spurling. In French and German we find other surnameswhich undoubtedly belong to this class, but they are not numerous andprobably at first occurred only in regions where fishing orfish-curing were important industries. A few examples will show that apparent fish-names are usually notgenuine. Chubb is for Job (Chapter III), Eeles is one of the numerousderivatives of Elias (Chapter IX), Hake is, like Hack, from theScandinavian Hacun, Haddock is sometimes a perversion of the localHaydock, Lamprey comes via Old French from Old High Ger. Landprecht, which has usually given Lambert. Pike is local (Chapter XII), Pilchard is for Pilcher (Chapter XVIII), Roach is Fr. Laroche, Salmon is for Salomon, and Turbot is theAnglo-Sax. Thurbeorht, which has also given Tarbut, as Thurgod hasgiven Targett. But in few of the above examples is the possibility offish origin absolutely excluded. SPECIAL FEATURES We have also many surnames due to physical resemblances not extendingbeyond one feature. Birdseye may be sometimes of local origin, fromey, island (Chapter XII), but as a genuine nickname it is as naturalas the sobriquet of Hawkeye which Natty Bumppo received from theHurons. German has the much less pleasing Gansauge, goose-eye; andAlan Oil de larrun, thief's eye, was fined for very reprehensibleconduct in 1183. To explain Crowfoot as an imitative variant ofCrawford is absurd when we find a dozen German surnames of the sameclass and formation and as many in Old or Modern French beginning withpied de. Cf. Pettigrew (Chapter XXI) and Sheepshanks. We find in theParis Directory not only Piedeleu (Old Fr. Leu, wolf) and Piedoie(oie, goose), but even the full Pied-de-Lièvre, Professeur à laFaculté de droit. The name Bulleid was spelt in the sixteenth centurybul-hed, i. E. Bull-head, a literal rendering of Front de Boeuf. Weatherhead (Chapter XIX) is perhaps usually a nickname "For that old weather-headed fool, I know how to laugh at him. " (Congreve, Love for Love, ii. 7. ) Coxhead is another obvious nickname. A careful analysis of some ofthe most important medieval name-lists would furnish hundreds offurther examples, some too outspoken to have survived into ourdegenerate age, and others which are now so corrupted that theiroriginal vigour is quite lost. Puns and jokes upon proper names are, pace Gregory the Great andShakespeare, usually very inept and stupid; but the following lines byJames Smith, which may be new to some of my readers, are reallyclever-- Men once were surnamed from their shape or estate (You all may from History worm it);There was Lewis the Bulky, and Henry the Great, John Lackland, and Peter the Hermit. But now, when the door-plates of Misters and Dames Are read, each so constantly variesFrom the owner's trade, figure, and calling, Surnames Seem given by the rule of contraries. Mr. Box, though provoked, never doubles his fist, Mr. Burns, in his grate, has no fuel;Mr. Playfair won't catch me at hazard or whist, Mr. Coward was wing'd in a duel. Mr. Wise is a dunce, Mr. King is a whig, Mr. Coffin's uncommonly sprightly, And huge Mr. Little broke down in a gig, While driving fat Mrs. Golightly. Mrs. Drinkwater's apt to indulge in a dram, Mrs. Angel's an absolute fury, And meek Mr. Lyon let fierce Mr. Lamb Tweak his nose in the lobby of Drury. At Bath, where the feeble go more than the stout, (A conduct well worthy of Nero), Over poor Mr. Lightfoot, confined with the gout, Mr. Heaviside danced a Bolero. Miss Joy, wretched maid, when she chose Mr. Love, Found nothing but sorrow await her;She now holds in wedlock, as true as a dove, That fondest of mates, Mr. Hayter. Mr. Oldcastle dwells in a modern-built hut, Miss Sage is of madcaps the archest;Of all the queer bachelors Cupid e'er cut, Old Mr. Younghusband's the starchest. Mr. Child, in a passion, knock'd down Mr. Rock, Mr. Stone like an aspen-leaf shivers;Miss Poole used to dance, but she stands like a stock Ever since she became Mrs. Rivers;Mr. Swift hobbles onward, no mortal knows how, He moves as though cords had entwin'd him;Mr. Metcalfe ran off, upon meeting a cow, With pale Mr. Turnbull behind him. Mr. Barker's as mute as a fish in the sea, Mr. Miles never moves on a journey;Mr. Gotobed sits up till half-after three, Mr. Makepeace was bred an attorney. Mr. Gardiner can't tell a flower from a root, Mr. Wilde with timidity draws back, Mr. Ryder performs all his journeys on foot, Mr. Foote all his journeys on horseback. Mr. Penny, whose father was rolling in wealth, Kick'd down all his fortune his dad won;Large Mr. Le Fever's the picture of health, Mr. Goodenough is but a bad one. Mr. Cruickshank stept into three thousand a year, By showing his leg to an heiress:--Now I hope you'll acknowledge I've made it quite clear That surnames ever go by contraries. Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld. , London and Aylesbury, England. * * * * * Advertising material from the end of the book By Ernest Weekley, M. A. Professor of French and Head of the Modern Language Department at University College, Nottingham. AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF MODERN ENGLISH Crown 4to. Pounds 2 2s. Net. This is somewhat of a new departure in etymological dictionaries. Itembraces a much larger vocabulary than has been handled by previousetymologists and pays special attention to the colloquialisms andneologisms which, to the curious mind, are often of more interest thanthe established literary language. The origin and cognates of eachword are given as concisely as possible, but "etymology" has beentaken in its widest sense as a science dealing not only with thephonetic elements of which words are composed, but also with theadventures which they have met with during their life in the languageand the strange paths that many of them have followed in reaching acurrent sense or use often widely remote from the original. So far aspossible, the date or epoch of the first appearance of each word isnoted, and the book will be found to contain much curious informationfor which earlier etymological dictionaries would be ransacked invain. THE ROMANCE OF WORDS Large Crown 8vo. Fourth Impression. 6s. Net. Observer--"A book of extraordinary interest; every one interested inwords should immediately obtain a copy, and those who do not yetrealise how enthralling a subject word-history is, could not do betterthan sample its flavour in Mr. Weekley's admirable book. " SURNAMES Large Crown 8vo. Second Edition. 6s. Net. The Times--"Mr. Weekley has so artfully sprinkled his pages with oddand impossible names that we simply cannot help reading him. " Works by Henry Cecil Wyld Merton Professor of the English Language in the University of Oxford. SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 9s.. Net. This is a scholar's book, written for those who wish to make ascientific study of the subject upon the lines of modern philologicalmethod. It should be of use to students of English in theUniversities, and to teachers elsewhere who desire to know the resultsof recent research. THE HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE MOTHER TONGUE An Introduction to Philological Method. Fourth Impression. 10s. 6d. Net. The object of this book is to give not a history of our language butsome indications of the point of view from which the history of alanguage should be studied, and of the principal points of method insuch a study, and to prepare the way for the beginner to the study ofat least some of the great writers. THE GROWTH OF ENGLISH An Elementary Account of the Present Form of our Language and itsDevelopment. Fifth Impression. 5s. Net. This book is intended for students in Secondary Schools and TrainingColleges. The ground covered is approximately that required by theBoard of Education in their Regulations for the Training of Teachers. THE TEACHING OF READING IN TRAINING COLLEGES 2s. 6d. Net. This book is intended as a practical guide for those who have to teachPrimary Teachers in Training how to read their own language. Itcontains a collection of extracts in prose and verse, suitable forreading aloud, transcribed into a simple phonetic notation. THE PLACE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE INNATIONAL EDUCATION Demy 8vo. 1s. Net. THE STUDENT'S ENGLISH LITERATURE A History of English Literature and of the chief English Writersfounded upon the Manual of Thomas B. Shaw. By A. Hamilton Thomson, B. A. , of St. John's College, Cambridge, andUniversity Extension Lecturer in English Literature. With Notes, etc. Fifth Impression. 9s. SMALLER HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Giving a Sketch of the Lives of our chief English Writers. By James Rowley. 15th Impression. Small Crown 8vo. 4s. SHAKSPERE'S PREDECESSORS IN THE ENGLISH DRAMA By J. A. Symonds. New Edition. 10s. 6d. Net. SHAKSPERE AND HIS PREDECESSORS IN THE ENGLISH DRAMA By F. S. Boas, M. A. , sometime Professor of English Literature, Queen'sCollege, Belfast. 7s. 6d. Net. An invaluable book for all students. Every play and character iscarefully analysed, and the whole subject is treated in a thoroughlyoriginal and attractive way. THE ENGLISH NOVEL FROM ITS ORIGIN TO SIR WALTER SCOTT By Sir Walter Raleigh, M. A. , Professor of English Literature in theUniversity of Oxford. 4s. 6d. Net. OUTLINES OF ENGLISH LITERATURE By William Renton. With Illustrative Diagrams. 4s. 6d. Net. INTRODUCTION TO POETRY Poetic Expression, Poetic Truth, the Progress of Poetry. By Laurie Magnus, M. A. Second Edition. 2s. 6d. Net. MURRAY'S ENGLISH LITERATURE SERIES BY E. W. EDMUNDS, M. A. , B. Sc. (Lond. ) BISHOP'S-STORTFORD COLLEGE Press Opinions on the Series. Athenaeum. --"For inculcating an intelligent and lasting acquaintancewith its subject the present series is likely, in our opinion, toprove the best of its kind. " Educational Times--"The collection is excellent, and it will usefullyextend the range of English reading in schools. " THE STORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Three Volumes, 5s. Each. Vol. I. THE ELIZABETHAN PERIOD, 1558-625. Vol. II. SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES, 1625-1780. Vol. III. NINETEENTH CENTURY, 1780-1880. READINGS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE The Three Grades are designed to cover the whole period of Schoollife. No Class needs to use more than one Book at a time. I. THE ELIZABETHAN PERIOD, 1558-1625. Junior course. 2s. Intermediate course. 2s. Senior course. 2s. 6d. II. SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES, 1625-1780. Junior course. 2s. Intermediate course. 2s. Senior course. 2s. 6d. III. NINETEENTH CENTURY, 1780-1880. Junior course. 2s. Intermediate course. 2s. Senior course. 2s. 6d. Junior Course--For Higher Elementary Schools, Preparatory Schools(Higher Forms), Lower Forms in Secondary Schools, and Evening Schools. Intermediate Course--For Middle Forms of Secondary Schools, PupilTeachers, and Higher Evening Schools. Senior Course--For the Higher Forms of Secondary Schools, Teachers inTraining, University Extension Students, and UniversityUndergraduates. Popular Editions of Mr. Murray's Standard Works CAPTAIN JAMES COOK, R. N. , F. R. S. , The Circumnavigator. By Arthur Kitson. With Illustrations. JOHN MURRAY: A Publisher and his Friends. Memoir and Correspondence of the second John Murray, with an Accountof the Origin and Progress of the House, 1768-1843. By Samuel Smiles, LLD. Edited by Thomas Mackay. With Portraits. In One Volume. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR HARRY SMITH, 1787-1819. Edited by G. C. Moore Smith. With Maps and Portrait. BIRD LIFE AND BIRD LORE. By R. Bosworth Smith. With Illustrations. A COTSWOLD VILLAGE; or, Country Life and Pursuits in Gloucestershire. By J. Arthur Gibbs. With Illustrations. THE VOYAGE OF THE "FOX" IN THE ARCTIC SEAS In Search Of Franklin And His Companions. By the late Admiral Sir F. Leopold McClintock, R. N. With Portraits and other Illustrations and Maps. THE STORY of the BATTLE of WATERLOO. By the Rev. G. R. Gleig. With Map and Illustrations. LIFE OF ROBERT, FIRST LORD CLIVE. By the Rev. G. R. Gleig. Illustrated. THE WILD SPORTS and NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. By Charles St. John. With Illustrations. Mr. Murray's Standard Works ROUND the HORN BEFORE the MAST. An Account of a Voyage from San Francisco round Cape Horn to Liverpoolin a Fourmasted "Windjammer, " experiences of the life of an OrdinarySeaman. By Basil Lubbock With Illustrations. LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. Being some Account of a Voyage in 1856, in the Sohooner Yacht Foam, toIceland, Jan Meyen, and Spitzbergen. By the late Marquess OfDufferin. With Portrait and Illustrations. FIELD PATHS and GREEN LANES in SURREY AND SUSSEX. By Louis J. Jennings. Illustrated. THE LION HUNTER OF SOUTH AFRICA. Five Years' Adventure in the Far Interior of South Africa. WithNotices of the Native Tribes and Savages. By R. Gordon Cumming. With16 Woodcuts. DOG BREAKING. The most Expeditious, Certain, and Easy Method. With Odds and Endsfor those who love the Dog and Gun. By General W. N. Hutchinson. With numerous Illustrations. THE ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN. A Canoe Cruise in Palestine, Egypt, and the Waters of Damascus. By John Macgregor, M. A. , Captain of the Royal Canoe Club. With Mapsand Illustrations. A HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR, 1779-1783. With a Description and Account of that Garrison from the EarliestTimes. By John Drinkwater, Captain in the Seventy-second Regiment of RoyalManchester Volunteers. With Plans. The Life Of John Nicholson, Soldier and Administrator. By Captain Lionel J. Trotter. With Portrait and 3 Maps. A SMALLER DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE. By Sir William Smith. With Maps and Illustrations. A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. By William Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon, Hon. D. C. L. , Oxon. With 26 Illustrations. * * * * * Transcriber's notes: * Although I worked from material in good condition, scanning andpreparing subject matter of this type is much harder work thanpreparing a novel or the like, so obviously I should never havebothered with preparing this book if I had not though it to beworthwhile. In fact I consider it to be very rewarding, informative, and entertaining. I hope you also find it rewarding, and I present itin much the same mood that I assume it was written in: not that it isfully correct or definitive, but that both the material and the linesof thought that the book comprises, are useful, thoughtful, andenjoyable, taken for what they are worth. The book certainly is basedon a formidable level of erudition, however cheerful the author'sstyle may be. * For the most part I have tried to remain true to the source, butthis is not an attempt to reproduce the volume I scanned; my objectivewas to render its content available. Accordingly, I did not hesitateto correct minor, obvious errors, or to adopt my preferences forspacing and the like. Also, the means that I employed in preparingthis material did not lend themselves satisfactorily to preservationof the original pagination or of numbering and cross reference of pages. However, as the product is machine readable, search is easier thanworking from an index, and I tried to support the use of suchfacilities. Anyone who feels strongly that an index remains necessary, is welcome to add an index to the version that I have presented here, without crediting me for the body of the work. * I have however, substituted cross-reference between sections orchapters for the (now meaningless) cross-references between pages. Also, like many books of that day, the original had many page headingssuch as "MYTHICAL ETYMOLOGIES" or "HILL AND DALE", withoutincorporating them in the table of contents or the text, or evenmaking it clear just where those page headings fitted into the text. I have changed such page headings to sub-headings within the text, where they are more useful, given that they no longer are necessaryfor the original purpose of aiding the process of flipping through thepages of a paper book. * I have relocated footnotes from the feet of the pages to just afterthe text that they qualified. Apart from thereby rendering the textless dependent of changes of format, this arguably renders thefootnotes more useful and less disruptive to the reader. Footnotesare marked as such, so as to avoid confusion. * I have of course tried to produce as clean a product as possible, but I apologetically assure you that some errors remain in the text. You accordingly must treat the content with appropriate caution.