Chapter 7

"Wher rydestow under this grene-wode shawe?"(D, 1386.)

"Wher rydestow under this grene-wode shawe?"

(D, 1386.)

Hurstbelongs especially to the south and west, thoughHirstis very common in Yorkshire;Shawis found in the north andHoltin the east and south. We have compounds ofShawinBradshaw, 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).Ravenwas a common personal name and is the first element inRamsbottom(Chapter XII),Ramsden.], etc., ofHurstinBuckhurst(beech),Brockhurst (badger), and ofHoltinOakshott.

We have earlier forms ofGroveinGreaves—

"And with his stremes dryeth in thegrevesThe silver dropes, hangynge on the leves"(A.1495)—

"And with his stremes dryeth in thegrevesThe silver dropes, hangynge on the leves"

(A.1495)—

andGraves, the latter being thus no more funereal thanTombs, from Thomas (cf.Timbsfrom Timothy). ButGreavesandGravesmay also be variants of the officialGrieves(Chapter XIX), or may come from Mid. Eng.graefe, a trench, quarry. Compounds areHargreave(hare),Redgrave,Stangrave, the two latter probably referring to an excavation. From Mid. Eng,strope, a small wood, appear to comeStrodeandStroud, compoundBulstrode, whileStruthersis the cognatestrother, marsh, still in dialect use.Wealdandwold, the cognates of Ger.Wald, were applied rather to wild country in general than to land covered with trees. They are probably connected withwild.

Similarly the Late Lat.foresta, whence ourforest, means only what is outside, Lat,foris, the town jurisdiction. From the Mid. Eng.waeldwe have the namesWeldandWeale, the latter with the not uncommon loss of final -d.Scroggs(Scand.) andScrubbssuggest their meaning of brushwood.Scroggins, from its form, is a patronymic, and probably representsScogginswith intrusive -r-. This is perhaps from Scogin, a name borne by a poet who was contemporary with Chaucer and by a court-fool of the fifteenth century—

"The same Sir John, the very same. I saw him breakSkogan'shead at the court gate, when he was a crack, not thus high." (2HenryIV.,iii.2.)

WithScrubbof cloudy ammonia fame we may compare Wormwood Scrubbs.Shrubbis the same word, and Shropshire is for Anglo-Sax.scrob-scire.

FOREST CLEARINGS

The two northern names for a clearing in the wood wereRoydandThwaite(Scand.). The former is cognate with the second part of Baireutand Wernigerode, and with theRütli, the small plateau on which the Swiss patriots took their famous oath. It was so called—

"Weil dort die Waldungausgerodetward."(SCHILLER,WilhelmTell.)

"Weil dort die Waldungausgerodetward."

(SCHILLER,WilhelmTell.)

Among its compounds areAckroyd(oak),Grindrod(green),Murgatroyd(Margaret),Learoyd(lea),Ormerod, etc. We also find the nameRodd, which may belong here or toRudd(Chapter VII), and both these names may also be forRood, equivalent toCrossorCrouch(Chapter II), as in Holyrood.Riddingis also related toRoyd.Hackingmay be a dim. ofHack(Chapter VII), but we find alsodelehacking, which suggests a forest clearing.

Thwaite, from Anglo-Sax.þwitan, to cut, is found chiefly in Cumberland and the adjacent region in such compounds asBraithwaite(broad),Hebbelthwaite,Postlethwaite,Satterthwaite. The second of these is sometimes corrupted intoAblewhiteasCowperthwaiteis intoCopperwheat, for "this suffix has ever been too big a mouthful in the south" (Bardsley). A glade or valley in the wood was called aDean,Dene,Denne, cognate withden. The compounds are numerous, e.g.Borden(boar),Dibden(deep),Sugden(Mid. Eng.suge, sow),HazeldeanorHeseltine. From the fact that swine were pastured in these glades the namesDenmanandDenyerhave been explained as equivalent to swineherd. As a suffix -denis often confused with -don(Chapter XII). At the foot of Horsenden Hill, near Harrow, two boards announce Horsendon Farm and Horsenden Golf-links. An opening in the wood was also calledSlade—

"And when he came to Barnesdale,Great heavinesse there hee hadd;He found two of his fellowesWere slain both in aSlade."(RobinHoodandGuyofGisborne.)

"And when he came to Barnesdale,Great heavinesse there hee hadd;He found two of his fellowesWere slain both in aSlade."

(RobinHoodandGuyofGisborne.)

The maps still show Pond Slade in Richmond Park, The compoundHertsletmay be for hart-Slade.

Acre, a field, cognate with, but not derived from, Lat.ager, occurs inGoodacre,Hardacre,Linacre,Whittaker, etc., andFielditself gives numerous compounds, includingButterfield(bittern, Chapter XXIII),Schofield(school),Streatfeild(street),Whitfield.

Pasture-land is represented above all byLea, for which see Chapter III. It is cognate with Hohenloheand Waterloo, whileMeadandMeddare cognate with Zermatt(at the mead).Brinsmeadthus means the same asBrinsley.

MARSHES

Marshy land has given the namesCarrorKerr(Scand.) andMarsh, originally an adjective,merisc, frommer, mere. The doubletMarrishas usually becomeMorris. The compoundsTidmarshandTitchmarshcontain the Anglo-Saxon names Tidda and Ticca.Mooralso originally had the meaning morass (e.g. in Sedgemoor), as Ger.Moorstill has, so thatFenimoreis pleonastic. The northern form isMuir, as inMuirhead.Mosswas similarly used in the north; cf. moss-trooper and Solway Moss, but the surnameMossis generally for Moses (Chapter IX). Fromsloughwe get the namesSlow,Slowley, andSloman(also perhaps a nickname), with which we may compareMoormanandMossman. This seems to be also the most usual meaning ofSlackorSlagg, also used of a gap 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 aslack."(BalladofLadyMaisry.)

(BalladofLadyMaisry.)

Tyemeans common land.Plattis a piece, or plot, of level country—

"Oft on aplatofrising groundI hear the far-off curfew sound"(Penseroso,1.73);

"Oft on aplatofrising groundI hear the far-off curfew sound"

(Penseroso,1.73);

and shape is expressed byGore, a triangular piece of land (cf. Kensington Gore), of which the older formGare,Geare, also survives. InLowndeswe havelaundorlound—

"And to the laund he rideth hym ful right,For thider was the hart wont have his flight(A. 1691)—

"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. InLundandLunnit has become confused with the Old Norselundr, a sacred grove.

Launditself is of French origin—

"Lande, a land, orlaund; a wild, untilled, shrubbie, or bushie plaine"(Cotgrave).

"Lande, a land, orlaund; a wild, untilled, shrubbie, or bushie plaine"

(Cotgrave).

Its relation tolandis uncertain, and it is not possible to distinguish them in such compounds asAcland(Chapter XII),Buckland,Cleveland, etc. The nameLanderorLaunderis unconnected with these (see p.186).FlackisMid. Eng.flagge, turf.Snapeis a dialect word for boggy ground, andWongmeans a meadow.

A rather uncouth-looking set of names, which occur chiefly on the border of Cheshire and Lancashire, are compounded frombottomorbotham, a wide shallow valley suited for agriculture. Hotspur, dissatisfied with his fellow-conspirators' map-drawing, expresses his intention of damming the Trent so that

"It shall not wind with such a deep indentTo rob me of so rich abottomhere."(1HenryIV, iii. 1.)

"It shall not wind with such a deep indentTo rob me of so rich abottomhere."

(1HenryIV, iii. 1.)

Familiar compounds areHigginbottom,Rowbotham,Sidebottom. The first element ofShufflebothamis, in the Lancashire Assize Rolls (1176-1285), speltSchyppewalle- andSchyppewelle-, whereschyppeis for 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 of rivers. This is quite natural, for just as the man who lived on a hill became known asHill,Peake, etc., and not as Skiddaw or Wrekin, so the man who lived by the waterside would be known asBywater,Rivers, etc. No Londoner talks of going on the Thames, and the country-dweller also usually refers to his local stream as the river or the water, and not by its geographical name. Another reason for the absence of such surnames is probably to be found in the fact that our river (and mountain) names are almost exclusively Celtic, and had no connotation for the English population. We have many apparent river names, but most of them are susceptible of another explanation.Deemay be forDayasDeakinis forDakin,i.e. David,Derwentlooks likeDarwin(Chapter VII) or the localDarwenwith excrescent -t(Chapter III),HumberisHumbert, a French name corresponding to the Anglo-Sax, Hunbeorht,Medwaymay be merely "mid-way," andTrentis a place in Somerset. This view as to river surnames is supported by the fact that we do not appear to have a single mountain surname, the apparent exception,Snowdon, being forSnowden(seeden,Dean,Dene,Denne).[Footnote:But see mySurnames, Chapter XVI.]

Among names for streams we haveBeck,[Footnote:The simpleBeckis generally a German name of modern introduction (seepecch).]cognate with Ger.Bach;Bourne,[Footnote:Distinct frombourne, a boundary, Fr.borne.]orBurn, cognate with Ger.Brunnen;Brook, related to break;Crick, a creek;Fleet, a creek, cognate withFlood;andSyke, a trench or rill. InBeckettandBrockettthe suffix ishead(Chapter XIII).Troutbeck,Birkbeckexplain themselves. InColbeckwe have cold, andHolbrookcontains hollow, but in some names -brookhas been substituted for -borough, -burgh. We findBrooklatinized asTorrens.Abornisforattebourne, and there are probably many places calledBlackburnandOtterburn.

Firth, an estuary, cognate withfjord, often becomesFrith, but this surname usually comes fromfrith, a park or game preserve (Chapter XIII).

Another word for a creek,wickorwick(Scand.), cannot be distinguished fromwick, a settlement.Pond, a doublet ofPound(Chapter XIII), means a piece of water enclosed by a dam, while natural sheets of water areLake,orLack, not limited originallyto a large expanse,Mere, whenceMearsand such compounds asCranmer(crane),Bulmer(bull), etc., andPool, also speltPullandPole. We have compounds of the latter inPoulton(Chapter I),Claypole, andGlasspool.

In Kent a small pond is calledSole, whenceNethersole. The bank of a river or lake was calledOver, cognate with Ger.Ufer, whenceOverend,Overall(see below),Overbury,Overland. The surnameShore, foratteshore, may refer to the sea-shore, but the wordsewerwas once regularly so pronounced and the name was applied to large drains in the fen country (cf.Gott, Water, Chapter XIII).Beachisa word of late appearance and doubtful origin, and as a surname is usually identical withBeech.

Spits of land by the waterside were calledHook(cf. Hook of Holland and Sandy Hook) andHoeorHoo, as in Plymouth Hoe, or the Hundred of Hoo, between the Thames and the Medway. FromHookcomesHooker, where it does not mean a maker of hooks, whileHomanandHoomansometimes belong to the second. Alluvial land by a stream was calledhalgh,haugh, whence sometimesHawes. Its dative case givesHaleandHeal. These often become -hall, -all, in place-names. Compounds areGreenhalgh,GreenallandFeatherstonehaugh, perhaps our longest surname.

Ing, a low-lying meadow, Mid. Eng.eng, survives inGreening,Fenning,Wilding, and probably sometimes inEngland(Chapter XI). ButIngeandIngs, the latter the name of one of the Cato Street conspirators, also represent an Anglo-Saxon personal name. Cf.IngallandIngle, from Ingwulf, or Ingold, whenceIngoldsby.

ISLANDS

Ey, an island,[Footnote:Isle of Sheppey, Mersea Island, etc, are pleonasms.]survives as the last element of many names, and is not always to be distinguished fromhey(hay, Settlements, Chapter III) andley. BillNye'sancestor livedatteney(Chapter III).DowdneyorDudeneyhas been explained from the Anglo-Saxon name Duda, but it more probably represents the very common French nameDieudonné, corresponding to Lat. Deodatus. In the north a river island was commonly calledHolm(Scand.), also pronouncedHome,Hulme, andHume, in compounds easily confused with -ham, e.g. Durham was once Dun-holmr, hill island. The very commonHolmesisprobably in most cases a tree-name (Chapter XII). InChisholmthe first element may mean pebble; cf. Chesil Beach. The namesBent, whenceBroadbent, andCrookprobably also belong sometimes to the river, but may have arisen from a turn in a road or valley. ButBentwas also applied to a tract covered with bents, or rushes, andCrookis generally a nickname (Chapter XXII). Lastly, the crossing of the unbridged stream has given usFordorForthwhenceStratford,Strafford(street),Stanford,Stamford,Staniforth(stone), etc. The alternative name wasWade, whence the compoundGrimwade. The cognatewath(Scand.) has been confused withwith(Scand.), a wood, whence the nameWytheand the compoundAskwithorAsquith. Both -wathand–withhave been often replaced by -worthand -wood.

TREE NAMES

In conclusion a few words must be said about tree names, so common in their simple form and in topographical compounds. Here, as in the case of most of the etymons already mentioned in this chapter, the origin of the surname may be specific as well as general,i.e. the nameAshmay come from Ash in Kent rather than from any particular tree, the etymology remaining the same. Many of our surnames have preserved the older forms of tree names, e.g. thelimewas once theline, henceLines,Lynes, and earlier still theLind, as in the compoundsLyndhurst,Lindley, etc. The older form ofOakappears inAcland,Acton, and variants inOgdenandBraddock, broad oak. We have ash inAston,Ascham. Thehollywas once thehollin, whenceHollins,Hollis,Hollings;cf.Hollings-head,Holinshed. Buthollinbecame colloquiallyholm, whence generallyHolmes.Homewoodis for holm-wood. The holm oak, ilex, is so called from its holly-like leaves. ForBirchwe also findBirk, a northern form.Beechoften appears in compounds asBuck-;cf. buckwheat, so called because the grains are of the shape of beech-mast. InPoppleton,Popplewellwe have the dialectpopple, a poplar.Yeosometimes representsyew, speltyoweby Palsgrave.[Footnote:Theyeoofyeoman, which is conjectured to have meant district, cognate with Ger.GauinBreisgau,Rheingau,etc., is not found by itself.]

InSallowswe have a provincial name for the willow, cognate with Fr,sauleand Lat.salix.Rowntreeistherowan, or mountain ash, andBawtryorBawtreeis a northern name for the elder. The older forms ofAlderandElder, in both of which the -d- is intrusive (Chapter III), appear inAllertonandEllershaw.Mapleis sometimesMappleandsycamoreis corrupted intoSicklemore.

Tree-names are common in all languages.BeerbohmTreeis pleonastic, from Ger.Bierbaum, forBirnbaum, pear-tree. A few years ago a prominent Belgian statesman bore the nameVandenpereboom, rather terrifying till decomposed into "van den pereboom." Its Mid. English equivalent appears inPirie, originally a collection of pear-trees, but used by Chaucer for the single tree

"And thus I lete hym sitte upon thepyrie."(E. 2217.)

"And thus I lete hym sitte upon thepyrie."

(E. 2217.)

From trees we may descend gradually, viaThorne,Bush,Furze,Gorst(Chapter I),Ling, etc., until we come finally toGrace, which in some cases represents grass, for we find Williamattegrasein 1327, while the namePoorgrass, in Mr. Hardy'sFarfromtheMaddingCrowd, seems to be certified by the famous French namesMalherbeandMalesherbes. ButSavoryis 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 XIIITHE HAUNTS OF MAN

"One fels downs firs, another of the sameWith 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 grossTheir homely sties in stead of walls inclose:Some, like the swallow, mud and hay doe mixeAnd that about their silly [p. 209] cotes they fixeSome heals[thatch]their roofer with fearn, or reeds, or rushes,And some with hides, with oase, with boughs, and bushes,"(SYLVESTER,TheDevineWeekes,)

(SYLVESTER,TheDevineWeekes,)

In almost every case where man has interfered with nature the resulting local name is naturally of Anglo-Saxon or, in some parts of England, of Scandinavian origin. The Roman and French elements in our topographical names are scanty in number, though the former are of frequent occurrence. The chief Latin contributionsare-Chester, -cester, -caster, Lat.castrum, a fort, or pluralcastra, a camp; -street, Lat.viastrata, a levelled way; -minster, Lat.monasterium;and -churchor -kirk, Greco-Lat.kuriakon, belonging to the Lord.Eccles, Greco-Lat.ecclesia, probably goes back to Celtic Christianity.Streetwasthe high-road, henceGreenstreet.Minsteriscuriously corrupted inBuckmasterfor Buckminster andKittermasterfor Kidderminster, while in its simple form it appears asMinister(Chapter III).

We have a few French place-names, e.g.Beamish(Chapter XIV),Beaumont,Richmond, Richemont, andMalpas(Cheshire), the evil pass, with which we may compareMaltravers. We have the apparent opposite inBompas,Bumpus, Fr.bonpas, but this was a nickname. Of late there has been a tendency to introduce the Frenchville, e.g. Bournville, near Birmingham. That part of Margate which ought to be called Northdown is known as Cliftonville, and the inhabitants of the opposite end of the town, dissatisfied with such good names as Westbrook and Rancorn, hanker after Westonville. But these philological atrocities are fortunately too late to be perpetuated as surnames.

I have divided the names in this chapter into those that are connected with

And here, as before, names which neither in their simple nor compound form present any difficulty are omitted.

SETTLEMENTS AND ENCLOSURES

The words which occur most commonly in the names of the modern towns which have sprung from early homesteads areboroughorbury,[Footnote:Originally the dative ofborough.]by,ham,stoke,stow,thorp,tunorton,wick, andworth. These names are all of native origin, exceptby, which indicates a Danish settlement, andwick, which is supposed to be a very early loan from Lat.vicus, cognate with Greekoikos, house. Nearly all of them are common, in their simple form, both as specific place-names and as surnames.Borough, cognate with Ger.Burg, castle, and related toBarrow(Chapter XII), has many variants,Bury,Brough,Borrow,Berry, whenceBerryman, andBurgh, the last of which has becomeBurkein Ireland.

InAtterburythe preposition and article have both remained, while inThornberthe suffix is almost unrecognizable.By, related tobyreand to the prepositionby,isespecially common in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It is sometimes speltbee, e.g.AshbeeforAshby. The simpleByeis not uncommon.Hamis cognate withhome. In compounds it is sometimes reduced to -um, e.g.Barnum,Holtum,Warnum. But in some such names the -umis the original form, representing an old dative plural (Chapter III).Allumrepresents the usual Midland pronunciation ofHallam.Cullum, generally for Culham, may also represent the missionary Saint Colomb. InNewnhamthe adjective is dative, as in Ger.Neuenheim, at the new home. InBonham,Frankham, andPridhamthe suffix -hamhas been substituted for the Frenchhommeofbonhomme,franchomme,prudhomme, whileJerninghamis a perversion of the personal name Jernegan or Gernegan, asGarnhamis of Gernon, Old French forBeard(Chapter XXI).Steadis cognate with Ger.Stadt, place, town, and withstaith, as inBickersteth(Chapter III).Armsteadmeans the dwelling of the hermit,Benstedthe stead of Benna (Chapter VII) or Bennet.

Stokeis originally distinct fromStock, a stump, with which it has become fused in the compoundsBostock,Brigstocke.Stowappears in the compoundBristol(Chapter XI) and inPlaistow, play-ground (cf.Playsted).Thorp, cognate with Ger.Dorf, village, is especially common in the eastern counties

"By twentythorps, a little town,And half a hundred bridges."(Tennyson,TheBrook,1.5.)

"By twentythorps, a little town,And half a hundred bridges."

(Tennyson,TheBrook,1.5.)

It has also givenThruppand probablyThripp, whenceCalthrop,Winthrop,Westrupp, etc.

Ton, laterTown, gave also the northernToon, still used in Scotland with something of its original sense (Chapter XII).Bostonis Botolf's town,GunstonGunolf's town. So alsoTarleton(Thurweald),Monkton(monk),Preston(priest).Bartonmeant originally a barley-field, and is still used in the west of England for a paddock.Wickappears also asWych,Weech. Its compounds cannot be separated from those ofwick, a creek (Chapter XII).Bromageis for Bromwich,Greenidgefor Greenwich,Prestagefor Prestwich; cf. the place-name Swanage (Dorset), earlier Swanewic.

Worthwas perhaps originally applied to land by a river or to a holm (Chapter XII); cf. Ger. Donauwert, Nonnenwert, etc.Harmsworthisfor Harmondsworth; cf.Ebbsworth(Ebba),Shuttleworth(Sceotweald),Wadsworth(Wada). Sometimes we find a lengthened form, e.g.Allworthy, fromald, old (cf.Aldworth),Langworthy.Rickworth, further corrupted toRecord, is the Anglo-Saxon name Ricweard.Littleworthmay belong to this class, but may also be a nickname. This would make it equivalent to the imitativeLittle-proud, formerly Littleprow, from Old French and Mid. Eng.prou, worth, value.

To this group may be added two more, which signify a mart, viz.CheaporChipp(cf. Chepstow, Chipping Barnet) andStaple, whenceHuxtable,Stapleton, etc.Liberty, that part of a city which, though outside the walls, shares in the city privileges, andParishalso occur as surnames, but the latter is usually for Paris.

Many other words connected with the delimitation of property occur commonly in surnames.CroftorCraft, a small field, is common in compounds such asBeecroftorBearcroft(barley),Haycraft(seehay, below),Oscroft(ox),Rycroft,Meadowcroft.[Footnote:I remember reading in some story of a socially ambitious lady who adopted this commonplace name instead ofGubbins. The latter name came over, as Gobin, with the Conqueror, and goes back to Old Ger. Godberaht, whence Old Fr. Godibert.]Foldoccurs usually asFoulds, but we have compounds such asNettlefold,PenfoldorPinfold(Chapter XIII).Sty, not originally limited to pigs, has givenHardisty, the sty of Heardwulf.Frith, a park or game preserve, is probably more often the origin of a surname than the otherfrith(Chapter XII). It is cognate with Ger. Friedhof, cemetery.Chaseis still used of a park andGameonce meant rabbit-warren.Warrenis Fr.garenne.Garth, the Scandinavian doublet ofYard, and cognate withGarden, has given the compoundsGarside,Garfield,Hogarth(from a place in Westmorland), andApplegarth, of whichApplegateis a corruption. We have a compound ofyardinWynyard, Anglo-Sax.win, vine. We have also the nameCloseand its derivativeClowser.Gate, a barrier or opening, Anglo-Sax.geat, is distinct from the Scandinaviangate, a street (Chapter XIII), though of course confused with it in surnames. From the northern form we haveYates,Yeats, andYeatman, and the compoundsByatt, by gate,Hyatt, high gate.Agateis forattegate, andLidgate, whenceLidgett, means a swing gate, shutting like a lid.Fladgateis for flood-gate. Here also belongsBarr.Hatch, the gate at the entrance to a chase, survives in Colney Hatch. The apparent dim.Hatchettis forHatchard(Chapter VIII); cf.Everettfor Everard (Chapter II).Hay, alsoHaig,Haigh,Haw,Hey, is cognate withHedge. Like most monosyllabic local surnames, it is commonly found in the plural,Hayes,Hawes. The bird nicknameHedgecockexists also asHaycock. The curious-looking patronymicsTownsonandOrchardsonare of course corrupt. The former is forTomlinsonand the latter perhaps from Achard (Chapter VIII).

Several places and families in England are namedHideorHyde, which meant a certain measure of land. The popular connection between this word andhide, a skin, as in the story of the first Jutish settlement, is a fable. It is connected with an Anglo-Saxon word meaning household, which appears also inHuish,Anglo-Sax. hi-wisc.Dike, orDyke, andMoat, also Mott, both have, or had, a double meaning. We still usedike, which belongs todigandditch, both of a trench and a mound, and the latter was the earlier meaning of Fr.motte, now a clod, In Anglo-French we findmoatused of a mound fortress in a marsh. Now it is applied to the surrounding water. Fromdikecome the namesDicker,Dickman,Grimsdick, etc. Sometimes the nameDykesmay imply residence near some historic earthwork, such as Offa's Dyke, just asWall, for whichWaughwas used in the north, may show connection with the Roman wall. With these may be mentioned the French nameFosse, whence the apparently pleonasticFosdykeand the name of Verdant Green's friend, Mr. Four-in-handFosbrooke.Delvesis from Mid. Eng.dell, ditch.Juryis for Jewry, the quarter allotted to the Jews, butJewsburyis no doubt for Dewsbury; cf.Jewhurstfor Dewhurst.

Here may be mentioned a few local surnames which are hard to classify. We have the apparently anatomicalBack,Foot,Head, and, in compounds, -side.Backseems to have been used of the region behindabuilding or dwelling, as it still is at Cambridge. Its plural has givenBax. But it was also a personal name connected withBacon(Chapter XXIII).

We should expectFootto mean the base of a hill, but it always occurs in early rolls without a preposition. It may represent in some cases an old personal name of obscure origin, but it is also a nickname with compounds such asBarfoot,Lightfoot. The simpleHead, found as Mid. Eng.delheved, is perhaps generally from a shop sign. Fr. Tête, one origin ofTait,Tate, and Ger. Haupt, Kopf, also occur as surnames. As a local suffix -headappears to mean top-end and is generally shortened to -ett, e.g.Birkett(cf. Birkenhead),[Footnote:No doubt sometimes, likeBurchett,Burkett, for the personal name Burchard, Anglo-Sax. Burgheard]Brockett(brook),Bromet,Bromhead(broom),Hazlitt(hazel). The same suffix appears to be present inFossett, fromfosse, andForcettfromforce, a waterfall (Scand.).Broadheadis a nickname, like Fr.Grossetêteand Ger. Breitkopf. The face-value ofEvershedis boar's head.Morsheadmay be the nickname of mine host of the Saracen's Head or may mean the end of the moor. So the namesAked(oak),Blackett,Woodheadmay be explained anatomically or geographically according to the choice of the bearer.Perrett, usually a dim. of Peter, may sometimes represent the rather effective old nickname "pear-head."

Sideis local in the uncomfortable soundingAkenside(oak),Fearenside(fern), butHeavisideappears to be a nickname.Handysidemay mean "gracious manner," from Mid. Eng.side, cognate with Ger.Sitte, custom. SeeHendy(Chapter XXII). The simpleendsurvives asIndorNind(Chapter III) and inOverend(Chapter XII),Townsend.Edgeappears also in the older formEgg, but the frequency of place-names beginning withEdge, e.g. Edgeley, Edgington, Edgworth, etc., suggests that it was also a personal name.

Lynch, a boundary, is cognate with golf-links. The following sounds modern, but refers to people sitting in a hollow among the sand-ridges—

"And are ye in the wont of drawing up wi' a' the gangrel bodies that ye find cowering in a sand-bunker upon thelinks?"(Redgauntlet, ch. xi.)

"And are ye in the wont of drawing up wi' a' the gangrel bodies that ye find cowering in a sand-bunker upon thelinks?"

(Redgauntlet, ch. xi.)

Pittis found in the compoundBulpitt, no doubt the place where the town bull was kept. It is also the origin of the Kentish namesPettandPettman(Chapter XVII).Archrefers generally to a bridge. Lastly, there are three words for a corner, viz.Hearne, Herne, Hurne, Horn; Wyke, the same word asWick, a creek (Chapter XII); andWray(Scand.). The franklin tell us that "yonge clerkes" desirous of knowledge—

"Seken in every halke and everyherneParticular sciences for to lerne"(F, 1119).

"Seken in every halke and everyherneParticular sciences for to lerne"

(F, 1119).

Wrayhas become confused withRay(Chapter III). Its compoundthack-wray, the corner where the thatch was stored, has givenThackeray.

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

The wordroadwas not used in its current sense during the surname period, but meant the art of riding, and specifically a raid or inroad. Therefore the nameRoadesis unconnected with it and represents merely a variant ofRoyds(Chapter XII). This name and its compounds belong essentially to the north, the prevailing spelling,Rhodes, being artificial. It has no connection with the island of Rhodes.

The meaning ofStreethas changed considerably since the days when Icknield Street and Watling Street were great national roads. It is now used exclusively of town thoroughfares, and has become such a mere suffix that, while we speak of theOxfordRóad, we try to suppress the second word inOx'fordStreet.Tostreetbelong our place-names and surnames inStrat-,Stret-, etc., e.g.Stratton,Stretton,Stredwick.Wayhas a number of compounds with intrusive -a-, e.g.Challaway,Dallaway(dale),Greenaway,Hathaway(heath),Westaway. ButHanwayisthe name of a country (Chapter XI), andOtway,Ottoway,isOld Fr. Otouet, a dim. of Odo.Shipwayisfor sheep-way. In the north of England the streets in a town are often calledgates(Scand.). It is impossible to distinguish the compounds of thisgatefrom those of the nativegate, a barrier (Chapter XIII), e.g.Norgatemay mean North Street or North Gate.

AlleyandCourtboth exist as surnames, but the former is fora'lee,i.e.Atlee(Chapter XII), and the latter is fromcourtin the sense of mansion, country house. The curious spellingCaughtmay be seen over a shop in Chiswick.Rowe(Chapter I) sometimes means row of houses, but inTownroethe second element is identical withWray(Chapter XIII).Cosway,Cossey,isfrom causeway, Fr.chaussée;andTwitchers,Twitchellrepresent dialect words used of a narrow passage and connected with the Mid. English verbtwiselen, to fork, or divide;Twissmust be of similar origin, for we find Robertdeltwyssein 1367. Cf.BirtwistleandEntwistle. With the above may be classed the west-countryShute, a narrow street;Vennell, a north-country word for alley, Fr.venelle, dim. of Lat.versa, vein;Wynd, a court, also a north-country word, probably from the verbwind, to twist; and the cognateWent, a passage—

"Thorugh a goter, by a privewente."(Troilus and Criseyde, iii. 788.)

WATER

Names derived from artificial watercourses areChannell, now replaced as a common noun by the learned form canal;CondyorCundy, for the earlierCunditt, conduit;Gott, cognate withgut, used in Yorkshire for the channel from a mill-dam, and in Lincolnshire for a water-drain on the coast;Lade,Leete, connected with the verb tolead;and sometimesShore(Chapter XII), which was my grandfather's pronunciation ofsewer. Fromweir, lit. a protection, precaution, cognate with beware and Ger.wehren, to protect, we have not onlyWeir, but alsoWare,Warr,Wear, and the more pretentiousDelawarr. The latter name passed from an Earl Delawarr to a region in North America, and thus to Fenimore Cooper's noble red men. But this group of names must sometimes be referred to the Domesdaywars, an outlying potion of a manor.Lockismore often a land name, to be classed withHatch(Chapter XIII), but was also used of a water-gate.Keywas once the usual spelling ofquay. The curious nameKeylockisa perversion ofKellogg, Mid. Eng.Kill-hog.Portseldom belongs here, as the Mid. English is almost alwaysdelaPorte,i.e.Gates. Fromwellwe have a very large number of compounds, e.g.Cauldwell(cold),Halliwell, the variants of which,Holliwell,Hollowell, probably all represent Mid. Eng.hali, holy. Here belongs alsoWinch, from the device used for drawing water from deep wells.

BUILDINGS

The greater number of the words to be dealt with under this heading enter into the composition of specific place-names. A considerable number of surnames are derived from the names of religious buildings, usually from proximity rather than actual habitation. Such names are naturally of Greco-Latin origin, and were either introduced directly into Anglo-Saxon by the missionaries, or were adopted later in a French form after the Conquest. It has already been noted (Chapter I) thatAbbeyisnot always what it seems; but in some cases it is local, from Fr,abbaye, of which the Provençal formAbadiewas introduced by the Huguenots. We find much earlierAbdy, taken straight from the Greco-Lat.abbatia. The famous nameChantreyisfor chantry,Armitagewas once the regular pronunciation ofHermitage, andChappella common spelling ofChapel—

"Also if you finde not the word you seeke for presently after one sort of spelling, condemne me not forthwith, but consider how it is used to be spelled, whether with double or single letters, asChappell, orChapell"(Holyoak,LatinDict.,1612).

We have also the Norman formCapel, but this may be a nickname from Mid. Eng.capel, nag—

"Why nadstow (hast thou not) pit thecapulin the lathe (barn)?" (A, 4088.)

AGalileewas a chapel or porch devoted to special purposes—

"Those they pursued had taken refuge in thegalileeof the church"(FairMaidofPerth, ch. ix.).

"Those they pursued had taken refuge in thegalileeof the church"

(FairMaidofPerth, 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 perverted toGalley. In a play now running (Feb. 1913) in London, there is a character namedSanctuary, a name found also in Crockford and the London Directory.

I have only once come across the contracted formSentry[Footnote:On the development in meaning of this word, first occurring in the phrase "to takesentrie,"i.e. refuge, see myRomanceofWords, ch. vii.](DailyTelegraph, Dec. 26, 1912), and then under circumstances which might make quotation actionable.Purvisis Mid. Eng. parvis, a porch, Greco-Lat.paradises. It may be the same asProvis, the name selected by Mr. Magwitch on his return from the Antipodes(GreatExpectations, ch. xl.), unless this is forProvost.PorchandPortchboth occur as surnames, butPorcheris Fr.porcher, a swineherd, andPortalisa Huguenot name.ChurcherandKirker,ChurchmanandKirkman, are usually local; cf.BridgesandBridgman.

The namesTempleandTemplemanwere acquired from residence near one of the preceptories of the Knights Templars, andSpittlehouse(Chapter III) is sometimes to be accounted for in a similar way (Knights of the Hospital). We even find the surnameTabernacle.MustersisOld Fr.moustiers(moutiers), common in French place-names, from Lat.monasterium. The wordbow, still used for an arch in some old towns, has given the namesBowandBowes.Amedieval statute, recently revived to baffle the suffragettes, was originally directed against robbers and "pillers,"i.e. plunderers, but the namePillerisalso for pillar; cf. the French nameColonise. With these may be mentionedButtressandCarvell, the latter from Old Fr.carnet(créneau), a battlement.

As general terms for larger dwellings we findHall,House, also writtenHose, andSeal, the last-named from the Teutonic original which has given Fr.Lasalle, whence our surnameSale. To the same class belongPlace,Plaice,asin Cumnor Place.

The possession of such surnames does not imply ancestral possession of Haddon Hall, Stafford House, etc., but merely that the founder of the family lived under the shadow of greatness. In compounds -houseis generally treated as in "workus," e.g.Bacchus(Chapter VIII),Bellows,Brewis,Duffus(dove),Kirkus,Loftus,Malthus,Windus(wynd, Chapter XIII). In connection withWoodhouseit must be remembered that this name was given to the man who played the part of a "wild man of 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 as representing a forester in green, but it was probably at first equivalent to the German sign "Zum wilden Mann."Cassellissometimes forCastle, but is more often a local German name of recent introduction. The northernPeel, a castle, as in the Isle of Man, was originally applied to a stockade, Old Fr.pel(pieu), a stake, Lat.Palos. Hence alsoPeall,Peile.Keepcomes from the central tower of the castle, where the baron and his family kept,i.e. lived. A moatedGrangeisa poetic figment, for the word comes from Fr,grange, a barn (to Lat.granum);henceGranger.

WithMilland the olderMilne(Chapter II) we may compareMullins, Fr. Desmoulins.Barnesissometimes, but not always, what it seems (Chapter XXI). With it we may putLeathes, from an obsolete Scandinavian word for barn (see quot. Chapter XIII), to which we owe also the namesLeathamandLatham. Mr. Oldbuck's "ecstatic description" of the Roman camp with its praetorium was spoilt by Edie Ochiltree's disastrous interruption

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