CHAPTER IX. FOOTNOTES.

Forced settlement of Alamanni in Belgic Gaul,

and possibly in England.

This inference might possibly be confirmed by the fact that the isolated clusters of names ending in 'ing' on the west of the Rhine, correspond in many instances with the districts into which we happen to know that forced colonies of families of these and other German tribes had been located after the termination of the Alamannic wars of Probus, Maximian, and Constantius Clorus. These colonies oflætiwere planted, as we have seen, in the valley of the Moselle, and the names of places ending in 'ing' are numerous there to this day. They were planted in the district of the Tricassi round Troyes and Langres, and here again there are numerous patronymic names. They were planted in the district of the Nervii round Amiens close to the cluster of names ending in 'ingahem,' so many of which in the ninth century are[p359]found to belong to the Abbey of St. Bertin. Lastly—and this is a point of special interest for the present inquiry—we know that similar deportations of tribesmen of the Alamannic group were repeatedly made into Britain, and thus the question arises whether the places ending in 'ing' in England may not also mark the sites of peaceable or forced settlements of Germans under Roman rule.

They lie, as we have seen, chiefly within the district of the Saxon shore,i.e.east of a line between the Wash and the Isle of Wight, just as was the case also with the survivals of theright of the youngest.

If evidence had happened to have come to hand of a similar deportation of Alamannic Germans into Frisia instead of Frisians into Gaul, the coincidence would be still more complete.

Such settlements naturally in tribal households without slaves.

The suggestion is very precarious. Still, it might be asked, where should clusters of tribal households of Germans resembling the WelshWelesandGavellsbe more likely to perpetuate their character and resist for a time manorial tendencies than in these cases of peaceable or forced emigration into Roman provinces? Who would be more likely to do so than troublesome septs (like that of the Cumberland 'Grames' in the days of James I.) deported bodily to a strange country, and settled, probably not on private estates, but on previously depopulated public land, without slaves, and without the possibility of acquiring them by making raids upon other tribes?

Not necessarily Alamannic.

Now, according to Professor Wilhelm Arnold, the German writer who has recently given the closest attention to these local names, the patronymic suffix[p360]'ingen' is one of the distinctive marks of settlements of Alamannic and Bavarian tribes, and denotes that the districts wherein it is found have at some time or another been conquered or occupied by them. Theheims, on the other hand, in this writer's view, are in the same way indicative of Frankish settlements.545

The view of so accurate and laborious a student must be regarded as of great authority. But the foregoing inquiry has led in both cases to a somewhat different suggestion as to their meaning. The suffixheimis Anglo-Saxon as well as Frankish, and translating itself into villa and manor seems to represent a settlement or estate most often of the manorial type. So that it seems likely, that whatever German tribes at whatever time came over into the Roman province and usurped the lordship of existing villas, or adopted the Roman villa as the type of their settlements, would probably have called them eitherweilersorheimsaccording to whether they used the Roman or the German word for the same thing.

And in the same way it also seems likely, thatwhatever tribes, atwhatever time, by their own choice or by forced colonisation, settled inhouse communities of tribesmen with or without a servile population under them, would be passing through the stage in which they might naturally call their settlements or[p361]homesteads after their own names, using the patronymic suffixing.

It is undoubtedly difficult to obtain any clear indication of thetime546when these settlements may have been made. Nor, perhaps, need they be referred generally to the same period, were it not for the remarkable fact that thepersonal namesprefixed to the suffix in England, Flanders, the Moselle valley, round Troyes and Langres, in the oldAgri Decumates(now Wirtemburg), and in the old Rhætia (now Bavaria), and even those in Frisia, were to a very large extentidentical.

The names are notclannames, but personal names.

But the identity of the names throughout is very remarkable.

This identity is so striking, that if the names were, as some have supposed, necessarilyclan-names, it might be impossible to deny that the English and continental districts were peopled actually by branches of the sameclans. But it must be admitted that, as the names to[p362]which the peculiar suffix was added werepersonalnames and not family or clan names—JohnandThomas, and notSmithandJones—it would not be safe to press the inference from the similarity too far.Baldowas the name of a person. There may have been persons of that name in every tribe in Germany. The Baldo of one tribe need not be closely related to the Baldo of another tribe, any more thanJohn Smithneed be related toJohn Jones. The households of each Baldo would be calledBaldings, or in the old formBaldingas; but obviously the Baldings of England need have no clan-relationship whatever to the Baldings of Upper Germany.547Nevertheless, the striking similarity of mere personal names goes for something, and it is impossible to pass it by unnoticed. The extent of it may be shown by a few examples.

In the following list are placedallthe local names mentioned in the Domesday Survey ofSussex, beginning with the first two letters of the alphabet in which the peculiar suffix occurs, whether as final or not,548and opposite to them similar personal or local[p363]names taken from the early records ofWirtemberg,i.e.the district of the Rhine, Maine, and Neckar, formerly part of the 'Agri Decumates.'

In Sussex.

Sussex.Wirtemberg.AchingewordeAcco, Echo, Eccho, AchelmAldingeborneAldingasBabintoneBabinberch, Babenhausen, BebingonBasingehamBesigheimBechingetoneBechingenBeddingesjhamBedzingeswilaeriBelingehamBellingon, BöllingerhofBerchingesBercheimBevringetoneBollintunBollo, BollingaBotingelleBöttingerBrislingaBrisgau

In Picardy.

As regards the supposed patronymic names in the district between Calais and St. Omer, Mr. Taylor states that 80 per cent. are found also in England.549

In the Moselle valley.

We may take as a further example the resemblance between names of places occurring in Sprüner's maps of 'Deutschlands Gaue' in the Moselle valley and those of places and persons mentioned in early Wirtemberg charters.

Moselle Valley.Wirtemberg.BeringaBeringerusEslingisEsslingenFrisingenFrieso, FrisingenGundredingenGundrudHeminingsthalHemminbahHoldingenHoldaHasmaringaHasmaresheimLukesingaLucas, Lucilunburch[p364]MunderchingaMundricheshuntun, MunderkingenOttringasOteric, OtrikPutilingaPettili, PertiloUffeningaUfeningaUttingonUto, Uttinuuilare

In Champagne.

The following coincidences550occur in the modern Champagne, which embraces another district into which forced emigrants were deported.

Champagne.England.Wirtemberg.AutignyEdingtonEutingenEffincourtEffinghamOeffingenEuffigneuxUffingtonOffingenAlincourtAllington—ArrigneArringtonErringhausenOrbignyOrpingtonErpfingenAttignyAttingtonAttingEtignyEttinghallOettingerBocquegneyBuckinghamBöchingenBettignyBeddingtonBöttingen

And so on in about forty cases.

A comparison of the fifteen similar names inFrisiaoccurring in the Fulda records, with other similar names of places or persons inEnglandandWirtemberg, gives an equally clear result.

In Frisia.

Frisia.551Wirtemberg.552England.AuingeAu, AuenhofenAvington (Berks and Hants)BaltratingenBaldhart, BaldingenBeltings (Kent)BelingeBellingonBellingdon, Bellings (Several counties)BottingeBöttingenBoddington (Gloucester, Northampton)CreslingeCreglingen, ChrezzingenCressing (Essex), Cressingham (Norfolk)Gandingen————————Gutinge————Guyting (Gloucester), Getingas (Surrey)Hustinga————————HuchingenHuchiheim, Huc = HugoHucking (Kent)Husdingun————————RochingeRoingus, RohincRockingham (Notts)SuettengeSuittes, Suitger————WacheringeUuacharWakering (Essex)WasgingeUuassingunWashington (Sussex)WeingiWehingen————

The inferences to be drawn from the similarity.

It is impossible to follow out in greater detail these remarkable resemblances between the personal names which appear with a patronymic suffix in the local names in England and Frisia, and certain well-defined districts west of the Rhine, and the local and personal names mentioned in the Wirtemberg charters. The foregoing instances must not be regarded as more than examples. And for the reasons already given it would also be unwise to build too much upon this evident similarity in the personal names, but still it should be remembered that the facts to be accounted for are—(1) The concentration of these places with names having a supposed patronymic termination in certain defined districts mostly within the old Roman provinces. (2) The practical identity throughout all these districts of so many of the personal names to which this suffix is attached.

The first fact points to these settlements in tribal households having taken place by peaceable or forcible emigration during Roman rule, or very soon after, at all eventsat about the same period. The second fact points to the practical homogeneity of the German tribes, whose emigrants founded the settlements which[p366]in England, Flanders, around Troyes and Langres, on the Moselle, in Wirtemberg, in Bavaria, and also in Frisia, bear the common suffix to their names.

The facts already mentioned of the survivalto a great extent in the same districts, strikingly so in England, of theright of the youngest, and in Kent of the original form of the local custom of Gavelkind, point in the same direction.

Taking all these things together, we may at least regard the economic problem involved in them as one deserving closer attention than has yet been given to it.

The settlements in tribal households may have been manors.

In conclusion, turning back to the direct relation of these facts to the process of transition of the German tribal system into the later manorial system, it must be remembered that the holdings of tribal households might quite possibly be, from the first, embryo manors with serfs upon them. They might be settlements precisely like those described by Tacitus, the lordship of which had become the joint inheritance of the heirs of the founder. As a matter of fact, the actual settlements in question had at all events become manors before the dates of the earliest documents. We have seen,e.g., that the villas belonging to the monks of St. Bertin, with their almost invariable suffix 'ingahem,' were manors from the time of the first records in the seventh century, and they may never have been anything else. We have seen that in the year 645 the founder of the abbey gave to the monks his villa calledSitdiu, and its twelve dependent villas (Tatinga villa, afterwardsTatingahem, among them)553with the slaves and coloni upon them. They seem to[p367]have been, in fact, so many manorial farms just like those which, as we learned from Gregory of Tours,Chrodinusin the previous century founded and handed over to the Church.

They at least ultimately became manorial.

We have not found, therefore, in this inquiry into the character of the settlements with local names ending in the supposed patronymic suffix, doubtful as its result has proved, anything which conflicts with the general conclusion to which we were brought by the manorial character of the Roman villa and the manorial tendency of the German tribal system as described by Tacitus, viz. that as a general rule the German settlements made upon the conquest of what had once been Roman provinces were of a strictly manorial type. If the settlements with names ending iningwere settlements oflætior of other emigrants during Roman rule, taking at first the form of tribal households, they at least became manors like the rest during or very soon after the German conquests. If, on the other hand, they were later settlements of the conquerors of the Roman provinces, or of emigrants following in the wake of the conquests, they none the less on that account soon became just as manorial as those Roman villas which by a change of lordship and translation of words may have become Germanheimsor Anglo-Saxonhams.

It is certainly possible that during a short period, especially if they held no serfs or slaves, tribal households may have expanded into free village communities. But to infer from the existence of patronymic local names that German emigration at all generally took the form of free village communities would surely not be consistent with the evidence.

Go to:Contents.Next Chapter.CHAPTER IX. FOOTNOTES.508.De Bello Gallico, lib. vi. c. 21 and 22. 'Neque quisquam agri modum certum aut fines habet proprios, sed magistratus ac principes in annos singulos gentibus cognationibusque hominum, qui una coierunt, quantum eis et quo loco visum est agri attribuunt, atque anno post alio transire cogunt.'509.Id.lib. vi. c. 22.510.De Bello Gallico, lib. i. c. 51.511.Id.lib. iv. c. 1. 'Sed privati ac separati agri apud eos nihil est, neque longius anno remanere uno in loco incolendi causa licet.'512.Id.lib. i. c. 36.513.Id.lib. i. c. 51.514.'Colunt discreti ac diversi, ut fons, ut campus, ut nemus placuit.'—Germania, xvi.515.'Vicos locant non in nostrum morem, connexis et cohærentibus ædificiis: suam quisque domum spatio circumdat, sive adversus casus ignis remedium, sive inscitia ædificandi.'—Germania, xvi.516.'Ceteris servis non in nostrum morem descriptis per familiam ministeriis utuntur. Suam quisque sedem, suos penates regit. Frumenti modum dominus aut pecoris aut vestis ut colono injungit, et servus hactenus paret: cetera domus officia uxor ac liberi exsequuntur.'—Germania, xxv.517.Id.xiv. and xv.518.Germania, xx.519.Germania, xvi.520.The Bamberg Codex has 'ab universis vicis,' and this is followed by Waitz (Verfassungsgeschichte, Kiel, 1880, i. 145). The Leyden Codex has 'in vicem.' Others 'per vices,' which earlier critics considered to be an error for 'per vicos.' See Wietersheim'sGeschichte der Völkerwanderung, with Dahn's notes, i. p. 43. Leipzig, 1880.521.Germania, xxvi.522.Id.xii.523.The Welsh 'trev' and German 'dorf' probably are from the same root.524.'"Ager" dictus qui a divisoribus agrorum relictus est ad pascendum communiter vicinis.' Isodorus,De Agris. Lachmann and Rudorff, i. p. 369.525.Germania, xxviii. and xxix.526.These tribes are mentioned by Cæsar as forming part of the army of Ariovistus.De Bello Gallico, lib. i. c. 51.527.Germania, xxx.–xxxvii.528.Germania, xxxviii.–xlv.529.He regarded the 'Agri Decumates' as 'hardly in Germany.'530.This result did not follow in Wales, because in Welsh local names suffixes are not usual.531.Gavelkindmay be derived fromgabel, a fork or branch, and the word is used in Ireland as well as in Kent. Irishgabal,gabal-cined(Gavelkind).Manners, &c. of the Ancient Irish.O'Curry, iii. p. 581.532.Origins of English History, pp. 188–9.533.Origins of English History, pp. 197–98.534.Arnold'sAnsiedelungen, p. 89.535.Palacky'sGeschichte von Böhmen, Buch ii. c. 6, p. 169.536.'Ing' also meant a low meadow by a river bank, as 'Clifton Ings,' near York, &c. Also it was sometimes used like 'ers,', as 'Ochringen,' dwellers on the river 'Ohra.' In Denmark the individual strip in a meadow was an 'ing,' and so the whole meadow would be 'the ings.'537.See Anglo-Saxon Chroniclesub anno522. 'Cordic was Elesing, Elesa was Esling, Esla was Gewising,' and so on. See also Bede's statement that the Kentish kings were calledOiscings, after their ancestorOisc. Bede, bk. ii. c. 5.538.Palacky, pp. 168–9. Compare the word with the Welshtyddyn, and the Irishtateortath.539.See Meitzen'sAusbreitung der Deutschen, p. 17. Jena, 1879.540.See Taylor'sWords and Places, p. 131.541.It is curious to observe that, taking all the names in the Cartulary (including many oflater date), only 2 per cent. end iningoringa, 6 per cent. ininghemoringahem: making 8 per cent. in all.542.Taylor'sWords and Places, pp. 496et seq.543.Out of 119 places named in the charters of the Abbey ofFrisingaearlier in date thanA.D.800, 24 per cent. ended ininge, and only 1 per cent. inheim.—Meichelbeck,passim.544.In the St. Gall charters, out of 1,920 names, 9 per cent. end ininga,312per cent. ininchova. The most common other terminations are eitherwilareorwanga; only 2 per cent. end inheim.545.Arnold'sAnsiedelungen und Wanderungen deutscher Stämme. Marburg, 1881. See pp. 153et seq.He considers that the Alamanni were a group of German peoples who had settled in the Rhine valley and theAgri Decumates, including among them theJuthungi, who had crossed over from the north of thelimeslate in the third century.546.In theErklärung der Peutinger Tafel, by E. Paulus, Stuttgart, 1866, there is a careful attempt to identify the stations on the Roman roads fromBrigantiatoVindonissa, and fromVindonissatoRegino. The stations on the latter, which passed through the district abounding in 'ings,' are thus identified; the distances between them, except in one case (where there is a difference of 2 leugen), answering to those marked in theTable(see p. 35):—Vindonissa(Windisch),Tenedone(Heidenschlöschen),Juliomago(Hüfingen),Brigobanne(Rottweil),Aris flavis(Unter-Iflingen),Samulocennis(Rottenberg),Grinario(Sindelfingen),Clarenna(Carlsstatt),Ad lunam(Pfahlbronn),Aquileia(Aalen) [up to which point there is a remarkable change of names throughout, but from which point the similarity of names becomes striking],Opie(Bopfingen),Septemiaci(Maihingen),Losodica(Oettingen),Medianis(Markhof),Iciniaco(Itzing),Biricianis(Burkmarshofen),Vetonianis(Nassenfels),Germanico(Kösching),Celeuso(Ettling),Abusena(Abensberg),Regino(Regensburg). But these names iningandingen, and Latiniaci, do not seem to be patronymic. So also in the case of the Roman 'Vicus Aurelii' on theOhrariver, now 'Oehringen.' Is it not possible that many other supposed patronymics may simply mean such and such or So-and-so's 'ings' or meadows?547.The occasional instances in which the patronymic termination is added to the name of a tree or an animal, has led to the hasty conclusion that the Saxons were 'totemists,' and believed themselves descended from trees and animals;e.g.that theBuckingsofBucksthought themselves descendants of the beech tree. The fact thatpersonal nameswere taken from trees and animals—that one person called himself 'the Beech,' another 'the Wolf'—quite disposes of this argument, for their households would call themselves 'Beechings' and 'Wolfings' in quite a natural course, without any dream of descent from the tree or the animal whose name their father or great-grandfather had borne.548.The resemblance is equally apparent whether the comparison be made between names without further suffix or whether those with it are included. See the long list of patronymic names in England, Germany, and France in Taylor'sWords and Places, App. B, pp. 496–513.549.Taylor'sWords and Places, pp. 131–4, and App. B, p. 491.550.See the lists given in Taylor'sWords and Places, Appendix B, pp. 496et seq.Taylor says that there are 1,100 of the patronymic names in France, of which 250 are similar to those in England. See pp. 144et seq.551.Taken fromTraditiones Fuldensis, Dronke, pp. 240–243. The above list includes all the names in Frisia with a patronymic and no other suffix.552.Taken from theWirtembergische Urkundenbuch.553.Chartularium Sithiense, p. 18.

Go to:Contents.Next Chapter.

508.De Bello Gallico, lib. vi. c. 21 and 22. 'Neque quisquam agri modum certum aut fines habet proprios, sed magistratus ac principes in annos singulos gentibus cognationibusque hominum, qui una coierunt, quantum eis et quo loco visum est agri attribuunt, atque anno post alio transire cogunt.'

509.Id.lib. vi. c. 22.

510.De Bello Gallico, lib. i. c. 51.

511.Id.lib. iv. c. 1. 'Sed privati ac separati agri apud eos nihil est, neque longius anno remanere uno in loco incolendi causa licet.'

512.Id.lib. i. c. 36.

513.Id.lib. i. c. 51.

514.'Colunt discreti ac diversi, ut fons, ut campus, ut nemus placuit.'—Germania, xvi.

515.'Vicos locant non in nostrum morem, connexis et cohærentibus ædificiis: suam quisque domum spatio circumdat, sive adversus casus ignis remedium, sive inscitia ædificandi.'—Germania, xvi.

516.'Ceteris servis non in nostrum morem descriptis per familiam ministeriis utuntur. Suam quisque sedem, suos penates regit. Frumenti modum dominus aut pecoris aut vestis ut colono injungit, et servus hactenus paret: cetera domus officia uxor ac liberi exsequuntur.'—Germania, xxv.

517.Id.xiv. and xv.

518.Germania, xx.

519.Germania, xvi.

520.The Bamberg Codex has 'ab universis vicis,' and this is followed by Waitz (Verfassungsgeschichte, Kiel, 1880, i. 145). The Leyden Codex has 'in vicem.' Others 'per vices,' which earlier critics considered to be an error for 'per vicos.' See Wietersheim'sGeschichte der Völkerwanderung, with Dahn's notes, i. p. 43. Leipzig, 1880.

521.Germania, xxvi.

522.Id.xii.

523.The Welsh 'trev' and German 'dorf' probably are from the same root.

524.'"Ager" dictus qui a divisoribus agrorum relictus est ad pascendum communiter vicinis.' Isodorus,De Agris. Lachmann and Rudorff, i. p. 369.

525.Germania, xxviii. and xxix.

526.These tribes are mentioned by Cæsar as forming part of the army of Ariovistus.De Bello Gallico, lib. i. c. 51.

527.Germania, xxx.–xxxvii.

528.Germania, xxxviii.–xlv.

529.He regarded the 'Agri Decumates' as 'hardly in Germany.'

530.This result did not follow in Wales, because in Welsh local names suffixes are not usual.

531.Gavelkindmay be derived fromgabel, a fork or branch, and the word is used in Ireland as well as in Kent. Irishgabal,gabal-cined(Gavelkind).Manners, &c. of the Ancient Irish.O'Curry, iii. p. 581.

532.Origins of English History, pp. 188–9.

533.Origins of English History, pp. 197–98.

534.Arnold'sAnsiedelungen, p. 89.

535.Palacky'sGeschichte von Böhmen, Buch ii. c. 6, p. 169.

536.'Ing' also meant a low meadow by a river bank, as 'Clifton Ings,' near York, &c. Also it was sometimes used like 'ers,', as 'Ochringen,' dwellers on the river 'Ohra.' In Denmark the individual strip in a meadow was an 'ing,' and so the whole meadow would be 'the ings.'

537.See Anglo-Saxon Chroniclesub anno522. 'Cordic was Elesing, Elesa was Esling, Esla was Gewising,' and so on. See also Bede's statement that the Kentish kings were calledOiscings, after their ancestorOisc. Bede, bk. ii. c. 5.

538.Palacky, pp. 168–9. Compare the word with the Welshtyddyn, and the Irishtateortath.

539.See Meitzen'sAusbreitung der Deutschen, p. 17. Jena, 1879.

540.See Taylor'sWords and Places, p. 131.

541.It is curious to observe that, taking all the names in the Cartulary (including many oflater date), only 2 per cent. end iningoringa, 6 per cent. ininghemoringahem: making 8 per cent. in all.

542.Taylor'sWords and Places, pp. 496et seq.

543.Out of 119 places named in the charters of the Abbey ofFrisingaearlier in date thanA.D.800, 24 per cent. ended ininge, and only 1 per cent. inheim.—Meichelbeck,passim.

544.In the St. Gall charters, out of 1,920 names, 9 per cent. end ininga,312per cent. ininchova. The most common other terminations are eitherwilareorwanga; only 2 per cent. end inheim.

545.Arnold'sAnsiedelungen und Wanderungen deutscher Stämme. Marburg, 1881. See pp. 153et seq.He considers that the Alamanni were a group of German peoples who had settled in the Rhine valley and theAgri Decumates, including among them theJuthungi, who had crossed over from the north of thelimeslate in the third century.

546.In theErklärung der Peutinger Tafel, by E. Paulus, Stuttgart, 1866, there is a careful attempt to identify the stations on the Roman roads fromBrigantiatoVindonissa, and fromVindonissatoRegino. The stations on the latter, which passed through the district abounding in 'ings,' are thus identified; the distances between them, except in one case (where there is a difference of 2 leugen), answering to those marked in theTable(see p. 35):—Vindonissa(Windisch),Tenedone(Heidenschlöschen),Juliomago(Hüfingen),Brigobanne(Rottweil),Aris flavis(Unter-Iflingen),Samulocennis(Rottenberg),Grinario(Sindelfingen),Clarenna(Carlsstatt),Ad lunam(Pfahlbronn),Aquileia(Aalen) [up to which point there is a remarkable change of names throughout, but from which point the similarity of names becomes striking],Opie(Bopfingen),Septemiaci(Maihingen),Losodica(Oettingen),Medianis(Markhof),Iciniaco(Itzing),Biricianis(Burkmarshofen),Vetonianis(Nassenfels),Germanico(Kösching),Celeuso(Ettling),Abusena(Abensberg),Regino(Regensburg). But these names iningandingen, and Latiniaci, do not seem to be patronymic. So also in the case of the Roman 'Vicus Aurelii' on theOhrariver, now 'Oehringen.' Is it not possible that many other supposed patronymics may simply mean such and such or So-and-so's 'ings' or meadows?

Vindonissa(Windisch),Tenedone(Heidenschlöschen),Juliomago(Hüfingen),Brigobanne(Rottweil),Aris flavis(Unter-Iflingen),Samulocennis(Rottenberg),Grinario(Sindelfingen),Clarenna(Carlsstatt),Ad lunam(Pfahlbronn),Aquileia(Aalen) [up to which point there is a remarkable change of names throughout, but from which point the similarity of names becomes striking],Opie(Bopfingen),Septemiaci(Maihingen),Losodica(Oettingen),Medianis(Markhof),Iciniaco(Itzing),Biricianis(Burkmarshofen),Vetonianis(Nassenfels),Germanico(Kösching),Celeuso(Ettling),Abusena(Abensberg),Regino(Regensburg). But these names iningandingen, and Latiniaci, do not seem to be patronymic. So also in the case of the Roman 'Vicus Aurelii' on theOhrariver, now 'Oehringen.' Is it not possible that many other supposed patronymics may simply mean such and such or So-and-so's 'ings' or meadows?

547.The occasional instances in which the patronymic termination is added to the name of a tree or an animal, has led to the hasty conclusion that the Saxons were 'totemists,' and believed themselves descended from trees and animals;e.g.that theBuckingsofBucksthought themselves descendants of the beech tree. The fact thatpersonal nameswere taken from trees and animals—that one person called himself 'the Beech,' another 'the Wolf'—quite disposes of this argument, for their households would call themselves 'Beechings' and 'Wolfings' in quite a natural course, without any dream of descent from the tree or the animal whose name their father or great-grandfather had borne.

548.The resemblance is equally apparent whether the comparison be made between names without further suffix or whether those with it are included. See the long list of patronymic names in England, Germany, and France in Taylor'sWords and Places, App. B, pp. 496–513.

549.Taylor'sWords and Places, pp. 131–4, and App. B, p. 491.

550.See the lists given in Taylor'sWords and Places, Appendix B, pp. 496et seq.Taylor says that there are 1,100 of the patronymic names in France, of which 250 are similar to those in England. See pp. 144et seq.

551.Taken fromTraditiones Fuldensis, Dronke, pp. 240–243. The above list includes all the names in Frisia with a patronymic and no other suffix.

552.Taken from theWirtembergische Urkundenbuch.

553.Chartularium Sithiense, p. 18.

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