Family names from the Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Scotch

Considered in Relation to their Etymology,

with

Brief Remarks on the History and Languages

of the

Peoples to Whom we are Indebted for their Origin.

BY THOMAS G. GENTRY,

Author of “Life-Histories of Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania,” “The House
Sparrow,” “Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States,” etc.

In all ages and localities of the world names, implying some one or more characteristics of person, feature, faith, place or event, were conferred by people, especially by those of defective education and rude, unpolished manners. The nations of antiquity appear to have set the example, for the Hebrews had their “Adam,” which meant “red earth,” their “Elizabeth,” “the oath of God,” and the Greeks their “Theophilus,” “the friend of God.” Scriptural names, and those of a purely classical character, have been studied with less difficulty. Every Hebrew name has been fully discussed and examined by the best scholars, and the Greek have received the same amount of careful consideration. Not so with the Latin. While much of value and interest have been gleaned through patient study and investigation, yet there is a great deal that must forever remain doubtful and inexplicable.

Ripe German philologists have given full attention to the numerous race of German appellations, the Scandinavian class having been most ably treated in a series of articles to the Norsk Maandeskrifts from the pen of Prof. Munch, of Christiania. Turner, Kemble, Thierry, and others, have studied, but not comparatively, Anglo-Saxon names, and thrown considerable light upon the subject.

Keltic names have presented far greater difficulties. The changes through which the name passes must be considered, and not merely the sound when translated into English. Books of travels, histories, and popular tales, are here indispensable aids to the dictionary, especially when writers have been good enough to give with anything like tolerable accuracy the genuine word rather than their Anglicised construction.

While surnames and local names have often been discussed, and that very poorly in the large majority of cases, the Christian name has generally been considered too fortuitous to merit notice. Camden did indeed review the current ones of his day, giving many correct explanations, but Verstegen, who followed him up, was more speculative, and, consequently, less correct. Since his day, no English author seems to have given any reliable information to the subject. It is true that a few lists of names and meanings have appeared in magazines and popular works, but they have generally been copies of Verstegen, with puerile and incorrect additions. One paper, which was published a long time ago in Chamber’s Journal, was the only truly valuable paper on English names en masse that has appeared since he wrote.

But little attention has been paid to the history of names. Why one should be popular and another forgotten, why one should flourish [4]throughout an entire country, another in one section alone, and another around some petty district, has not, it would seem, been of sufficient importance to invite examination. History has answered some of these questions, genealogy others, and the patient tracing of patron saints, their relics, and their legends, many others. In this department of investigation, philology owes a lasting debt of gratitude to Charlotte M. Yonge, a well-known English authoress, who has had the time, the patience, the ability, for so herculean a task. A careful perusal of her work, while it shows a few defects, the results of preconceived notions and false reasoning, brings to the light of knowledge much that is valuable and important.

The writer’s interest in the subject began with his study of the Irish language more than two decades ago. That interest has never wavered, but has gathered strength and force with the advancing years. A desire that his fellows should know something of the etymology and meanings of names, for few people have any other idea than that names, family names especially, are the results of chance, has led to the publication of this work. In its preparation he has drawn his facts from primitive sources. Few names, and these originally Christian in character, have been taken at second hand, but in most instances even these have been modified in derivation and meaning to adapt them to his conceptions of what the genius of the languages, from which they were drawn, would require. Bourke’s Self-Instruction in Irish, O’Reilly’s Irish-English Dictionary, Foley’s English-Irish Dictionary, and The Irish Echo, a monthly paper published in Boston, and devoted to Irish history and genealogies, are the sources from which have been obtained the facts for the Irish names. March’s Comparative Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language, March’s Anglo-Saxon Reader, and Bosworth’s Anglo-Saxon and English Dictionary have been invaluable so far as the Anglo-Saxon are concerned, and for the Anglo-Norman and Scotch considerable information has been gleaned from the writings of Chaucer, edited by Wright, from Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, and from scores of other sources.

It is not pretended that the list of names herein given is anything like complete. Hundreds of others could have been included, but they would only have augmented the size of the book beyond the author’s intention. He has endeavored to select names presumably familiar to English-speaking people, and to give their probable derivation and significance. The keen eye of the critic may detect some faults, for a work of this kind cannot necessarily be free from errors, either of judgment or wisdom, but it is to be hoped that the value of the work, as a vehicle of truth and information, may not materially be affected by reason of them.

Careful study and research have enabled philologists to establish a system of linguistic classification. They have given us such families as the Chinese, the Polynesian, the Scythian, the Semitic, and others; and above them all the great Indo-European Family, which comprehends ten members—three Asiatic and seven European.

Seven of these ten families have long been recognized, namely: Iranian, or Ancient and Modern Persian; Indian, or Sanskrit, used in Hindostan; Hellenic—Ancient and Modern Greek; Italic, that is, the Latin and its descendants—Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Provençal, Rheto-Romanic, and Wallachian; Slavonic, preëminently the Russian; Celtic, or Keltic, made up of the Cymric and the Gaelic; Teutonic, subdivided into Gothic, Scandinavian, High German, and Low German. Into the Low German the English falls. Recent scholars have added to these seven the Lithuanian, Armenian, and Albanian, making ten in all.

So unlike are these languages now, that it was not suspected until this century that they were once the same speech spoken by a people dwelling together long enough to build up a respectable vocabulary and a common language. The home of this mother-tribe is involved in obscurity. Conjecture, at one time, placed it upon the high table-land of Eastern Persia. Recent surmise, principally German, locates it in Germany, in Scandinavia, in Russia just north of the Caucasus mountains. When, and in what order, the migrations took place is also conjectural. That great migrations did occur, and that each migrating horde carried along with it [10]the parent speech, is no longer questioned. Strong authorities make it credible that the Celtic tribes were the first to abandon the old homestead and seek their fortunes in new and strange lands.

Of this people, the Celts, when first they appear upon the historical horizon, some prefatory remarks are needed. They occupied the Spanish Peninsula, Gaul when conquered by Cæsar, and Britain, when visited by him in 55 and 54 B. C. In Britain, they were divided into many tribes, and were seldom known to unite in a common cause. They lived in houses hollowed out of the hills, built with low stone walls, thatched with reeds and straw, and lighted only by the door. Their dress consisted of the tunic and short trousers. Fruits, milk, flesh, and grain bruised and baked, constituted their food. They manufactured earthenware, war chariots, arrows, the sword, the spear, the battle-axe, and the shield, burned or buried their dead, tattooed their bodies, and were largely controlled by their priests. The latter—the druids—monopolized the learning, took to themselves supreme authority, settled all disputes, civil and criminal, and were exempt from taxation and all public duties.

No determined resistance was offered by the Celts to Roman occupancy of Britain, for, under Agricola, the Romans had by 84 A. D., conquered as far north as the Firth of Forth, which they joined to the river Clyde by the wall of Antoninus. Subsequently, they built as additional protection against the Picts, the noted wall of Severus, sometimes called Hadrian’s wall, which united the Solway and the Tyne. No attempt of a thorough conquest of the island was made by the Romans, but with their headquarters at Eboracum, now York, they held it by a chain of fortified posts, whose site is now mainly indicated by towns with names terminating in chester, cester or caster—modifications of the Latin castra, a camp. These posts the Romans connected by broad and straight military roads over which their legions could readily march.

Roman aggrandizement was of primary importance. Taxes were levied on arable land, on pasture land, and on fruits, and duties were exacted at the ports. Agriculture was fostered, and large quantities of grain exported to Rome. But the imperial city whose empire was so wide, and whose armies were mostly composed of conscripts from subjugated people, and led by generals of their own blood, was threatened by invading hordes, and was compelled to withdraw her legions for home defense. By 420 the soldiers had all been withdrawn, and the Celts were themselves once more. But their freedom and rejoicing were of short continuance. A more formidable invasion than that of the Roman followed, and by the middle of the fifth century they were the slaves of the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes.

Upon the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain, the unsubdued Picts and Scots of the north attacked the Celts of the south, who had been subjects of Roman oppression. Whether the assailed Britons detached the Gothic tribes from an alliance with the Picts and Scots, and turned them against their former allies; whether, without having been in league with them, the strangers came from their home beyond the North Sea to help beat back the Picts and Scots; or whether, tempted by the fertile soil, they came on their own account, we may never know; but one thing is certain, that they came, and that they came never to go away. Their coming is of weighty significance, for they became the basis of the English nation, and their speech the parent of the English language.

The unconquered Celts of the west and north spoke their own tongue—the Celtic—while that of the conquered portion was overwhelmingly the language of the conquerors, and was called the Anglo-Saxon. It was not, however, entirely pure, for some few Celtic words had unavoidably entered it. The names for the rivers, lakes, hills and mountains, given by the Celts, clung pertinaciously to these objects, and are found with the English of the present day. Throughout the whole [12]of England there is hardly a river-name that is not Celtic. Avon, Celtic for water, occurs as the name of fourteen English rivers upon our maps. Esk, of like meaning, designates more than twenty, and has also entered into the names of towns, as in Axminster, Exeter, Oxford, and Uxbridge. Cam, Humber, Ouse, Thames, and Wye, and many other river-names, are Celtic. Pen, or Ben, Celtic for mountain, is seen in the name for the range called Pennine, in that of the hills called Pentland, and in Ben-Nevis and Ben-Lomond. Dun, a hill-fortress, is found in Dumbarton, Dundee, Dunkeld. Hundreds of other Celtic words can be observed on almost any map of England, and, indeed, on the maps of Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. The names of the rivers Rhine, Rhone, Garonne, and Seine are Celtic. Italy is Celtic for “beautiful region,” and German for “rough man.” Besides the numerous geographical names of Europe that are traceable to this language, such common names as camel, clock, comma, fodder, gun, snake, and whiskey, owe to it their origin, not to mention scores of well-known family names of every-day occurrence.

The remains of the Celtic language are still to be found in the Welsh, the Gaelic of the Scottish Highlands, the Erse or Irish, and the Manx of the Isle of Man.

Irish Letters—Their Sounds.

There are seventeen letters in the Irish Alphabet, of which five are vowels, the remaining twelve being consonants. Their correspondents in English are a, b, c, d, e, f, g, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, and u.

The designation of the letters by their Irish names, Ailm, Beith, etc., which is only a convenient contrivance for distinguishing them from those of other languages, has been purposely omitted, partly because they are, at present, seldom or never called by their appellations, and partly because there is often danger in mistaking the names for the sounds of the letters.

Regarding the pronunciation of Irish letters, and of the Gaelic language generally, the fullest and most open enunciation is required. The vowels must be sounded as in Italian or French; the consonants, as in German or Spanish. This open, full sounding of the letters enables foreigners to learn to speak Irish more correctly and more readily than English-speaking people; for, of all spoken languages, the pronunciation of the English is the most opposite to that of Irish.

Sounds of the Consonants.

The letters b, f, m, n, p, and r, except when aspirated, are sounded like their English analogues. C is never at all pronounced like s or ch soft, but always hard like k; d, like dh; g hard, as in get; and l, generally, like the first l in William.

More variable, however, is s. Before or after the vowels e or i, it is most generally sounded like sh, there being but a [14]single exception to the rule, and this occurs in the word is—the third person singular present indicative of the assertive form of the verb to be, which is pronounced is, and not ish. Before or after a, o, u, it takes simply the sound of s in soon, the demonstrative pronoun so, this, being in Connaught, where it is pronounced sho, the only exception.

Sounds of the Vowels.

A long, as in wâll, has the broad sound as in English; a short, that of a in băt. There is a third sound, very common in the South and West of Ireland, corresponding to the sound of a in whät.

E long is sounded as in whêre, e short, as in whĕn; i long, as ee in pîque, i short, as in pĭck; o long, as in tōld, o short as in gŏt; u long, as in rūle, u short, as in fûll.

Vowels are divided into broad and slender. The broad are a, o, u; the slender are e, i.

Union of Vowels, and their Sounds.

Two vowels coming together constitute a diphthong; three, a triphthong. In Irish there are thirteen diphthongs and five triphthongs. Of the former, six are always long, or naturally so, and the remainder naturally short, but becoming long when accented. The long diphthongs, as they are invariably long, require no accent. The seven short need the presence of this character to show that their sound is, in the case so designated, to be pronounced long.

Sounds of the Six Long Diphthongs.

Ae is sounded like ae in the Latin word Musæ; ao, usually like ee in queer, except in Munster where it has the sound of the first e in there; eo, like eo in the proper noun Keon; eu, long, like ai in wail; ia, like ee in teem; ua, like ooe in wooer.

Sounds of the Seven Short Diphthongs.

Ai, accented, is equivalent to the sound of awi in the English word sawing, being nothing more than the combined sounds â and ĭ; ai, not accented, has the sound of ai in the French taille, cut, and is hard to be learned by an English-speaking student; ea, accented, is sounded like ea in swear, unaccented, like the same letters in heart; ei, accented, like ei in deign, unaccented, like e in den; io, accented, like ee in green, unaccented, like i in grin; iu, accented, like iew in review, unaccented, like oo in blood; oi, accented, like oi in boil, unaccented, like u in shut; ui, like ui in fruit, unaccented, like ui in quiet.

Triphthongs, and their Sounds.

All the triphthongs—aoi, eoi, iai, iui, uai—are pronounced long, and differ but little in their sounds from those of the long diphthongs from which they are formed. They differ mainly in two particulars—first, in a slight prolongation of the diphthongal sound; secondly, in imparting to the immediately succeeding consonant, on account of its nearness to the slender vowel i, a liquid, slender sound, which it would not otherwise receive. Aoi is sounded like uee in Queen; iai, like the diphthong ia (ee), except that the final i gives to the consonant that follows a slender or liquid sound; iui, like eeyu, sounds that cannot be represented in English, as heard in the Irish word ciuin, pronounced keeyuin, in one syllable.

Aspirated Consonants.

We come now to consider the twelve Irish consonants. Of these consonants—l, n, r—never alter their primitive or radical sounds. The remaining nine do change their radical sounds to those of cognate nature.

This change, arising from a rough breathing after the vowel sound, is properly called aspiration, as it merely [16]modifies, rather than destroys, as is sometimes erroneously supposed, the sound of the consonant. The notation for the aspirate is indicated by an accent (´) or h.

Ṕ (asp.) is equivalent to ph or f. B́, before or after e or i, to v; but before or after a, o, u, to w.

Ḿ, before or after e or i, to v; before or after a, o, u, to w, with a slightly nasal sound.

Ć, like ch in och, or the Greek letter chee. Before a, o, or u it has the former sound, which is that of the German ch; but before e or i, it invariably takes the latter sound.

Ǵ, in the beginning of a word, if before the vowels a, o, u, has the guttural sound gh; but before e or i, it is sounded like y. At the end, or in the middle of words, it has no other power than that of prolonging the sound of the preceding vowel.

D́ has a thick, guttural sound, very analogous to g. In the beginning of a word, before e or i, it has exactly the sound of y; but in the middle, or at the end, it has the force of g, that is, it merely lengthens the sound of the preceding vowel or diphthong.

Derivative Nouns.

Personal Nouns end in ōir, aire, ai, aid́, and are produced from primitive nouns, or past participles.

The terminations ōir, aire, are supposed to be broken forms of the word fear, pronounced fär, a man. If so, then fear must be considered as the root of the Latin ending or, and of the English suffix er.

Abstract Nouns terminate in as or eas, masculine; in aćt, feminine; or in the genitive case singular feminine of adjectives.

Diminutives are formed from nouns and adjectives, and end in an, masculine; in în, masculine or feminine; in ōg, feminine.

Other words terminating in an, from tan, time, or from tain, possessions, are of this class. Iat́, a region, a territory, is, in its fragmentary form ia, the termination of almost all the Latin names of places that have that ending.

From the active signification of the ending ać, and from the meaning of the term neać, an individual, an agent, of which ać is apparently a mere fragment, adjectives with this suffix become personal nouns, and as such are expressive of office, action, or individuality.

Sounds of Certain Terminations.

In Connaught, final ead́ is pronounced like oo in English; in Munster, like a. As the final syllable of the imperfect tense of verbs, it is pronounced incorrectly in Munster, and in some districts in the southern parts of Connaught, like guttural agh.

Generally, ad́ final, in words of two or more syllables, is pronounced like ead́; in Munster, like unaccented a; and, in Connaught and Ulster, like English oo. But in words of one syllable and their compounds, however, the Munster pronunciation is not only adopted in the South, but also in the West and North of Ireland.

In Kilkenny, Waterford, and Tipperary, the diphthongs ea, io, and sometimes iu, are incorrectly pronounced like ow on coming before l, m, and n.

In the words bean, a woman, bard, a poet, and bord, a table, the initial consonant b, when not preceded by the possessive pronouns singular, is not aspirated. Put, however, these pronouns, excepting the feminine, before the same words, and b immediately assumes the aspirate sound; that is, it is pronounced like v, if e or i follow, and like w, if a, o, or u follow.

Adaire. A for an, the; dair, oak. The oak; hence, strong, powerful, robust. Adare, from the same.

Arran. Ara, kidney; an for tan, land, riches, possessions in land or stock. Land of the kidney.

Ardry. Ard, chief; riǵ (ree), king. Head king or ruler. Awrdry, of like derivation.

Baine. Baine, milk, from the adjective bân, white. Milk. Bain, contracted from the original name.

Bailey. Bâile, a town; lać, a broken form of lućt, folk, people. Resident of a town.

Ball. Bâll, a member; one of a community, society, or association. Baull has the same root.

Ballantyne. Bâile, a town; an, of the; tan or tain, land, region. The town of the region.

Bannigan. Baine, milk; gan, offspring, descendant. One nourished from infancy upon milk.

Bannon. Bân, white; on for an, a termination indicative of personality. A pale-faced person.

Barmore. Bârr, top, summit, swelling tide, head; muir, the sea, genitive mâra, of the sea. Swelling tide of the sea.

Barney. Bârr, head; neać, an individual. A leader. Perhaps, the equivalent of bairneać, a limpet, because found on tops (bârr) of rocks when the tide has ebbed.

Barret. Bârr, head; aid́, a suffix expressive of a personal noun. Manager; superintendent; leader.

Barry. Bârr, top; aid́, indicative of personality; originally, barraid́. One at the summit; a man of eminence.

Benaugh. Biad́, food; neać, an individual. One who provides food; a victualler.

Benner. Benn, a mountain; er, a contraction for fear, a man. A mountaineer.

Brattan. Brat, a cloak; an, expressing personality. A cloak-wearer; a clergyman.

Britain. Brith, painted, speckled; tain, country. The country of the painted inhabitants.

Brodie. Brōd́, pride, pleasure; aid́, implying personality. An arrogant person; a voluptuary.

Cabell. Cab, the mouth; aille, the genitive of aill, a cliff. The mouth of the cliff.

Cahal. In Irish Cat́al, from cat́, pronounced cah, battle; al, support. Help in battle.

Cahey. Cat́, battle; ać for neać, a person; possibly, cat́ać, in the original. A warrior.

Callan. Caillin, a girl; or, perhaps, from calla, a hooded cloak; an, a personal suffix. The wearer of a hooded cloak; a nun. Sometimes written Callen.

Cangan. Cean, pronounced cahn, fondness; gan, offspring. Child of fondness.

Cannon. Cean, affection; on for an, personal suffix. An affectionate person.

Caird. Cara, a friend, genitive carad, plural cairde, friends. Carde, only another form of the word.

Carmichael. Car, dear; Michael, a Hebrew word signifying “who is like God.” Dear Michael. In Irish, Michael is written Mićeal, the genitive of which is Mićil.

Carney. Carn, a heap of stones; neać, personal suffix; originally written, doubtless, Car-neać. A quarryman.

Carrell. Car, dear; aill, a cliff. Beloved cliff. Carruill, the primitive form of the name.

Carrick. Car, dear; riǵ, a king. A dear king. Possibly, from carraic, a rock.

Carthy. Car, dear; tir, pronounced teer, a country; ać for neać, an individual; originally Cartać. A beloved countryman. Carty, corruption of the original.

Cloonan. Cluan, a retreat; an, a person. One who lives in a retreat; a hermit; an anchorite. Clunen, of like derivation.

Cloonas. Cluan, a retreat, a cloister; Anglo-Saxon sun, a son. A monk; one who lives in a monastery.

Colahan. Col, kindred; leat́an, wide. Large kindred; wide circle of relations.

Connell. Conn, of heroes; aill, a cliff. A rampart of brave men; a cliff of heroes.

Connaught. Connaćt, in the original, from conn, of heroes; aćt a termination, like tas in Latin, or tion in French or English. Having the quality of heroes.

Corbin. Cor, a knot, a union; binn, harmonious. A happy union; a joyous wedlock.

Connell. Conn, of heroes; aill, a cliff, a wall. A close, compact body of heroes.

Cornwall. Corn, a goblet, a drinking-cup, a tumbler, so called because in ancient times drinking-cups were commonly made of horn (corn); aill, a cliff. The horny cliff.

Cowel. Coćal, a hood, a cowel, a vestment. Or, perhaps, from cuać, hollow; fal, a cover. A hood, or hollow cover.

Craig. Cre, creed; ać, an individual. A churchman; the possessor of a creed.

Creagh. Cre, creed, earth; ać, an agent. Teacher of a creed; cultivator of the earth.

Cronin. Coroin, a crown; in, implying diminutiveness. A coronet; a small crown.

Crowley. Crod́a, pronounced crowya, brave; lać, people. Magnanimous people.

Currie. Curam, care (applied in Irish to all over whom one has charge); lać, an agent. A supervisor; a superintendent; a manager. Curry, the commoner form of the name.

Darra. Daor, dear; a, contraction of neać, an individual. A person of wealth.

Darragh. Same derivation as Darra. In certain parts of Ireland, ać is pronounced agh, or ach. Darrach is an apt illustration of the latter sound.

Dearr. Daor, dear. Perhaps in Darr, Darrach, etc., the e, in the course of time, has been dropped for the sake of brevity, or to satisfy the whims of the possessors of those names.

Deaver. Originally Duib́ir, from dub́, black; ir, man. A dark-complexioned man.

Deegan. De, of God; gan, an offspring. Son of God. Degan has the same signification.

Dermod. Originally Diarmoid, from Dia, God; armoid, of arms. God of arms.

Dermott. See Dermod for derivation. So intimately related are the dentals t and d, that it is not at all unreasonable that they should be interchangeable.

Donahugh. Dona, unhappy, bad, evil; Hugh, the Dutch for spirit. An evil spirit; an unhappy disposition.

Donnell. Doḿnać, Sunday, aille, of beauty. The Sunday of beauty. Perhaps, Irish for Daniel.

Dooner. Dun, a fort, a stronghold; er for fear, a man. The defender of a fort.

Dunbarton. Dun, a stronghold; barton, a corruption of Britain. A stronghold of the Britain.

Dunaghan. Dun, a stronghold; a for an, of the; gean, affection. A stronghold of the affection.

Dungan. Contraction of Dungannon, which, in Irish, is Dungeanain. From dun, a stronghold; gein, affection; ain, a land. A stronghold of the land of affection.

Dunkin. Dun, stronghold; cinn, genitive of ceann, head. The stronghold of the head.

Dunmore. Dun, the fort; an, of the; oir, gold; originally, Dun-an-oir. The fort of the gold.

Egan. Aod́, pronounced eey, Hugh; gan, offspring. Descendant of Hugh. Aod́gan, the original form. Eoghan, a corrupted phase of the word.

Erionnach. Originally, Eireannac, equivalent to Eire, Ireland; an of; nać, an individual. Native of Ireland; an Irishman.

Fahan. Fat́, a plain, a field; an, indicative of a person. A farmer; a cultivator of the earth.

Farnan. Fearn, a helmet; an, person. One who carries a helmet; a warrior. Sometimes written Farnon.

Fenton. Fiontan, perhaps, in the original, a vineyard; from fion, wine; tan, a land.

Fergus. Originally, Feargus; from fear, a man; gus, a suffix denoting towards. One tending towards manhood; a youth.

Fernley. Fearn, a helmet; lać, people. A warlike people. Fernly, a slightly abbreviated form of the same.

Filmore. File, a poet; Muire, Mary. A poet devoted to Mary; one that writes or sings of Mary.

Finbar. Fionn, pronounced fin, fair, white; barr, summit, head. A white summit.

Flinn. Fionn, white; linn, a marsh, a swamp. In allusion, doubtless, to a summer array of white flowers. Flynn, the same word, in slightly altered garb.

Fowne. Fionn, fair. In Tipperary, Waterford, and Kilkenny, fionn is pronounced fown and not fin as is the case generally in Ireland.

Fulmer. Feolmar, jealous, envious of another’s fame, reputation, or glory.

Galligan. Gall, genitive gaill, stranger; gan, offspring. Descendant of the stranger.

Gallagher. Geall, promise; geallać, genitive geallaiǵ, promise; er, person. A person of promise.

Galloway. Doubtless, same as Galway. In the original Gailliḿ, the town of the strangers.

Garrett. Gearroid́, from gearr, short; aod́, compounded of aoi, a being, and De, of God. An humble servant of God.

Garrity. Gearroid́, Garrett; eać, an agent. A representative of Garrett.

Garvin. Garb́, pronounced garv, rough, rude; in, indicative of personality. A rough, rude, or unlettered person.

Geogh. Ge, a goose; ać, an agent. One that acts like a goose; a silly person. Geough, Gough, of kindred origin.

Geugan. Geug, a branch; an, a diminutive. A branchlet. Geugen, doubtless, earliest change from the ancient form.

Gilchrist. Giolla, a servant, one devoted to another; Criosd, Christ. A servant of Christ; one devoted to Christianity.

Gilmore. Originally, giolla—Muire; giolla, a servant; Muire, Mary. One devoted to Mary.

Ginnelly. Ginn, offspring; aille, of a cliff, the genitive of aill. The fruit of a cliff.

Gleason. Gle, pure; gleas, purity; on, implying a person. A chaste person.

Glennessy. Glinn, clear; eas, denoting quality, equivalent to ness; y for neać, an individual. A clear-sighted person.

Glinn. Glinn, the bright heavens. Home of the Blessed. Glynn, of like significance.

Grogan. Gruag, hairy; an, denoting a person. A hairy person. Grugan, derivable from the same roots.

Guinan. Guin, wound, hurt, sting, from ga, an arrow, and an, a circle, an opening; an, a personal suffix. A sufferer; a wounded man.

Guiness. Irish for Æneas, a corruption of Mac Anǵuis, which latter being the genitive of Aonǵus, pronounced eny-as, the equivalent of Angus.

Guire. Contraction of Maguire, which is traceable to maǵ, plain; uire, a contraction of Muire, Mary. Plain of Mary.

Gunn. Guin, a wound, by dropping i, and doubling its final consonant, becomes the word under consideration.

Gwin. Anglicised form of Guin. Gwinn, Gwynn, and Gynn are referable to the same word.

Hallahan. At́, a ford; leat́an, wide. In Irish, pure and simple, the vowels are never aspirated, but in certain parts of Ireland, as before stated, the English habit prevails, as is attested to by the word under notice.

Hinch. Leat́-inse, from leat́, pronounced leh, half, and inse, pronounced insh, island, the final consonant of the first half of the word being carried over to the remaining portion: hence, Le Hinch, or the half-island.

Hugh. Aod́, pronounced eey, is its Irish equivalent: in the Dutch, its parental language, it signifies mind, spirit.

Jarlath. Jarflait́, from iar, inferior; flait́, a prince, a chief, one in rank next to a chieftain or prince. A feudatory prince.

Jarley. Iar, inferior; lać, people. Perhaps, derivable from jarla, an earl.

Jennings. Corruption of Mac Eonin, which is compounded of mac, son; Eonin, young Owen, or John. Son of John.

Kahn. Cean, pronounced kahn, fondness, regard. Kahne, referable to the same root.

Kearney. Carn, pronounced karn, a heap of stones; cać, an agent. So also Karney.

Keegan. Kee, contraction of Mac Aoid́, son of Hugh; gan, offspring. Descendant of the son of Hugh.

Keenys. Ciuin, gentle; eas, a termination expressive of quality. Gentleness.

Kelley. Cailleać, a woman in a hood. The calla was generally worn by the old, and hence the term cailleac came to signify an old woman, a hag.

Kenallay. Cineal, pronounced knawl, a race, clan; ać, an individual. A clansman; one who belongs to a clan.

Kennard. Ceann, pronounced ken, head; ard, top, summit. Top of the head.

Kent. Ceantir, compounded of ceann, head; tir, country. Head of the country.

Keohne. Ceo, darkness; ain, a circle, genitive aine, of a circle. Darkness of the circle.

Keonen. Mac Eonin, from Mac, son, and Eonin, young Owen. Son of young Owen.

Kevin. Caoiḿǵein, from caoiḿ, gentle, and gein, an offspring. A gentle child.

Kiernan. Ciaran, from ciar, black; an, expressing personality, and indicative of a noun derived from an adjective. A black person.

Kilbritain. Cill, church; Brith, painted; tain, country. The church of the country of the painted inhabitants.

Kineal. Cin, of the head, source; al, offspring. Clan; class; race; progeny.

Kincaid. Cionn, affection, regard; cead, first. First love; earliest affection.

Kinney. Cionn, pronounced kin, esteem, regard; neać, an individual. A person of esteem. Kinnie, of like derivation.

Kynett. Cionn, pronounced in certain parts kynn, affection; aid́, sign of a personal noun. An affectionate person.

Leahy. Leat́an, pronounced leahan, wide; an, denoting personality. A large person.

Lillagan. Lile, genitive of lil, lily; gan, offspring. Descendant of a lily.

Limerick. Luimneać, from luime, or loime, bareness; neać, for na eać, of the horses. Bareness of the horses. The original possessor of this name was, doubtless, a native of the town of the same name, which was built on a peninsula made bare by the many horses sent thither to graze.

Linnehan. Linn, a marsh; leat́an, wide. A broad marsh. Linahan and Linehan are from the same roots.

Linch. Leat́-inse, leat́, half; inse, island. Half-island. Lynch has like derivation.

Linton. Linn, a marsh; ton, from tun, Anglo-Saxon for town. A town built on a marsh.

Long. Long, a ship. Not to be mistaken for the Anglo-Saxon long, or lang, having length. The typical Longs were of Celtic origin.

Loughry. Loć, lake; riǵ, pronounced reegh, or reey, king. The lake of the king. Lowry, an abbreviation of the name.

McAdoo. Mac, son; Ad́aḿ, pronounced either Adk-oo or Awoo, Adam. Son of Adam.

MacAlister. Mac, son; Alister, Alexander. Son of Alexander. MacAllister, of the same parentage.

McAlonan. Mac, son; aluin, beautiful; an, sign of personal noun. Son of a beautiful person.

McAlvin. Mac, son; Alvin, corruption of Alban, genitive case of Alba, Scotland. Son of Scotland.

McAnally. Mac, son; anail, genitive of anal, breath; ać, an individual. Son of the breath of a person. McNally, only an abbreviated form of the same.

McAndrew. Mac, son; Andrew, a Greek word meaning strong, manly. Son of the strong. MacAndrias is the Irish form, from which are obtainable Anderson and Andrews.

McArdle. Mac, son; ard, high; le, contraction of aille, genitive of aill, a cliff. Son of a high cliff.

McArty. Mac, son; art, pronounced awrt, a place; eać, an individual. Son of a man of the place.

McAteer. Mac, son; an, of the; tir, pronounced teer, country. Son of the country; a countryman.

McAva. Mac, son; Eb́a, pronounced Awa, which is corrupted into Ava. Son of Eve.

McAuley. Mac, son; caille, genitive of caille, fame; eać, an individual. Son of a famous person.

McBeth. Mac, son; beith, genitive of beth, a house. Son of the house. Macbeth is another form of the same name.

McBreen. Mac, son; braone, pronounced breen, genitive of braon, a drop. Son of a drop.

McBrian. Mac, son; Brian, corruption of Britain. Son of the country of the Brith, or painted people.

McBryde. Mac, son; Anglo-Saxon bryd; Irish genitive bryde, of bride. Son of a bride.

McBurney. Mac, son; bur, an inner chamber; neać, an individual. Son of the inner chamber of a person.

MacCalla. Mac, son; alla, a cliff, the final c of mac being carried over to alla. Son of a cliff.

McCallan. Mac, son; calla, a hood, genitive same; an, indicative of personality. Son of the wearer of a hood; son of a nun.

McCambridge. Mac, son; cam, treacherous; Scottish brig, a bridge. Son of the keeper of a treacherous bridge.

McCammon. Mac, son; camm or cam, deceitful; on for an, denoting a person. Son of a deceitful person.

McCamy. Mac, son; cam, deceitful; eać, an individual. Son of a deceitful person.

McCardle. Mac, son; ard, high; aille, genitive of aill, a cliff. Son of a high cliff.

McCarne. Mac, son; carn, a heap of stones; neać, an individual. Son of a heap of stones.

McCarroll. Mac, son; carruill, from car, dear, beloved; uille, genitive of uill or aill, a cliff. Son of the beloved cliff.

McCaughan. Mac, son; caiǵ, genitive of cat́, a warrior; an, a diminutive. Son of a short warrior.

McCaull. Mac, son; caille, genitive of caill, fame. Son of fame. McCaulley, from the same.

McCaw. Mac, son; cat́, pronounced cah, corrupted, doubtless, into caw, battle. Son of battle.

MacClean. Mac, son; lean, pronounced lane, a marsh. Son of a marsh. MacClaon and MacClane, of similar origin.

McCleary. Mac, son; cleireać, pronounced clêary, a superannuated clergyman. Son of a superannuated clergyman.

McClow. Mac, son; cloiće, pronounced clokh, genitive of cloć, a stone. Son of a stone.

McClune. Mac, son; cluain, genitive of cluan, a retreat. Son of a retreat. McCloon, corruption of same.

McColey. Mac, son; col, kindred; eać, an individual. Son of a relative.

McConkle. Mac, son; conn, of heroes; caille, genitive of caill, fame. Son of heroes of fame.

McConnolly. Mac, son; conn, of heroes; aille, genitive of aill, a cliff. Son of the heroes of a cliff.

McCool. Mac, son; cuile, pronounced kool, the genitive of cul, the hinder part. Son of the hinder part.

McCorkle. Mac, son; Corcaiǵ, Cork; aille, genitive of aill, a hill. Son of a hill of Cork.

McCosh. Mac, son; coise, pronounced coshe, genitive of cos, a foot. Son of a foot.

McCotis. Mac, son; cotis, genitive case of the Latin cos, a grindstone. Son of a grindstone.

McCrea. Mac, son; cre, pronounced cra, of creed. Son of a creed. From the same roots is derived McCray.

McCreary. Mac, son; cre, of earth; riǵe, of king. Son of the King of the earth.

McCrossin. Mac, son; croise, genitive of cros, a cross; in, diminutive. Son of a small cross.

McCrum. Mac, son; croime, crookedness, a noun derived from the adjective crom. Son of waywardness.

McCrystal. Mac, son; criostail, genitive of criostal, a crystal. Son of a crystal.

McCully. Mac, son; cuile, genitive of cul, the hinder part; eać, an individual. Son of a person’s hinder part.

McCullough. Mac, son; cuile, genitive of cul, the hinder part; loiće, genitive of loć, a lake. Son of the lake of the hinder part.

McCummisky. Mac, son; cuimin, of valley; uisge, genitive of uisge, water. Son of the valley of water.

McCurdy. Mac, son; coire, pronounced kŭrh, genitive of coir, crime, sin; d, of; eać, individual. Son of the original sin of man; son of Adam’s fall.

McDavit. Mac, son; Daib́id́, pronounced occasionally Daivit, but more commonly Dâvee, of David. Son of David. McDevitt, from same.

McDermott. Mac, son; Diarmuid, from Dia, God, armuid, of arms. Son of the God of arms.

Mac Donnell. Mac Doḿnaill, in the original, from mac, son; Doḿnaill, genitive of Doḿnall, Donnell. Son of Donnell; Son of the Sunday of Beauty; Son of the Resurrection; Son of God. See Donnell.

McDonough. Mac, son; donaiǵ, genitive of donać, an unhappy person. Son of an unhappy person.

Mac Dowell. Mac, son; doḿan, the world, genitive doḿain, of the world; aille, of beauty. Son of the World of Beauty; Son of Heaven.

Mac Egan. Mac, son; Aod́gan, pronounced Eeygan, of Egan, the Irish equivalent of Hugh. The son of Hugh.

McElway. Mac, son; Elway, a corruption of Gailliḿ, Galway. Son of Galway, the town of the strangers.

McFadden. Mac, son; Fadden is the same as Padden, which is a corruption of Padruic, Patrick, a Latin word for patrician. Son of Patrick. Fitzpatrick, so common in the Celtic, has the same signification.

McFarlan. Mac, son; fara, genitive of fear, a man; lain, of a castle, the nominative singular being lan. Son of the man of the castle.

MacFeeley. Mac, son; fialaiǵ, genitive of fialać, a generous person. Son of a generous person.

McFetridge. Mac, son; Fetter-rice, from Anglo-Saxon fetor, a chain for the feet, and rice, dominion. Son of a dominion in chains, or that is in bondage.

Mac Gahan. Mac, son; geain, genitive of gean, affection. Son of affection. McGahn, McGhan, are equivalents.

McGarry. Mac, son; gearraiǵ, genitive of gearrać, a short person. Son of a short person. McGarey, McGary, McGeary, are of similar origin.

McGarvey. Mac, son; garb́eaiǵ, pronounced garvey, genitive of garb́eać, a rough person. Son of a rough person.

McGill. Mac, son; giolla, genitive of giolla, a servant. Son of a servant.

McGlinn. Mac, son; glinne, genitive of glinn, the bright heavens. Son of the bright heavens. Sometimes spelt McGlynn.

McGloon. Mac, son; gluin, pronounced gloon, genitive of glun, the knee. Son of the knee. McGlone, McGlune, from the same.

McGlory. Mac, son; gloireaiǵ, pronounced gloireay, genitive of gloireać, a glorified person, or saint. Son of a glorified person.

McGowan. Mac, son; gob́an, pronounced gowan, genitive of gob́a, a smith. Son of a smith.

McGrane. Mac, son; grain, genitive of grân, a grain. Son of a grain. McGran, McGrann, equivalents.

MacGraw. Mac, son; graid́e, pronounced grath or graw, love. Son of love.

McGrenery. Mac, son; greine, genitive of grian, sun; riǵ, pronounced ry or ree, king. Son of the sun-king.

McGuinn. Mac, son; guine, genitive of guin, a wound, an opening, a circle. Son of an opening.

McGuire. Mac, son; Maǵ-Muire, from maǵ, plain, Muire, of Mary. Son of the plain of Mary.

McHallahan. Mac, son; T́alla, genitive, of hall; leat́an, wide. Son of a wide hall.

MacHugh. Mac, son; Aod́, Hugh. Son of Hugh. From this name have sprung M’Coy, M’Gee, M’Kay, M’Coy, and Magee. Ua Aoid́, descendant of Hugh, has given us Hughson and Hughes.

MacHulay. Mac, son; Aoid́, of Hugh; lać, people. Son of Hugh’s people.

McInteer. Mac, son; in for an, of the; tir, pronounced teer, country. Son of the country. McIntyre, the usual spelling, is from the same roots.

McKane. Mac, son; caine, genitive of cain, the undefiled. Son of the undefiled.

McKeefy. Mac, son; caoiḿeaiǵ, genitive of caoiḿeać, a gentle person. Son of a gentle person.

MacKeever. Mac, son; caoiḿ, gentle; er for fear, a man. Son of a gentle man.

MacKiernan. Mac, son; ciarain, genitive of ciaran, a dusky person. Son of a dusky person.

McKieman. Mac, son; caoiḿ, gentle; an, implying person. Son of a gentle person.

McKinney. Mac, son; Kinney, from cionn, pronounced kin, affection, esteem; eać, an individual. Son of Kinney.

McKnight. Mac, son; cnioćta, genitive of cnioćt, a knight. Son of a knight.

MacKeon. Mac, son; Eoin, genitive of Eon, Owen or Eugene. Son of Owen or Eugene. MacKoun, Keon, Coyne, Owens, and Owenson, are all from the same roots.

McLain. Mac, son; leune, pronounced laine, genitive of leun, misfortune, misery. Son of misfortune.

McLuth. Mac, son; luait́, genitive of luat́, swiftness. Son of swiftness.

McMillin. Mac, son; muillin, of a mill. Son of a mill. McMullin, from the same.

McMinn. Mac, son; min, genitive of min, pronounced mĭn, meal. Son of meal.

McMurrich. Mac, son; murraiǵ, genitive of murrać, a man of the sea. Son of a seafaring man.

McNarr. Mac, son; nairr, Irish genitive of the German narr, a fool. Son of a fool.

McNamara. Mac, son; na, of the; mara, genitive of muir, the sea. Son of the sea.

McNamee. Mac, son; anaim, genitive of anam, a soul; ee for eać, an individual. Son of a person of soul; a generous person.

McPadruic. Mac, son; Padruic, Patrick. Son of Patrick. Fitzpatrick has the same significance, fitz being the Scotch for son.

MacQueen. Mac, son; Anglo-Saxon quean, a woman, allied to Irish gein, an offspring. Son of the Queen.

McQuigan. Mac, son; caoi, pronounced kwee, wailing; gan, offspring. Son of lamentation.

McQuillan. Mac, son; cuilleain, genitive of cuillean, a cur. Son of a cur. Quillen, Quillan and Quilkin, of like derivation.

McRae. Mac, son; rae, pronounced like ray, genitive of rae, the moon. Son of the moon; one influenced by the moon; a lunatic.

McShain. Mac, son; Seaǵâin, pronounced Shawn, genitive of Seaǵan, John. Son of John. McShane, McShawn, McShaughn, of like significance.

McShimon. Mac, son; Shimoin, Simon. Son of Simon. Fitzsimon, a kindred form.

McSwain. Mac, son; Scotch swayn, genitive swayne, a lover. Son of a lover.

McSweegan. Mac, son; saoi, pronounced swee, a sage, a philosopher; gan, offspring. Son of the descendant of a philosopher.

McTague. Mac, son; Tad́g, pronounced Taig, genitive Taid́g, of Thaig. Son of Thaig.

McTamanney. Mac, son; tam, still, sluggish, placid; neac, an individual; originally, doubtless, tamnać, genitive tamnaiǵ. Son of a quiet person. Tamany, Tamney, slightly modified forms of the same.

McTaney. Mac, son; Taney, from teann, pronounced tāne, stiff, straight, independent, stubborn, hopeful, strong, reliant; ey for eać, an individual. Son of Taney; son of an independent person.

McTeer. Mac, son; tir, pronounced teer, country. Son of the country. Corruption of McIntire.

McThomas. Mac, son; Tomais, genitive of Tomas, Thomas. Son of Thomas. Thompson, from the same, is an analogous, but inverted, form.

McTighe. Mac, son; tiǵe, pronounced tighe, genitive of teać, a house. Son of a house.

McTurk. Mac, son; tuirc, genitive of torc, a boar, a hog. Son of a boar.

McVan. Mac-a-b́ean, from mac, son; a, of his; b́ean, pronounced van, woman. Son of his woman.

Macoun. Mac Eoin, from mac, son; Eoin, of Owen. Son of Owen. Mackuen, of similar origin.

Magagal. Maǵ-a-geall, from maǵ, plain; a, of the; gall, stranger. The plain of the stranger.

Magher. Maǵ, pronounced mâgh, a plain, genitive maiǵ, of plain; er, a man. A man of the plain.

Maguire. Maǵ, a plain; uire, contraction of Muire, of Mary. The plain of Mary.

Malone. Maǵ, plain; luain, genitive of luan, pronounced loon, the moon. The plain, or face of the moon.

Maloney. Maǵ, plain; luain, of the moon; neać, individual. The man in the face of the moon.

Martin. Martan, from mart, an ox; an, denoting diminutiveness. A young ox.

Marvin. Marb́, pronounced marv, dead; in, implying personality. A dead person.

Moyall. Maǵ, pronounced, occasionally, moy, a plain, a level country; aille, of the cliff. The plain of the cliff. Sometimes written Moyal.

Meehan. Mian, pronounced mee-an, desire, the h being ornamental rather than useful.

Meenan. Mion, pronounced meen, small; an, suffix expressive of littleness. A small person.

Menough. Maon, pronounced meen, wealth; eać, an individual. A person of wealth.

Milnamow. Muillin-na-maǵ, from muillin, a mill; na, of the; maǵ, pronounced mow, plain. The mill of the plain.

Morgan. Muir, the sea, genitive mara, of the sea; gan, offspring. A descendant of the sea; a mariner.

Mowbray. Maǵ, pronounced mow, a plain, a level country; braiǵ, pronounced bragh, or bray, genitive of brać, malt. The level country of the malt.

Mowrey. Maǵ, plain; riǵ, of king. The plain of the king. Mowry, the same.

Moyer. Maǵ, the level country; er for fear, a man. A man of the level country.

Muirney. Muir, the sea; neać, an individual. One that follows the sea; a mariner. Murney, from the same roots.

Mulcahey. Originally Mulcat́aiǵ, genitive of Mulcat́eać, from mul, mound, cat́aiǵ, of warrior. Mound of a warrior. Mulcahy, another form of spelling.

Mulcrone. Mul, axle; cruine, pronounced croon, of the world. The axle of the world.

Muldoon. Mul, a mound, a knoll; dun, stronghold, castle. The mound on which the castle stands.

Mullock. Muillin, a mill; loiće, genitive of loć, lake. The mill of the lake.

Murray. Murrać, Murragh, from muir, the sea, and ać, an individual. A navigator; a sailor.

Murtagh. Muir, the sea; teać, sometimes incorrectly pronounced teagh, a house. A house by the sea; a light-house. Murtagh, Murtaugh, indicate their kinship.

Neachtan. Neać, a man; tain, of the country. A man of the country; a countryman; a farmer. Naughten, corrupted form of the name.

Neeley. Niall, Neill, genitive Neill, of Neill; y for neać, an individual. Child of Neill. Sometimes written Neely.

Neilan. Neill, of Neill; an, denoting personality. One of the family of Neill. Neelan and Neelen are the same. Neelans, the son of Neelan, the final s being a contraction of sun, Anglo-Saxon of son.

Neill. Niall, from ni, a daughter; aille, genitive of aill, a cliff. Daughter of the cliff. Neill, Neille, Niell, Nille, Neal, Neel, Newill, Nihill, a few of the many forms of the name.

Neilson. Neill, of Neill; Anglo-Saxon sun, son. The son of Neill. Nelson, of like derivation and import.

Nesbit. Nees, son of Nee; bit́, life. Life of Nees; life of the son of Nee; life of the son of a daughter. Sometimes written Nesbitt.

Ney. Neać, pronounced neay, a man. More probably from niǵ, a daughter.

Nicoll. Neać, occasionally pronounced neach, a man; aille, genitive of all, a cliff. The man of the cliff. Nicol is similarly derived.

Noell. Neul, pronounced na-il, a cloud. Noel, Nowel, Newell, cognate forms.

Nolan. Noell, from neul, a cloud, and an, implying person. Son of Noell; son of the cloud. Nolen, a less common form of the name.

Noon. Noin, pronounced like oi in toil, noon. Noone, Nune, are forms of the same.

Noonan. Noinean, a daisy, from noin, day, noon. Like the Saxon term daisy—day’s eye—derived from day.

O’Beirne. O, for ua, a grandson, a descendant; beirne, genitive of beirn, a child. Grandson of a child.

O’Brien. O, descendant; Brien, corruption of Britain. Grandson of a Briton. O’Bryan, of similar signification.

O’Connell. Ua Connaill, from ua, grandson; Connaill from conn, of heroes, and aille, of a cliff. Descendant of Connell; grandson of heroes of the cliff.

O’Connor. O, descendant; Connor, from conn, of heroes, cub́ar, fond of. Grandson of Connor; descendant of those fond of heroes. O’Conner, slightly modified form.

O’Daley. O, grandson; dalaiǵ, genitive of dalać, a blind fellow. Descendant of a blind man.

O’Dare. O, descendant; dara, genitive of dair, the oak. Grandson of Dare.

O’Dea. O, descendant; Dea, of God. Descendant of God. O’Day, an obscure form of the name.

O’Donovan. O’Don-a-b́ean, from o, grandson; dona, unfortunate; a, of; b́ean, woman. Descendant of an unfortunate woman. O’Donovan, of like significance.

O’Donnell. Ua Doḿnaill, from ua, descendant; Doḿnaill, of Donnell. Grandson of Donnell; a descendant of Christ. O’Donal, an abbreviated form of the name. See McDonnell.

O’Farrell. O, grandson; fara, of man; aille, of cliff. A descendant of the man of the cliff.

O’Gara. O, descendant; gara, genitive of gearr, a noun derived from an adjective of the same name, meaning shortness. Grandson of a short person.

O’Gorman. O, grandson; Gorman, a blue-eyed person. Descendant of a blue-eyed person.

O’Grady. O, descendant; graid́e, genitive of grad́, affection; y for eać, an individual. Grandson of Grady; descendant of an affectionate person.

O’Hara. O, grandson; hara, Irish genitive of the Anglo-Saxon noun hara, a hare. Descendant of a hare.

O’Kee. O, descendant; Kee, corruption of Mac Aoid́, pronounced Mac Eey, son of Hugh. Grandson of the son of Hugh.

O’Keef. O, offspring; caoiḿ, gentle. Descendant of the gentle. O’Keef, O’Keeffe, analogous words.

O’Kelley. O, descendant; Kelley, from caillaiǵ, genitive of cailleać, an old woman, a hag. Grandson of an old woman.

O’Leary. O, grandson; Anglo-Saxon lǽr, learning; Irish y for eać, an individual. Descendant of an educated person.

O’Lone. O, descendant; luain, genitive of luan, a warrior. Grandson of a warrior.

O’Lochlin. O, grandson; loiće, genitive of loć, pronounced loch, a lake; linn, a swamp. Descendant of Lochlin. O’Loughlin, O’Laughlin, cognate terms.

O’Malachlyn. O’McLochlin, from o, descendant; McLochlin, son of Lochlin. Descendant of McLochlin.

O’Mara. O, descendant; mara, genitive of muir, the sea. Offspring of the sea. O’Meara, most generally in use.

O’Millin. O, offspring; muillin, of the mill. Descendant of the mill. O’Mullen, O’Mullane, derivable from the same roots.

O’Neill. Ua Neill, from ua, grandson; Neill, genitive of Niall, Neill. Descendant of Neill. O’Neil, O’Neal, quite commonly occur, and are similarly derived.

O’Regan. O, descendant; Regan, from riǵ, a king; an for tan, place, region. Descendant of Regan.

O’Reilly. Ua Raǵallać, from ua, grandson, riaǵail, a rule; ać, an individual. Descendant of a ruler; grandson of a king.

O’Rourk. Ua Ruarcać, from ua, descendant; rad́arc, pronounced in Connaught rooarc, sight, and ać, an individual. Grandson of Rourk; descendant of a man of judgment. O’Rourke, O’Rorke, kindred names.

O’Shaughnessy. O, descendant; Seaǵan, pronounced Shaughn, or Shawn, genitive Seaǵain, John; nees, ni, daughter, and Anglo-Saxon s for sun, son; y for eać, an individual. Grandson of a person belonging to the son of the daughter of John. O’Shannessy, of like derivation.

O’Shanter. O, descendant; Seaǵain, John’s; ter, from tir, country. A descendant of John’s country.

Ossian. Osna, a sigh; n for an, denoting a personal noun. One who sighs; a mourner.

O’Sullivan. O, descendant; suile, pronounced soo-il, genitive of suil, the eye; i for a, his; b́ean, woman.

O’Toole. O, descendant; genitive tuile, pronounced too-il, of flood. Descendant of a flood.

Owen. Eon, perhaps from uan, pronounced oo-an, a lamb. From Mac Eoin, son of Owen, have arisen MacKeon, Keon, Coyne, Owens, and Owenson.

Owenson. Owen, and sun, the Anglo-Saxon of son. Son of Owen. Owens is the same name curtailed of the last two letters.

O’Weir. O, descendant; Anglo-Saxon wér, a man, Irish genitive weir. Descendant of man.

Padden, corruption of Padruic, Irish for Patrick. A patrician; a nobleman. Paddin is another spelling of the name.

Pollard. Poll, a hole, a pit; ard, high, chief, supreme. A high hole; a deep pit.

Quillin. Cuillean, a cur. Quillen, a slightly changed, and Quill, a largely abbreviated form of the same word.

Quin. Caoin, pronounced kween, weeping, wailing. Quinn, of like derivation.

Quinlivan. Caoin, weeping; luib́, pronounced liv, genitive luib́e, grass, weed; an for tan, garden. A garden of weeping grass.

Rainear. Rainn, genitive of rann, song, poem, stanza; ear for fear, a man. A singer; a minstrel; a poet. Rainier, a name farthest removed from the primitive form, but the one that is most generally used.

Rainey. Rainn, genitive of rann, song, poem; eać, an individual. A writer of songs; a poet. Raney, Reaney, cognate names.

Redfearn. Anglo-Saxon read, red; Irish fearn, pronounced fārn, alder-tree. The red alder-tree.

Regan. Riǵ, king; an for tan, possessions, country. A kingdom. Reagan, Ragan, and, perhaps, Rogan, of like import.

Reilly. Raǵallać, from riaǵail, a rule; ać, an agent. A ruler; a king. Reilley, Reily, Rielly, Riley, cognate forms.

Richardson. Mac Risdeard, son of Richard. Richards, Dicson, Dixon, have the same signification, Richard, in Old German, meaning rich-hearted, powerful.

Rourk. Ruarcać, from rad́arc, pronounced rooarc, sight, and ać, an individual. An observant person; a man of judgment. Rourke, Rorke, Rork, Riark, referable to the same roots.

Ruan. Run, pronounced roon, secret, dear, beloved. Ruane, Ruene, analogous words.

Runey. Run, secret, beloved; ney for neać, an individual, an agent. One that is beloved. Rooney, Roney, common spellings of the name.

Searle. Soḿairle, pronounced Sowarley, Sorley, or Charles. Shorley is from the same root, only the initial consonant has its characteristic force before the slender vowel e.

Sewell. Suil, pronounced soo-ill, the eye. Sewall, a slightly modified form of the name.

Shane. Sean, pronounced shane, old. Shan, Shean, Sheain, Sheahan, Sheehan, of similar derivation.

Shaughney. Seaǵain, pronounced Shawn, genitive of Seaǵan, John; neać, an individual, an agent. The helpmeet of John.

Shinn. Sinn, pronounced shinn, we, us. Sinn, the same, only the s has not taken its accustomed sound of sh before the slender vowel i.

Sinnott. Sinn, we, us; aid́, or aoid́, a person. One who uses the pronoun we; an editor; a reviewer; a governor. Sinett, Synott, Shenett, Sennett, equivalent names.

Smiggins. Smiggin, from smigin, the chin; s, contraction of sun, Anglo-Saxon for son. Son of Smiggin; son of the chin.

Stephenson. Mac Steṕain, from mac, son, and Steṕain, genitive of Steṕan, Stephen. Son of Stephen. Fitzstephen has the same signification.

Sullivan. Sul-a-b́ean, from sul, the eye; a, of; b́ean, woman. The eye of woman.

Sully. Sul, the eye; genitive suile, pronounced soo-il-le, belonging to the eye.

Sweegan. Saoi, pronounced swee, a philosopher, a man of letters; gan, descendant. The offspring of a philosopher.

Sweeney. Saoi, a gentleman, a hero; neać, an individual, an agent. A valet; an aid-de-camp.

Taine. Teine, pronounced tain, fire. Toyne, greatly modified form of the original.

Tammaney. Tam, still, sluggish, placid; neać, an individual, an agent. A cool, calm, deliberate person.

Taney. Teine, fire; neać, an agent, an individual. An ardent, zealous man.

Tenney. Teann, pronounced tane, straight, independent, stubborn, hopeful, strong, reliant; eać for neać, an individual. A strong, hopeful, reliant person. Tenny, Teeney, Teeny, of similar import.

Terrell. Tir, pronounced teer, a country; ell for aill, a cliff. The cliff-country. Tirrill, Tyrell, familiar forms of the same name.

Tighe. Tiǵe, pronounced tighe, genitive of teać, a house. Belonging to a house.

Toole. Tuile, pronounced too-il-e, a flood. Tool, Tull, Tully, cognate names.

Trombar. Trom, heavy; barr, top, summit. Top-heavy. Trumbar, similarly derived.

Van Barr. Van, Dutch for son, doubtless from Irish bean, woman; barr, summit, top. Son of Barr; son of a man of eminence.

Vannaman. Van-na-mann, from van, son; na, of the; mann, man. Son of the man. Names commencing with van are considered by writers of philology as Dutch, but in many such terms the student readily perceives an Irish origin. Van, without doubt, is nothing but bean, the Irish for woman, with its initial consonant aspirated.

Williamson. Mac Uilleam, from mac, son; Uilleam, genitive of Uilliam, William. Son of William. Fitzwilliam, Williams and MacWilliam are forms of the word, the last [50]being the Irish name assumed by the Bourkes of Connaught on the death of their chief, William De Bourg, third earl of Ulster.

Yarnall. Eireann, genitive of Eire, Ireland; aill, a cliff. A cliff of Ireland.

Yarrow. Iar, western; ać, fragmentary form of neać, pronounced ach, or agh, an individual. A western man; a native of Ireland.

Every Englishman—and we apply the term in a comprehensive sense—who would clearly understand the force of his mother-tongue, should study Anglo-Saxon, as it is the direct and copious source of his own beloved language. Out of the many thousand words in use in English, more than five-eighths are of Anglo-Saxon origin. These, not only in number, but in their peculiar character and significance, as well as in their influence on grammatical forms, give to our language, it is universally admitted, its chief vigor. In short, they constitute its bone and sinew. Volumes may be written in words of Anglo-Saxon parentage alone, but it would be impossible to express the simplest thought in language of Latin derivation. Words expressive of the dearest relations, the strongest and most powerful feelings of nature, the language of every-day life, as of duty, business, pleasure, etc., find in the Anglo-Saxon their deepest, sincerest, and most energetic portrayals. Every speaker or writer, if he would convince the understanding and reach the heart, must shun Latinized expressions, and use the Anglo-Saxon, for the one awakens vivid, soul-stirring thoughts, and the other thoughts that are cool and unimpassioned.

With this view of Anglo-Saxon’s importance to every Englishman, a brief account of the origin of the present inhabitants of England will show that we owe to the Gothic tribes—the Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles—our physical vigor, yea, our very existence, as well as our highly expressive language. Like all the Teutonic tribes, the Saxons were of Oriental origin. They derived, most probably, their appellation [54]from the Sacæ, who doubtless gave the name of Sakasina to a part of Armenia. In Ptolemy’s time, A. D. 90, they were as far westward as the Elbe, and, consequently, were among the first of the Teutonic tribes that visited Europe. Their location, between the Elbe and the Eyder in the south of Denmark, strengthens the belief that they were the vanguard of Germanic emigration. The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles, which were the only tribes that successively made settlements in Britain, are therefore deemed of sufficient interest to claim especial attention.

The first to obtain possession were the Jutes. Two brothers, Hengist and Horsa, from Jutland, in Denmark, arrived in three small ships at Ebbs-fleet, in the Isle of Thanet, in 449. This island was assigned to them by the Britons for their assistance against the Picts and Scots. Subsequently, they became possessors of Kent, the Isle of Wight, and part of Hampshire.

Forty-two years later, 491, the Saxons entered Britain. Their first kingdom was established by Ella, under the name of South-Saxons, including what is now known as Sussex, together with a part of Surrey. In 494 another powerful colony, under Cerdic, arrived. Being west of the other, it took the name West-Saxons. They occupied Hants, Berks, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and part of Cornwall. A third Saxon kingdom, in 527, was planted in Essex, Middlesex and the south of Hertfordshire, under the name of East-Saxons (East-Seaxe).

The Angles (Engle), from Anglen, the country between Flensburg and the Schley in the southeast of Sleswick in Denmark, settled about 527 in East Anglia, and exercised control over what now embraces Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and part of Bedfordshire. Ida, in 547, began to establish himself in Bernicia, comprehending Northumberland and the south of Scotland, between the Tweed and Firth of Forth. About 559 Ella conquered Deira, a tract of country between the Humber and the Tweed, embracing the counties [55]of York, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire. Mercia, bounded by the Thames, Humber and Severn, and comprehending the counties of Chester, Derby, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Northampton, Nottingham, Rutland, the north of Beds, Bucks, Hertford, Warwick, Oxon, Worcester, Hereford, Gloucester, Stafford and Salop, was formed by Crida, about 586, into an independent state.

From the foregoing remarks it appears that one Jute, three Saxon, and four Angle, altogether eight kingdoms, were established in Britain by the year 586, and that the Angles and Saxons were the leading spirits in the expeditions. They, therefore, when settled in this country, were collectively called Anglo-Saxons. From the Angles (Engle), who were the most numerous and predominant, the land was named Engla land, the Engle’s or Angle’s land—an appellation which was afterwards contracted into England.

Anglo-Saxon, that is, Angle-, Engle-, or English-Saxon, is the language of the Platt, Low, Flat, or North part of Germany, introduced into England by the Jutes, the Angles, and the Saxons, and modified, spoken, and written by Englishmen. The less daring and enterprising of these peoples who remained in their continental home bore the name of Old-Saxons, and their language Old-Saxon, but their brethren who settled in Britain were fitly designated Anglo-Saxons, and their language, perfected in England, was denominated Anglo-Saxon. To King Alfred, and the many writings of Alfric, we are indebted for the finest specimens of Anglo-Saxon spoken and written in England in their days.

Persons who are desirous of tracing the origin of Anglo-Saxon, or of comparing it with kindred dialects, must first go to the Old-Saxon, the Low-German spoken by those who remained in the old home of the Jutes, the Angles, and the Saxons. No written specimen of the language spoken by these Old-Saxons is extant, but there is, in a collateral dialect, a very fine poem, written in the ninth century, which is entitled [56]Heliand, Healer or Saviour. While some of the Low-German race migrated to England, others passed to the lower Rhine and settled there. This poem being written in the dialect of these Rhenish Old-Saxons, and the latter being akin to the Anglo-Saxon, there can be no question as to its vast importance in the study of the language which is the foundation of our own. Recourse may then be had to other works in Low-German. High-German, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish may then be consulted, and carried back to their Oriental source. None of the German or Scandinavian dialects have writings antedating those of the Anglo-Saxons, except the Germanic in the Moeso-Gothic Gospels of Ulphilas, published in 370, and some Icelandic. A zealous attempt, tracing the origin of the English, Germanic, and Scandinavian languages and nations, with a sketch of their early literature, and short chronological specimens of Anglo-Saxon, Friesic, Flemish, Dutch, German, from the Moeso-Goths to the present time, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish, and tracing the progress of these languages and their connection with the modern English, was made by Rev. Joseph Bosworth, in 1848. All interested in such knowledge will find themselves abundantly repaid by an examination of this learned scholar’s investigations, as shown in the work to which reference has just been made.

Anglo-Saxon Letters—Their Names.

The Anglo-Saxon alphabet has twenty-four letters, namely, a, æ, b, d, dh, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, th, u, w (vv), x and y. All but three, dh, th, w, are Roman characters, the variations from the common form being cacographic fancies.

No difficulty is experienced by German-speaking students in calling the letters by their proper appellations as their resemblance to the German names, excepting in three instances, is very intimate and striking. Ah, ă, bay, cay, day, edh, ay, ef, gay, hah, ee, el, em, en, o, pay, er, es, tay, thorn, oo, wên, ex, ypsilon, express very accurately their syllabic representation.

An accent is found in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, but in none so regularly used as to become an objective feature of Anglo-Saxon text. It is found oftenest over a long vowel; sometimes over a vowel of peculiar sound, not long; seldom, except over syllables requiring a stress of voice. There are times, it seems, when nothing but stress is indicated. English editors represent it mostly by an acute accent, but the Germans generally print Anglo-Saxon with a circumflex over all single long sounds in the root of words, and an acute over the diphthongs; as brôder, freónd. In this book, an acute accent is used over all long vowels and diphthongs.

Sounds of Vowels.

A short or unaccented is sounded like a in man. It is often found in the final syllables of inflections, and generally appears in the radix before a doubled consonant, or two different consonants.

The radical short a can only stand before a single consonant, and st, sc, when this single consonant and these double letters are followed in the inflections by a, o, u in nouns; a, o, u, e in adjectives; and a, o, u, and ia in verbs.

Specially important are the remarks contained in the last paragraph in the declension of words, for, monosyllables, ending in a single consonant, in st, or sc, reject the e from the short æ, and leave the short a alone, whenever, in declining, the consonant or consonants happen to be followed by a, o, u in nouns, and a, o, u, e in adjectives.

It must be remembered, then, that a short a cannot stand in a word. 1. When it ends in a single consonant, that is, when no inflection of a, o, u in nouns follow, as in stæf. 2. When in nouns a single consonant is followed by e, as in wæter. 3. When the word has any other double consonants than st, sc, even though followed by a, o, u, as in cræft. 4. In contracted words, when æ is not in the last syllable, as in æcer.

When the á is accented it is then long, and words containing this long or accented á are now represented by English terms with the vowel sounded like o in no and in bone. Hám home, bán, bone, án, one, stán, stone, have either the same or an analogous meaning in English and Anglo-Saxon. Sometimes the accented or long á is represented in English by oa, as ác, an oak, gád, a goad, lám, lome. Occasionally, á becomes oe in English, as dá, a doe, fá, a foe, rá, a roe, but the ae in these words has the sound of o in no. The same may be said of oa in boar. Hence, it appears that the Anglo-Saxon á is represented by the modern English o, oa, and oe, which have the sound of o in no, or bone. The long á is often changed into æ, as lár, lore, lǽran, to teach.

-A, added to words, denotes a person, an agent, an actor, hence,—All names ending in a are masculine, and make the genitive in an, as from cum, come (thou), cuma, a person who comes, or a guest, is derived. Some words, denoting inanimate things, terminate in a, and these words, having the same declension as those which signify persons or actors, are also [59]masculine. A- is an inseparable prefix, denoting negation, determination or opposition, as from, out, away. A- does not always appear to alter the signification, but generally, however, it adds some little force or intensity to the original meaning of the word to which it is joined.

Anglo-Saxon words, containing the short or unaccented vowel e, are often represented by modern English words of the same meaning, having the sound of e in fed, as nett, bedd, webb. Before a double consonant, two different consonants, or one or two consonants when followed by a long or final vowel, the short e is most generally used.

Words containing the long or accented é are very frequently represented by English terms of the same meaning, and have the sound of e in meet. Long é is used, as in thé, at the end of words, and before the consonants l, m, n, r, s, t, d, dh, c, g and f.

-E, in the ending of nouns, denotes a person, as hyrde, a shepherd, from hyrdan, to guard. It is also used to form nouns denoting inanimate objects, as cyle, cold, but these are mostly derived from verbs, and hence are masculine; but, when they come from adjectives, they are feminine. Final e is the termination of derivative adjectives, and is also the usual letter by which adjectives ending in a consonant become adverbs.

Unaccented i has the sound of i in fin, as is evidenced by the following Anglo-Saxon words which have the same meaning in English as in Saxon:—tin, dim, scip, wit, ribb, milc, etc.

I long has the sound of i in fine, as in the cognate words, tíne, wín, díc, hwíl.

The verbal termination ian, or with a consonant before the i—cian, gian, nian, sian—is the most simple and universal. It is joined to various parts of speech, but especially to nouns and pronouns. These verbs almost always make the perfect tense in ode, and the perfect participle in od. Verbs thus [60]formed from adjectives are generally neuter, but they become active by prefixing ge, as lytl, little, lytlian, to become little, gelytlian, to diminish.

Short o, in Anglo-Saxon, has probably the sound of o in for, as corn, horn, loc.

O, accented, was sounded in Saxon as oo in cook, as proved by the cognate words cóc, bóc, gód, cól, fót, etc.

Final o is chiefly used to form the names of qualities from adjectives, as menigeo, the many, multitude. Nouns ending in o are feminine and indeclinable, but they often end in u, and in that case have a regular feminine declension.

A few nouns in final o are neuter, and make the genitive in ewes, as ealo, ale, genitive ealewes.

The unaccented u in Anglo-Saxon had most probably the sound of u in fun, as testified to by butt, dun, munc, up, etc., which have the same meaning in English as in Saxon.

Long ú had the sound of ou, or ow, in about, foul, house, town, as fúl, hú, mús, nú, úre, Saxon words which have the same signification, as their English representatives most plainly show.

Eo are sometimes used for u, as sweord, swurd, and y for ú, as swytol, swútol. In later times, u was employed for f and v, as luue, lufe, Dauid, David.

Some few names ending in u are masculine or neuter, but they are mostly feminine, and form the names of qualities from adjectives.

Short u or accented Anglo-Saxon y had the y sounded as in mystery, duty, as tynder, hyp, syn, mynster, which are represented by modern English words of like signification.

The long or accented y had the sound of y in type, sky, as will be evident from the following cognate words: lýs, fýr, hýd, brýd, and lýf.

Unaccented i is often used for y, and long i for y; as lístan, litel, minster for lystan, lytel, mynster, and fír, bríd, líf, for fýr, brýd, lýf.

Sounds of Consonants.

The consonants have their common English sounds: c, like k, always; ch, like kh, in work-house; cw, like qu; dh, like English th in a similar word, as ódher, other, dódh, doth; g, like g in go, always; h, very distinct; hw, like wh in New England; i (= j), before a vowel, like y; s, like s in so; t, like t in to; th, like th in thin; w, like w; wl, wr, and final w nearly close the lips; x, like ks.

Accent—Its Use.

The primary accent is on the first syllable of every word: as, bródʹ-her, brother; unʹ-cúdh, uncouth.

Proper prefixes in verbs and participles take no primary accent; such are á, an, and, æt, be, bi, ed, far, ful, ge, geord, in, mis, ódh, of, ofer, on, or, tó, thurh, un, under, widh, widher, ymb, ymbe: an-ginʹ-nan, begin; on-geánʹ, again. The syllable after the prefix assumes the accent.

Derivatives from nouns, pronouns, or adjectives, retain their accent. Such are all verbs in and-, ed-, or-, found in Anglo-Saxon poetry, and many adverbs in un-, etc.

Compounds, formed of adverbs and verbs, retain their accent. Such are these with æfter, bí, bíg, efen, eft, fore, ford, from, fram, hider, mid, midher, gegn, geán, gén, tó, up, út, wel.

The inseparable prefixes á-, be- (bi-), for-, ge-, are unaccented; as, á-lýsʹ-ing, redemption.

A secondary accent may fall in the tone syllable of the lighter part of a compound or on a suffix; as, ó-fer-cumʹ-an, overcome.

Euphonic Changes.

Gemination is the doubling of a letter. When final, or next to a consonant, it is simplified, mm changing to mb, nn to nd, ss to st, ii to ig, un to up: as, timbr for timmr, timber; spindl for spinnl, spindle; lufast for lufass, lovest; lufige for lufie, love; bearupes for bearuues, grove. Double g is written cg, and double f, bb.

Umlaut is the assimilation of a vowel by the vowel of the succeeding syllable: a-umlaut changes i to e (eo), u to o; i-umlaut, a to e, u to y, ea to y, eo to y, á to ǽ, ó to é, ú to ý, eá to y, eó to ý; u-umlaut, a to ea (o), i to eo. The i which produces i-umlaut is often changed to e or dropped: as, man, plural men, from meni; fót, plural fét, feet, from féti.

Breaking is the change of one vowel to two by a consonant. G, c, and ac may break a following a to ea, o to eo, i to ie, á to eá, ó to eó; l, r and h may break a preceding a to ea, i to eo (io), ie: as, geaf, gave; sceó, shoe; sealm, psalm; hleator, laughter; meolc, milk.

Shifting is the weakening of a letter not produced by other letters: a to æ, ǽ to é, eá and eó to é, etc.; dæg, from dag, day.

Nouns—Their Declension.

There are two classes of declensions of Anglo-Saxon nouns:—Strong, those which have sprung from vowel stems, and weak, that which has sprung from stems in an. Of the four declensions, the first, second and third are distinguished by the genitive singular ending in es, e, and a, respectively, and the fourth by its termination in an.

Strong nouns have all masculines of the first or third declension; all feminines of the second or third, and all neuters of the first.

Abstract nouns have their gender controlled by the terminations. In derivatives, the feminine gender prevails, while compound nouns follow the gender of the last part.

Names of males, of the moon, and of many weeds, flowers, winds, are masculine. Nouns representing names of females, of the sun, and of many trees, rivers, and soft and low musical instruments, are feminine. Neuter nouns are names of wife, child, as well as diminutives, many general names, and words made an object of thought.

Epicene nouns have one grammatical gender, but are used for both sexes. Names of mammalia, except a few little timid ones, are masculine. Large and fierce birds are [63]masculine; others, especially singing-birds, are feminine; large fishes are masculine, small, feminine; insects are feminine.

While in English there are but three cases, in Anglo-Saxon there are six. The nominative and vocative are always alike; the nominative, accusative, and vocative are alike in all plurals, and in the singular of all neuters and strong masculines. The genitive plural ends always in á or ená, and the dative and instrumental always in um (on).

Names of women in u or a consonant are strong, those in e or a are weak; while those of men in u, e or a consonant are strong, and those in a are weak.

Adjectives.—Their Degrees.

Adjectives, in Anglo-Saxon, have one set of strong and one set of weak endings for each gender. The latter are used when the adjective is preceded by the definite article or some word analogous thereto. Hence, there are two declensions: the definite and the indefinite.

Degrees of quantity or quality in adjectives are shown by comparison. They are regularly compared by suffixing to the theme of the primitive ir, er or or for the theme of the comparative, and ist, est or ost for that of the superlative.

Verbs.—Their Attributes.

Verbs have two voices. The active represents the subject as acting, the passive as affected by the action. The active has inflective endings for many forms, the passive only for a participle. Other passive forms help this participle with the auxiliary verbs eom (am), beón, wesan, weordhan. There is, however, a middle voice, which represents the subject as affected by its own action; but, as this is expressed in Anglo-Saxon by adding pronouns, no paradigms are necessary.

There are six moods. The indicative states or asks about a fact; the subjunctive a possibility; the imperative commands or entreats; the infinitives (and gerunds) are substantives, [64]and the participles adjectives. Certain forms of possibility are expressed by auxiliary modal verbs with the infinitive, and these are conveniently called a potential mode.

Five tenses, present, imperfect, future, perfect and pluperfect, are found in the language. The present and imperfect have tense stems; the future is expressed by the present, or by the aid of seal (shall) or wille (will); the perfect by help of the present of habban (have) or, with some intransitives, beón (be), wesan or weordhan (be); the pluperfect by the aid of the imperfect of habban, beón, wesan, or weordhan.

Verbs are classified for conjugation by the stems of the imperfect tense. Strong verbs express tense by varying the root vowel; weak verbs by composition. Strong verbs in the imperfect indicative singular first person have the root vowel unchanged, or changed by accent, which is called progression, or by contraction with old reduplication. There are six conjugations. No change is manifest in the root vowel in the first conjugation; the second, third and fourth are varied by accent or progression; the fifth by contraction, and the sixth by composition.

Since all the names derivable from verbs, with which we have to deal in the present work, are concerned with the present infinitive, present indicative of the first person, and perfect participle, it is unnecessary to enter into any elaboration of the verbal inflections. What is needful to be said will appear in its proper place in the derivations.

Abbott. Abbud, an abbot, chief governor, father, or superior of an abbey, convent, or monastery.

Adkin. Eard, earth; cyn, kin, kind. Earth-relative. Akin, contraction of the name.

Allingham. Alling-hám, from All; ing, descendant; hám, home. Home of Alling; home of the offspring of All.

Apgar. Abgar, Irish ab, a father; gár, a spear, a dart. Defender of the father.

Appleton. Æppel-tún, from æppel, an apple; tún, town. An apple garden; an orchard.

Askin. Æscwine, from æsc, an ash-tree, ash, ash-spear, a ship, a man; wine, a friend. Boats were made of ash, hence a small ship, a skiff. Among the northern nations it was supposed that the first man was made out of ash: hence the word came to signify a man, the chief of men, a leader. Æsc, the name of Hengist’s son, was a leader.

Bancroft. Bán, pronounced bawn, bone; croft, a level tract of country, an enclosed field. A graveyard.

Baldwin. Báld, pronounced bawld, bold; win, a contest, battle. Bold in battle. Baldewin, Boldwin, less ancient forms of the name.

Bedell. Bædel, a beadle. A messenger belonging to a court, or public body; a petty officer in a church.

Beckingham. Beck, Beck; ing, a son; hám, home. The home of the son of Beck.

Brice. Brice, fragment, rupture, violation, use, service. Bryce, only another spelling of the same.

Bront. Bront, raging, streaming. Brunt, doubtless, from the same source. Some, perhaps, would consider it a corruption of burnt, made brown.

Burwick. Búr, a chamber; wic, a dwelling, village, camp. The guest-chamber.

Caster. Ceaster (Latin castra, a camp), a city. Chester, from the same derivation.

Chichester. Originally, Cicester, the equivalent of cyren-ceaster, or cyrn-ceaster; from cyren, new wine; ceaster, a city, fort, castle, town. Castle of new wine.

Coulter. Colter, a colter, a knife, a dagger. Colter, the commoner form of the name.

Cox. Cokes, from cóc, cook; sun, son. The son of Coke, or Cooke. Coxe, of kindred significance.

Cumberland. Combra, of valleys; land, land, ground, earth, field, region, country. A region of valleys.

Cunnington. Cunning, experience; tún, town. A cunning town; an enterprising town.

Cuthbert. Cúth, known, certain, familiar, domestic; beorht, brightness, a glistening, light, sight, glance. Known brightness; familiar glance.

Dadaker. Deád, dead; æcer, acre. An acre set apart for the dead. Dedaker, of analogous derivation.

Dalrymple. Dál, a vale; hrympelle, a wrinkle, a ripple, a fold. An undulating vale.

Davies. Davie, diminutive for David; sun, son. Son of Davie. Davis, abbreviation of the same.

Dunham. Dunholm, from dún, mountain; holm, an island. A mountainous island.

Durham. Deór, beast; hám, home, dwelling. A park; a dwelling for wild animals. Dereham, an earlier form of the name.

Edmunds. Edmund, Edmund; s for sun, son. Son of Edmund. Edmundson, Edmondson, lengthened forms of the same name.

Edson. Eard, earth; sun, son. Son of earth. Edison, the same word, but of more euphonious pronunciation.

Eldrick. Eal, all; rice, rich, powerful. All-powerful. Eldridge, doubtless, from the same roots.

Elmer. Ethelmer, from éthel, a home; mǽre, illustrious. An illustrious home.

Emery. Earm, arm; rice, powerful. Mighty in battle. Emmery, Emory, cognate forms.

Erwin. Eard, earth; wine, friend. Earth-friend. Ervin, Ervine, names of similar import.

Farrington. Farringdún, from fearn, a fern; g, for the sake of euphony; dún, a hill. A hill of fern.

Firman. Fir, the living, chief of living beings, man; man, man. The living man.

Fletcher. Flett, house, chamber, bed, hall, palace; cher for er, a personal suffix. A companion; a bed-fellow; a prince.

Fotheringham. Fother, a load, a burden; ing, son; hám, dwelling. The home of the son of burden.

Frick. Possibly a corruption of Frig, pronounced Freeg, the goddess of love, the Saxon Venus, and wife of Odin.

Galt. Irish gaill, genitive of gall, stranger; tún, town. Town of the stranger. Gault, of similar derivation.

Galvin. Irish gaill, of the stranger; vin for wine, friend. Friend of the Gall, the stranger.

Giddings. Gidding, from gidd, song, divination; ing, descendant; s for sun, son. Son of a descendant of song.

Gillingham. Gilling, Gilling; hám, home. The home of Gilling; the home of the son of Gill.

Gipson. Gilp, glory; sun, son. The son of glory. Gibson, of like derivation.

Goodwin. Gód, good; wine, a friend, a benefactor. Godwin, of similar signification.

Graham. Grǽg, gray; hám, home. A weather-beaten home. Gramm, most probably a corruption of the same.

Graves. Grave, Grave; sun, son. Son of Grave. Greaves, Greves, Grieves, modifications of the name.

Gregson. Grǽg, gray; sun, son. Son of Gregg. Grayson, the same in another form.

Grindler. Grindel, a clog; er for Irish fear, a man. The wearer of a wooden shoe.

Hampshire. Hâm, or hamp, home; scíre, shire, district, county, stewardship, charge, business. Home-district. Hampsher, corruption of the name.

Hamric. Hám, home; rice, rule, kingdom. Home-rule. Hamrick, from the same roots.

Hancock. Hean, poor, needy, humble, worthless, despised; cóc, a cook. A needy cook.

Hartford. Heort, a hart; ford, a ford, a stream, a current. The hart’s ford, or the place of its crossing the stream.

Hatfield. Heat-feld, from heat, heat; feld, a field, a plain. An open, sun-scorched plain.

Hebener. Heben, heaven; er, indicative of a personal suffix. An inhabitant of heaven.

Helmbold. Helm, helmet, cover, protector; báld, bold, stout. A stout protector.

Hildeburn. Hild, battle; bryne, a burning, scorching, heat, fire. Battle-heat.

Holdcraft. Hold, kind, devoted, faithful, friendly; cræft, craft, contrivance, skill, employment, strength, power, talent, ability, excellence, virtue. Faithful employment; friendly power.

Hopkinson. Hopkin, Hopkin; sun, son. Son of Hopkin. Hopkins, an abbreviation of the name.

Humphreys. Humphrey, Humphrey; s for sun, son. Son of Humphrey. Humphries, Humphriss, Humphrys, kindred names.

Hurlock. Hár, hoary; loc, lock of hair. A hoary lock of hair. Harlock, a less common name, but one more closely related to the parent words.

Husband. Hús, house; bond, bound, tied. House-bound; house-tied: hence, one that is bound to the house.

Huxley. Huxlic, from hucs, hucx, or husc, irony, slight, contempt, reproach, and lic, like. Ironical-like; disgraceful; contemptuous; vile.

Inskip. In, an inn, a dwelling; scipe, denoting form, condition, state, office, dignity. An innkeeper; a landlord. Inskeep, a kindred name.

Irwin. Eard, earth; wine, friend. Earth-friend. Irvin, Irvine, from the same roots.

Isenberry. I’sen, iron; berry, corruption of beorg, or beorh, mountain. Iron-mountain.

Jackson. Jack, nickname for John; sun, son. Son of Jack. Jacques, French for James, is the most probable derivation of Jack.

Jamieson. Jamie, James; sun, son. Son of Jamie; son of James. Jamison, Jemison, Jimison, kindred terms, founded upon nicknames common to James in parts of Scotland and Ireland.

Jenkin. Jen, abbreviation for Jennie, Jane, John; cyn, kin, kind. Related to Jennie, Jane, John.

Jenkinson. Jenkin, Jenkin; sun, son. Son of Jenkin. Jenkins, abbreviated form of same.

Jenks. Jen, Jennie; k for cyn, kin; s for sun, son. Son of a relative of Jennie.

Johnson. John, Hebrew word signifying “gracious gift of God;” Anglo-Saxon sun, son. Son of John.

Kendall. Cyn, kin, kindred, race, tribe, nation, kind; dǽl, dale, valley. Valley-kindred. Kindell, derivable from the same roots.

Kitson. Kitt, Kitt; sun, son. Son of Kitt. Kitts, abbreviation of the same.

Lambeth. Lamb-hýth, from lamb, lamb, and hýth, measure, gain, profit. Lamb’s measure.

Lancaster. Land, ground, earth, field; ceaster, a camp, a castle, city, fort. An earth-fort.

Landreth. Land, field; ríthe, a well, a fountain, a river. A field-well; a spring.

Lever. Leófra, lever, comparatives of leóf, leef, dear, agreeable. More agreeable; more pleasing.

Lester. Lædheceaster, from lædhe, hateful, unpleasant, loathsome, and ceaster, a city. A loathsome city. Leister, of like derivation.

Liming. Lim-ing, from lim, limb; ing, implying action, originating from. Limning; painting.

Lind. Lind, linden, or lime-tree; also, what was made of lime-wood—shield, buckler, banner.

Lindsey. Lindes-íg, from lindes, genitive of lind, lime-tree, and íg, an island. The island of the lime-tree. Lindsay, another form of spelling.

Lippincott. Lippe, lip, genitive lippan, of lip; coth, disease, malady. Lip disease.

Litchfield. Liced-feld, from licced, licked, lapped, and feld, a field, a plain. A licked plain; a pasture-field.

Lonsdale. Londes-dǽl, from londes, genitive of lond, land; dǽl, dale, valley. Land’s-dale.

Manchester. Manig-ceaster, from manig, many, much; ceaster, city, fort, castle, town. Many castles.

Meadowcroft. Mǽdewe, a meadow; croft, a small enclosed field. A meadow-field.

Medlar. Méd, meed, merit, reward, recompense; lǽr, doctrine. Reward of doctrine.

Medway. Mǽd, meed, meadow, trunk of a tree; wǽg, a wave. Meadow-wave; a river.

Meredith. Mere, lake, sea; diht, ordering, direction, predicting, foretelling. Sea-predicting.

Merscher. Mersc-ware, from mersc, marsh, fen, and ware, used only as a termination, denoting inhabitants, dwellers. Marshmen; fenmen.

Merton. Meretún, from mere, lake, sea; tún, town. Sea-port; lake-port.

Metsinger. Metssunge, from mettsung, messing, food, meat; ere, indicating a person. A victualler; a provider. Messinger, another form of the name.

Michener. Perhaps Micg-ærn, from micg-an, to water; ærn, a place, a secret place, a closet, a habitation, a house. An urinary; a drain.

Mitchell. Mycg, a midge, a gnat; el, a termination denoting a person. A dwarf; a pigmy.

Montgomery. Munt-guman-ríc, from munt, mountain; guman, of man, genitive of guma; ríc, pronounced ree, a postfix denoting dominion, power. Mountain of man’s power; acme of human greatness.

Mumford. Mund-ford, from mund, a contraction of munden, remembered, and ford, ford. A remembered ford.

Murberry. Murberie, possibly from múr, a wall, from the resemblance of the fruit in roughness to a wall, and berie, a berry. Mur itself signifies a mulberry.

Nachtigall. Næctegale, nightingale, from næcte, night, and gale, a singer. A night-singer.

Nægele. Nægel, a nail, a pin, a nail of the hand. Nagel, Nagele, Naglee, other forms of the name.

Nebeker. Neb, face, countenance, mouth, neb, nib, nose; æcer, field, land, anything sown, sown corn, an acre. Face-pimples.

Nebel. Neb, face, countenance; el, termination denoting a person. Human face.

Nebhut. Neb, face, head, mouth; húth, spoil, booty, prey. Blotched countenance.

Needham. Neád, need, necessity, infirmity; hám, home, house, dwelling, village, farm. An almshouse; an infirmary.

Nesenger. Nesse, a headland; ing, originating from; er, a personal suffix. One raised upon a headland.

Neswanger. Nesse, or næs, a rock, support, headland, ness, cape, promontory; wang, a plain, field, wong, land; er, a personal suffix. Possessor of a rock-plain.

Nester. Nest, support, food, wages; er, a personal suffix. A supporter; a wage-earner. Nester, a kindred name.

Neth. Neth, wickedness, malice, cunning, hatred, strife, zeal, punishment, slaughter.

Netterville. Nett, a net; er, a personal suffix; French ville, a villa, a town. A fishing-place.

Nettinger. Nett, a net; ing, expressive of action; er, a personal termination. A seiner; a fisherman.

Newbold. Newe, new, late, young; báld, bold, courageous, honorable. Lately honorable.

Newell. Neowel, prone, prostrate, depressed, profound, deep. Newhall, perhaps, from the same root.

Nyholm. Nye, a nest; holm, the deep sea, an abyss, the ocean, a river island. Nest-water; nest-island.

Obdyke. Ob, off; díc, bank, mound. Off the bank. Opdyke, from the same roots.

Oberdick. O’ber, over, above; díc, dyke, ditch, trench, moat. Overflowing ditch.

Ormerod. Or, free from; me, me; rod, rod. Free me from the rod. Ormrod, of like import.

Ormond. Or, free from; mond, care, protection. Free from care; without protection.

Ormsby. Orm, Orme; s, sign of genitive; bý, a termination denoting habitation, dwelling. Habitation of Orme.

Orton. Or, free from; tún, house, farm, village, town. Free from the cares of home, or of the town.

Osbeck. O’s, a hero; béc, a book, a volume, a writing. Hero-book; a novel.

Osborne. O’s, a hero; beorn, chief, general, prince, king. Hero-king. Osborn, Osbourn, Osbourne, kindred names.

Osmond. O’s, hero; mond, hand, defence, protection, security. Hero-protection.

Osner. O’s, hero; nere, refuge, safety, preservation. Heroic preservation.

Oxenford. Oxen, from oxan, genitive of oxa, an ox; ford, a ford. The ford of the ox. Oxford, abbreviation of same.

Pilking. Píl, a pile, dart; cyng, a king, ruler, prince. Pile-king; warrior-king.

Pitfield. Pitt, a well; feld, a field, pasture, plain. A plain full of excavations.

Pitman. Pitt, a pit, a hole, a well; man, a man. A man who works in a pit; a pitman.

Pittenger. Pitt, Pitt; eng for ing, descendant; er, a personal suffix. Descendant of Pitt.

Plagman. Plæga, play, pastime, wager; man, a man. Man of pleasure. Plagemann, a cognate form.

Porter. Port, port, haven, town, city, gate of a town; er, a personal suffix. A gate-keeper.

Preston. Preost, a priest, presbyter, clergyman; tún, a house. A parsonage.

Quicksell. Cwic, active; sel, a companion. An active companion. Quicksall, a slightly modified term.

Radcliff. Rád, that on which one rides, a road; clyf, a rock, a steep descent. A road-cliff. Radcliffe, another spelling.

Raddish. Rædic, from rǽd, red, and isc, an adjective termination denoting like. Red-like; a radish. Radisch, Radish, of similar origin.

Rafferty. Ræfter, a rafter, a perch. Doubtless, a corruption of ræfter, produced by removing t, and placing it at the end of the word.

Ramsey. Rammes-íg, from rammes, genitive of ramin, ram; ig, an island. Isle of Ram. Ramsay, from the same roots.

Ranck. Ranc, proud, haughty, rebellious, rank, fruitful. Rancke, slightly altered form.

Randall. Ran, a deer; dál, or dǽl, a dale, a valley. Deer-valley. Randell, Randle, of like parentage.

Rankins. Rankin, Rankin; s for sun, son. Son of Rankin. Ranken, from the same.

Ranks. Rank, Rank, from rænc, pride, and s for sun, son. Son of Rank; son of pride.

Rasbold. Rǽs, a rush, an onset, an attack; báld, bold, audacious, courageous, honorable. A courageous attack.

Rawle. Rǽw, a corpse; el, denoting a person. Human corpse. Rawley, of like derivation.

Rawlings. Rawl, Rawl; ingas, sons of. Sons of Rawl, or Rawle. Rawlins, contraction of the same.

Reading. Read, Read; ing, offspring. Son of Read. Redding, of like origin.

Reckless. Recce-leas, from recc, care; leas, free from. Free from care; careless; reckless.

Reinhart. Rein, sincere, pure, clean, chaste; heart, or heort, a heart. A pure heart.

Remington. Rem, Reme; ing, offspring; tún, town, dwelling. House of the son of Reme.

Reneker. Reonig, tired, weary, sad; er, a personal termination. A tired person; a mourner.

Riceman. Rice, power, greatness; man, a man. A man of power; a person of influence.

Richard. Rice, or riche, rich, powerful, mighty; ard, implying an ensign of office. A mighty ruler.

Richardson. Richard, Richard; sun, son. Son of Richard. Richards, contraction for the same.

Rider. Ríd-ere, from rídan, to ride, sit or rest upon, press; ere, implying person. A rider; a knight. Ryder, from the same roots.

Riegel. Rige, rye; el, a termination denoting a person. A rye-man; a cultivator of rye; baker of rye-bread.

Riegg. Rige, rye, by transposing the positions of g and e, becomes Rieg, and this differs from the name under consideration only in the absence of the additional g. Rigg, of similar import.

Riehl. Rihel, doubtless the original, is from rih, hairy, rough, and el, denoting personality. A hairy man; a rough person. Riehle, Rile, Riley, of analogous derivation.

Righter. Riht-ere, from riht, right, justice, law, true, just; ere, denoting a person. A governor; a ruler.

Rightley. Riht-líce, from riht, right, just; líce, like, ly. Right-like; rightly; justly.

Riling. Ril, Ril, Riehl; ing, offspring. Descendant of Riehl. Rilling, of similar significance.

Rimby. Rím, a number, reckoning, computation, calendar; bý, a habitation. Home of an arithmetician.

Rimer. Rím, number, reckoning, calendar; er, a personal suffix. An arithmetician; a reckoner; an astronomer. Rimmer, derivable from the same roots.

Rinear. Rín, course, course of years, life; ear, ocean, sea. Life-sea; sea of life.

Rinehart. Rín, race, course: heort, the heart. Race-heart; rapid heart-action.

Ringgold. Ringe, a ring; gold, gold. A gold ring. Ring-gold, of like derivation.

Ringle. Ringe, a ring; el, a termination denoting a person. Ring-wearer; betrothed lady.

Rink. Rinc, a soldier, warrior, hero, a valiant or honorable man, a man. Rinick, doubtless, a corruption of the same.

Rippel. Ríp, harvest, reaping; el, denoting a person. A reaper; a harvester.

Ripperger. Ríp, harvest; earg, weak, evil, wretched, idle; ere, a person. An idle harvester.

Ritner. Rit, ears of corn, a heap of fruit, corn, or grain; nere, support, protect, refuge. Corn-support.

Roach. Reohche, a roach, a thornback. Roache, Roche, Roatch, Roesch, Roetsck, cognate forms.

Roats. Roat, Roat; s for sun, son. Son of Roat. Roetz, possibly, from the same.

Rodbard. Reod, red; beard, beard. Red beard. Robert is, in Anglo-Saxon, Rod-beard, and doubtless comes from the same roots.

Rodearmel. Reod, red; earm, arm; el, indicating a person. A red-armed person.

Rodebaugh. Reod, red; bæc, back. Red back. Rodenbaugh, of like derivation.

Rodgers. Rodger, from reod, red; ierre, anger, indignation, fury; and s for sun, son. Son of Rodger; son of red-visaged [89]anger. Rodgerson is an unabbreviated form of the name, and Rogers a slight modification thereof.

Rodisch. Reod, red; isc, an adjective termination denoting the external quality of a subject. Reddish.

Rodner. Reod, red; nere, support, protection. A zealous support. Perhaps, from rǽdanere, a reader, an interpreter.

Rodrick. Roder, firmament, sky, heavens; ríce, power, dominion, greatness, kingdom. Heavenly power. Roderick, a more closely related form.

Roeckle. Roec, smoke; le for el, denoting a person. A reeking, steaming person.

Roedel. Rá, a roe; dǽl, a dale, a valley. The vale of the roe. Roedell, of like significance.

Roeger. Rǽge, pronounced ro-ge, a roe, a doe; ere, an agent. A roe-hunter.

Roehler. Hreol, a reel; ere, an agent. A spinster; a dancer. Roeller, from the same roots.

Roffel. Róf, famous, illustrious; el, denoting a person. A famous person. Roffle, of kindred signification.

Rohde. Ród, pronounced rohd, genitive rohde, rood, cross. Belonging to the cross.

Rohlfing. Hreol, a reel; fing, doubtless, a contraction of finger, a finger. The reel-finger. Perhaps the name is derivable from hreol, a reel, and fiong, hatred. Hatred of the reel.

Roland. Row, sweet, quiet; land, land, ground, earth, field, region, country. Sweet land; quiet country. Rolan, Rowland, kindred terms.

Rolf. Row, quiet, restful; lf for líf, life. A quiet life. Roloff, Rolph, cognate terms.

Romberg. Róm, Rome; beorg, a hill fortification, citadel, defence, refuge. Citadel of Rome.

Romberger. Róm, Rome; beorg-ere, defender of a citadel. Defender of the citadel of Rome.

Romel. Róm, Rome; el, denoting a person. Citizen of Rome. Rommel, Rommell, of like origin.

Ronald. Rún, pronounced rown, a letter, magical character, mystery, council, meditation, conversation; ald, an age. An age of mystery.

Rone. Rún, a letter, a mystery, a council; e, indicating person. A man of mysteries; a sage. Roney, Rooney, from the same roots.

Rookstool. Rook, Rook; stól, pronounced stool, seat, chair, throne. Rook’s chair or throne.

Room. Rúm, pronounced rowm, room, space, place, wide, open, spacious, ample, of good cheer or heart, august, fortunate. Roome, of like import.

Roray. Rure, pronounced ruhr-e, a noise, the final e taking the French sound of a.

Rorer. Rure, a noise; ere, an agent. One who makes a noise; a babbler; a prattler.

Roseman. Rose, Rose; man, a servant. A servant of Rose. Rosemann, of like derivation.

Rosenacker. Rosen, Rosen; æcer, acre. Rosen’s acre; ground belonging to Rosen.

Rosenfeld. Rosen, Rosen; feld, field, pasture, plain. Rosen’s field; a blooming pasture. Rosenfelt, from the same roots.

Rosewarne. Rose, a rose; wearn, a hindrance, obstacle, resistance, denial. Rose-obstacle.

Roskeep. Rose, a rose; ceáp, a bargain, sale, business, chattel. Rose-sale.

Rosney. Rose, a rose; ney, from the Irish, an individual, an agent. Rose-dealer.

Rowan. Rówan, pronounced roow-an, to row, to sail. Rowand, Roan, from the same root.

Rowe. Reowe, an Irish mantle or rug, soldier’s cloak, a frieze cassock, a priest’s garment. Row, of like significance.

Rox. Rocks, from Rock, Rock; s for sun. Son of Rock. Rock is from the Irish roc, pronounced rokh, a rock.

Roxberry. Roxbury, from Rox, Rox, and byrig, a town, a city. Town of Rox.

Roxbrough. Roxborough, from Rox, Rox, and burh, a town, a city. Town of Rox.

Rucher. Róc, a rook; er, indicative of a person. One who acts like a rook; a croaker. In the South of Germany ruch, a rook, is the form of the word, and this agrees much better with the name under consideration.

Rudd. Rud, red, ruddy. Later rud, became a noun, and signified redness, blush, ruddle, red ochre, and a river-fish. The last-named, from its red eyes, was called the rudd, or red-eye.

Rudden. Rud, red, ruddy; en, a termination of adjectives and participles. Make red; ruddy.

Rudduck. Rudduc, robin-red-breast. Ruddick, Ruddach, Ruddock, kindred names.

Ruddiman. Rud, ruddy; ig, an adjective ending; man, a man. A ruddy man. Rudman, Rudmann, of like significance.

Ruddy. Rud, ruddy; ig, implying an adjective. Ruddy. Rudy, of same derivation.

Rudling. Rud, ruddy; ling, denoting state or condition of a person, an image, an example. Healthy condition; picture of health.

Rudolph. Rud, red ochre, red iron-ore; dǽlf, pronounced dolf, a delving, a digging. Iron-digging.

Ruf. Hróf, or róf, a roof, a raised part. Perhaps, from róf, famous, renowned, illustrious. Rufe, Ruff, Ruoff, of kindred signification.

Ruffell. Hróf, a roof, a raised part; el, denoting a person. A roof-rearer; a ruff-wearer.

Rumboltz. Rúm, a room; boltes, genitive of bolt, a house. Room of a dwelling.

Rumel. Rúm, a room; el, indicative of a person. A room-mate. Rummel, Rummell, from the same.

Rumsey. Rúm, room, space, place; rumes, genitive of space; íg, an island. A spacious island.

Runner. Rún, pronounced roon, mystery; ere, a person. A dealer in mysteries; a sorcerer.

Runser. Rún-seó-ere, from rún, a secret; seó, I see; ere, a person. A foreteller of secrets.

Runyon. Rún-ian, to whisper, to speak mysteriously, from rún, a mystery, and ian, a verbal ending.

Rusher. Rush, Rush; er, a person. One who is a Rush; son of Rush; one who uses the rush.

Rushton. Rush, Rush; tún, town, house. Home of Rush; habitation of the rush.

Rushworth. Rush, Rush; weordh, worth, worthy, honorable. An estimable Rush; value of rushes.

Ruth. Rúte, rue, a bitter herb. From the bitter property of the rue, we have ruth, expressive of pity, sorrow, tenderness for the misery of another, mercy. Rutt, more closely related to derivation.

Rutnard. Ruth, rue, pity, sorrow; ard, an ensign of office, such as a pole, staff, etc. A physician; a clergyman; a consoler.

Rutledge. Rúte, rue; leger, place for laying or lying, as bed, couch, grave, churchyard. Rue-bed; a bed of rue.

Rutty. Rúte, rue; ig, an adjective termination. Like rue. Or, Rutt, Rutt; ig, expressing the quality of. Having the character of Rutt.

Ryland. Rye, hairy, rough; land, ground, earth, region, country. A rough country.

Sabin. Sǽ, the sea; bin, a crib, a manger, a bin, a hatch. Sea-crib. Sabine, of like import.

Sachs. Sach, Sach; s for sun, son. Son of Sach. Saches, Sachse, Sacks, from the same roots.

Sackwright. Sæc, a sack; wyrhta, a workman, artificer, wright, maker. A sack-maker.

Saddington. Sæd, pronounced sad, satisfied, sated; dincg, broken or fallow ground; tún, a farm. A farm of sated, fallow ground.

Sadler. Sadel, a saddle; ere, an agent. A saddle-maker. Sadleir, Saddler, cognate terms.

Sagee. Sage, a sage; e, denoting a derivative adjective. Wise; philosophical.

Sainsbury. Sanctes, genitive of sanct, a saint; bury, from beorh, a place of burial. Saint’s burying-place.

Sale. Sæl, pronounced sā-el, a cord, a strap. Saile, from the same root.

Salter. Salt, salt; ere, an agent. A manufacturer of salt. Also, from saltere, a psaltery, a dulcimer.

Sander. Sand, sand, earth; er, an agent, or doer. A sand-digger. Saner, a contraction of the same.

Sanders. Sander, Sander; s for sun, son. Son of Sander. Saunders, of like derivation.

Sanderson. Sander, Sander; sun, son. Son of Sander. Saunderson, similarly derived.

Sandford. Sand, sand; ford, a ford. A sandy ford. Sanford, an abbreviation of the name.

Sangers. Sanger, a singer; s for sun, son. Son of Sanger; son of a singer.

Sappington. Sæpp, sap; ing, denoting action; tún, town, village. A sapping town.

Saulsberry. Sáules, genitive of sául, a soul; berry, from byrig, a city. Saul’s city; city of the soul.

Sax. Sachs, from Sach, Sach, and s for sun, son. Son of Sach. Saxe, of kindred meaning.

Sayer. Sǽ, the sea; ere, an agent. A navigator. Sayre, from the same roots.

Sayers. Sayer, Sayer; s for sun, son. Son of Sayer. Sayres, a cognate form.

Scanlan. Scand, shame, modesty, disgrace; land, land, earth, region, country. Disgraced region. Scanlin, Scanlon of like significance.

Scannell. Scand, shame, disgrace; el, a personal suffix. A person in disgrace.

Scarborough. Scear, an estate, landed property; burh, a town, a city. The landed property of a town.

Schaler. Sceale, a school; ere, an agent. A scholar. Schaller, a kindred name.

Schallinger. Sceale, a school; ing, expressive of action; ere, an agent. One who is acquiring his schooling; a scholar.

Scollean. Scól-lean, from scólu, a school, and lean, reward. A school-reward. Scollan, from the same roots.

Scollay. Scól-ley, from scólu, a school, and ley, a song. A school-song.

Scollin. Scól-in, from scólu, a school, and in, a habitation. A school-house.

Scollon. Scól-lond, from scólu, a school, and lond, land. School-land.

Scotney. Scot, shot, payment; ney, from the Irish, implying an agent. A paymaster.

Seabrook. Sǽ, the sea; bróc, a brook. A sea-brook; a rivulet that empties into the sea.

Seal. Seal, a willow, a sallow. Seel, an analogous name. Perhaps, from seal, a seal.

Sealey. Seal, a willow; ig, an adjective termination. Willowy; abounding with willows. Sealy, Seely, Seeley, similarly derived.

Searle. Sear-el, from sear, sear, and el, denoting a personal noun. A withered person; an aged person. Searl, from the same roots.

Seary. Sear, dry, withered; ig, denoting an adjective. Withered. Seeary, an analogous term.

Seckinger. Sec, war, battle; cyng, a king, ruler, prince; ere, an agent. A warrior-king.

Seddinger. Perhaps, from Sedling, an Ethiopian, and ere, an agent. A slave-trader. Sedenger, a corruption of the same.

Sedgwick. Secg, warrior, soldier; wic, a camp, a station. A military camp.

Seeberger. Sé, the sea; berg, a mountain, a hill; ere, an agent. One that occupies a sea-mountain; a mermaid. Seeburger, of like significance.

Seefelder. Sé, the sea; feld, a field, a plain; ere, an agent. A follower of the sea-plain; a seafaring man.

Seegrist. Sé, the sea; grist, grist, a grinding. Sea-grist; sea-grinding. Segrest, of like import.

Seher. Sé, the sea, here, an army, a host, a legion. A sea-army; a naval expedition.

Selbert. Sel, a dwelling, a palace, a hall; beorht, brightness. Hall-brightness.

Selden. Seld, a royal seat, a throne, a palace; en, an adjective ending. Palatial.

Selfridge. Self, same, self-same; ricg, a back, a ridge, a roof. Self-same ridge.

Selner. Sel, a palace; nere, refuge, protection. Palace-refuge; protection of the king.

Selser. Sells-ere, from Sells, son of Sell, and ere, an agent. A servant of Sell’s son. Selser, perhaps, from the same roots.

Settel. Setel, a settle, a seat, a bench, a stool. Settle, of similar derivation.

Sharpless. Scearp, sharp; læs, less, comparative of lytel. Less sharp. Sharples, of similar meaning.

Sharsig. Sceares, genitive of scear, Sharr’s, and ig, an island. Sharr’s island.

Sharswood. Sharr’s, Sharrs; wud, wood. Sharr’s wood. Sharwood, an abbreviated form of the name.

Sheardown. Scear, sheared; dún, a mountain, hill, downs. A sheared mountain; a shaven hill.

Shearer. Sceare-ere, from sceare, shears, scissors, and ere, an agent. One who uses the shears.

Shearwood. Scear, sheared; wud, a wood. A cleared wood. Sherwood, from the same.

Shedaker. Sceáde, genitive of sceádo, shadow; æcer, a field. A field of shadow; a shaded field.

Shedinger. Sceádan, to shade, to overwhelm, to oppress; ing, expressive of action; ere, an agent. A person that overshadows another; an oppressor.

Shedwick. Sceáde, genitive of sceádo, a shadow, a shade; wic, a habitation, a village, a convent. A habitation of shade; a shaded village.

Sheedy. Sceáde, of shadow; ig, an island. An island of shadow; a shaded island.

Sheeler. Sceale, a scale, a balance; ere, an agent. A weigher; a balancer.

Shellenberger. Scellenâ, of shells; berg, a hill, a mountain; ere, an agent. A dweller of a shell-hill. Shelberger, of similar derivation.

Shelley. Scell, a shell; ig, an adjective termination. Shelly. Shelly, from the same roots.

Shelling. Scelling, a shilling. Or, Shell, Shell; ing, an offspring. A descendant of Shell.

Shelmerdine. Scel, a shell; mere, a mere, a lake, a sea; dínne, stormy. A tempestuous shell-lake.

Shenton. Scén, beautiful; tún, a house, a habitation. A beautiful house.

Shepherd. Sceáp-hyrde, from sceáp, sheep, and hyrde, a keeper of sheep; a shepherd. Shepard, Shephard, Sheppard, analogous names.

Shepherdson. Shepherd, Shepherd; sun, son. Son of Shepherd. Shepperson, of like significance.

Sheran. Scéran, to shear, to shave, to cut off, to share, to divide, to grant.

Sherer. Sceare, shears; ere, an agent. A shearer. Sherar, from the same roots.

Sherick. Scer-icge, an actress. Sherk, Shirk, possibly, from the same derivation.

Sheriff. Scír-gerefa, from scír, a shire, and gerefa, a steward, a bailiff, a governor. A governor of a shire; a shire-reeve; a sheriff.

Sherlock. Scír, white, bright, glorious; locc, a lock, hair. A lock of white hair. Shirelock, of similar meaning.

Sherlow. Scír, a county, province, district; low, a grave, a barrow, a small hillock, a tract of country gently rising, a low. A district-low. Shirlow, from the same roots.

Sherman. Scír-mann, from scír, a share, shire, county, district; mann, a man. A man who superintends; a shireman; an overseer; a governor, a provost. Shearman, Shireman, of kindred derivation.

Shermer. Scír, a district, province; mere, a mere, a lake, a pool, the sea. A sea-district; a lake-province.

Sherrard. Scír, superintendence, stewardship; ard, an ensign of office. A badge of stewardship. Sherrerd, of like import.

Sherrat. Scír, shire, district, county; áth, an oath. An oath required by a shire from one in power.

Sherrell. Scír, a shire, a district; el, indicative of a person. A resident of a shire.

Sherrer. Scír, care, charge; ere, an agent. A superintendent; an overseer.

Sherrie. Sherr, Sherr; íg, an island. Sherr’s island. Sherry, from the same roots.

Sherwin. Scír, a shire; win, a friend. A friend of the shire; one devoted to the shire.

Sherwood. Scír, glorious; wude, a forest. A glorious forest. Or, from scír, a district; wud, a wood. A district wood.

Shetzline. Scetes, genitive of scete, a sheet, a sail; líne, a line. The lower sail line.

Shill. Scill, a shilling, a piece of uncoined silver, which, when coined, would make five pennies, each of which was 2½ pence.

Shilling. Scilling, a shilling. Or, from Shill, Shill, and ing, an offspring. A son of Shill.

Shillingford. Shilling, Shilling; ford, a ford. Shilling’s ford. Shillingsford, from the same roots.

Shillingsburg. Shillinges, Shilling’s; beorg, a hill. Shilling’s hill.

Shimer. Scíma, a brightness, splendor, glittering; ere, an agent. A wit; a humorist; a scholar.

Shinneberry. Shinn, Shinn; byrie, a burial-place. The burial-place of Shinn.

Shortley. Short, Short; líc, like. Resembling Short. Or, from sceort-líc, short, momentary.

Shorts. Short, Short; s for sun, son. Son of Short. Shortts, from the same roots.

Showaker. Sceawe, a show; æcer, a field. A show-field. Showeker, from the same roots.

Shreeves. Shreeve, Shreeve; s for sun, son. Son of Shreeve. Shrieves, a kindred name.

Shriner. Scrin, a shrine, casket, chest; ere, an agent. A maker of shrines, caskets.

Shriver. Scrifan, to shrive, to receive confession; ere, an agent. One who receives confessions; a shriver.

Shroder. Scrúd, a garment, clothing, shroud; ere, an agent. A tailor; a shroud-maker.

Schropshire. Scrob, a shrub; scír, a shire, county, district. A shrub-shire; a shrubby district.

Shubert. Scúa, a shade, a shadow; beorht, bright, lucid, clear. A lucid shadow.

Shuff. Scúfan, to shove, to thrust, to cast down; sceáf, cast down, removed; sceaf, that which is cast down, as a sheaf.

Shugard. Scúa, a shade; geard, a hedge, enclosure, garden. A shaded garden. Shugardt, Shugart, of like parentage.

Shumate. Sceó, a shoe; Dutch maat, a husband, a wife, a companion. A shoe-companion.

Shumway. Sceome, of shame, genitive of sceamu; wæg, way. The way of shame.

Shupard. Scóp, a poet, minstrel; ard, a badge of office. A minstrel’s staff. Shuperd, slightly altered form of the word.

Shur. Scúr, a shower of rain, a storm, tempest, a shower of arrows, battle, fight. Shurr, from the same root.

Shute. Scute, given, expended, transferred, rushed, shot. Shutt, of kindred meaning.

Shuttleworth. Scuttel, a scuttle, platter, charger, moment; weordh, worth, price, value. A moment’s value.

Shutts. Shutt, Shutt; s for sun, son. Son of Shutt. Shutz, similarly derived.

Shyer. Scyan, to suggest, excite, prompt, persuade; ere, an agent. A prompter; a pleader.

Sibbet. Sibbian, to pacify, to compose; past participle sibbod, pacified, composed. Sibbitt, from the same root.

Sibel. Sib, peace, adoption, companionship; el, indicative of personality. A companionable person. Sibole of like import.

Siber. Sib, peace, agreement, alliance; ere, an agent. An ally; an abettor.

Sibson. Sib, peace, adoption; sun, son. Son of adoption. Sibbs, an abbreviated form of the same.

Sickel. Sicel, pronounced sickel, a sickle. Sickle, Sickel, from the same root.

Sickels. Sickel, Sickel; s for sun, son. Son of Sickel. Sickles, a cognate term.

Siddall. Síd, ample, spacious, broad, vast; dál, a valley. A broad valley. Siddell, Sidel, Sidle, alike in derivation.

Sidebotham. Síd, ample, full, vast; bót, atonement, indemnity, redress, cure; hám, house, dwelling. The home of full atonement.

Sidenburg. Síden, silken, made of silk; burg, a fort, a castle, a house. A house made of silk.

Siefken. Sielf-cyn, from sielf, a salve, and cyn, kind. A kind of herb salve.

Siegman. Sige, victory; man, a man. A victorious man. Siegmann, from the same roots.

Silbert. Sigel-beorht, from sigel or sigl, the sun, and beorht, bright. Sun-bright.

Siller. Sigl, a necklace, a brooch, an ornament; ere, an agent. A jeweller.

Silverberg. Silfer, silver; beorg, a hill, a mountain. A mountain of silver.

Silverstine. Silferes, genitive of silfer, silver; tine, a tine, a tooth of a harrow. A silver tine.

Silverthorn. Silfer, silver; thorn, a thorn. A silver-thorn. Silverthorne, from the same roots.

Simes. Sime, Sime; s for sun, son. Son of Sime. Simms, Sims, Symes, from the same roots.

Simington. Sima, a reconciler; ing, expressive of action; tún, house. Home of reconciliation. Simmington, Symington, alike in derivation.

Simkin. Sim, Sime; cyn, kin, relation. Sime’s relation. Simpkin, of similar meaning.

Simkins. Simkin, Simkin; s for sun, son. Son of Simkin. Simpkins, from the same roots.

Simmonds. Simmond, Simmond; s for sun, son. Son of Simmond. Simonds, Symonds, kindred names.

Simmons. Simmōn, Simmon; s for sun, son. Son of Simmon. Simmins, Symons, doubtless, of like parentage.

Singer. Singan, to sing, to play upon an instrument, to say, to pronounce; ere, an agent. A singer; a musician; a soothsayer.

Singler. Singan, to sing, to play upon an instrument; lǽr, doctrine. Music-knowledge.

Sinnamon. Sina, genitive of sina, sinews; mon, a man. A man of sinews; an athlete. Synnamon, Synamon, of similar derivation.

Sixsmith, Six, Six; smidh, an artificer, a smith, a workman. Six’s workman.

Skeffington. Sceafa, a shaving instrument; ing, expressive of action; tún, a house. A place where shaving is done.

Skelly. Scell-ig, from scell, a shell, and ig, an adjective termination. Shelly.

Skerratt. Scer-geát, from scer, a ploughshare; geát, an opening, a gap. A gap made by a ploughshare; a furrow.

Skinner. Scin, the skin; ere, an agent. One who removes the skin; a skinner.

Slagle. Slæge, slaying, slaughter; el, indicative of a person. A slayer; a murderer.

Slaugh. Slæge, slaying, slaughter, striking, beating, dashing together, a knock.

Slaymaker. Slæ, a weaver’s reed, a slay; mac-ere, a maker. A slay-maker.

Slayton. Slæ, a slay; tún, a house, a habitation. A house where weaving is done.

Sloan. Slán, pronounced slōn, sloes. Also, from slán, to strike, to fight, to slay, to throw. Sloane, from the same roots.

Sloanaker. Slán, sloes; æcer, a field. A field of sloes. Slonaker, a kindred name.

Sloat. Slát, pronounced slōte, torn, bitten, broken through. Slote, of the same derivation.

Smeal. Smea, little, fine, subtle; l for el, indicative of a person. A subtle person.

Smeaton. Smeat, beaten; tún, a city. A beaten city. Smeeten, of kindred significance.

Smith. Smidh, any one who strikes with a hammer, an artificer, a carpenter, a smith, a workman. Smyth, from the same radix.

Smithman. Smidh-the, a smithy, a workshop; man, a man. The man of the workshop.

Snader. Snæd, a shaft, a pole, the handle of a scythe; ere, an agent. One who uses a snead, or sneed. Sneeder, a cognate term.

Sneade. Snæd, a pole, a shaft, the handle of a scythe. Sneed, of like derivation.

Sneden. Snǽd-en, to cut, to cut off, to amputate. Snethen, from the same radix.

Snelbaker. Snel-bæc-ere, from snel, active, cheerful; bæcere, a baker. An active, cheerful baker. Snellbaker, from the same roots.

Snider. Snid-ere, a cutter, hewer, pruner. Snyder, from the same derivation.

Snodgrass. Snod, a fillet, a cap, a hood; græs, grass. A straw fillet; a straw cap.

Snowdon. Snáw-dún, from snáw, snow; dún, a mountain, a hill. A snow mountain.

Soden. Soden, perfect participle of seódham, to boil, to agitate, to cook. Boiled; agitated; cooked.

Soder. Seod, a little sack, a bag, scrip; ere, an agent. A sack-maker. Soeder, of like significance.

Somers. Somer, Somer; s for sun, son. Son of Somer. Sommers, Summers, equivalents.

Somerset. Somer-setl, from sumer, summer, and setl, a seat. A summer seat. Sommerset, a kindred term.

Southwark. Súdh-geweorc, from súdh, south, and geweorc, a fortress, a work. A south-work; a south-fortress.

Southworth. Súdh, south; weordh, worth, price, value. South-worth; southern value.

Sox. Socks, from socces, genitive of socc, a sock, a woolen wrapper for the feet. Belonging to a sock.

Spaeter. Spǽtan, to spit; ere, an agent. A spitter. Spaetter, from the same roots.

Spare. Spær, spare, frugal, moderate, small. Spare, from the same derivation.

Sparhawk. Spear-hafoc, from spear, a spear, lance, dart, and hafoc, a hawk. A sparrow-hawk.

Sparman. Speare, a spear; man, a man. A Spearman. Spearman, from the same.

Spealler. Spell, history, story, speech, opinion, language; ere, an agent, An historian; a lawyer; a linguist.

Spearing. Spear, Spear; ing, an offspring. A descendant of Spear. Spering, a kindred word.

Specketer. Specca, a blot; etere, an eater, a consumer. A blot-consumer; a blotter.

Spicer. Spic, bacon; ere, an agent. A hog-butcher. Spicker, an analogous term.

Spillard. Spill-an, to spill, to destroy, to kill; ard, an ensign of office. A destroyer; an executioner.

Spillinger. Spill-ing, consuming, spoiling; ere, an agent. A consumer; a spoiler.

Spillman. Spill-an, to spill, to kill; man, a man. An executioner; a hangman; a murderer.

Spindler. Spindel, a spindel, a needle; ere, an agent. One who uses a spindle.

Springfield. Spring, a spring, a fountain; feld, a field, a plain. A springy field.

Springstead. Spring, a spring, a fountain; stede, a place, a station. A spring-place.

Springthorpe. Spring, a spring, a fountain; thorpe, a village. A spring-village.

Stackel. Stáca, a stake, a pile; el, indicative of personality. One tied, or burnt at a stake.

Stacker. Stáca, a stake; ere, an agent. One who constructs a fence or a palisade. Staker, a kindred name.

Stackhouse. Stáca, a stake; hús, a house, a building. A building with a palisade; a fortress.

Staff. Stæf, a staff, stick, support, a letter, writing. Staffe, from the same root.

Stafford. Stæf-ford, from stæf, a stick, a pole; ford, a ford. A staff used in wading through a stream.

Stagger. Stæg, a rope in the fore-part of a ship; ere, an agent. One who has charge of the rope in the fore-part of a ship.

Stainrook. Stán, a rock; róc, a rook. A rock-rook; a rook that dwells upon rocks.

Stains. Stán-es, genitive of Stán, a stone. From Staines, Middlesex, on the banks of the Thames, England, from a boundary stone placed here to denote the extent of the jurisdiction claimed by the city of London on the river Thames.

Stanbridge. Stán-breig, from stán, a stone, and bricg, a bridge. A stone-bridge; a paved way.

Stancliff. Stán-cleof, from stán, a stone, and cleof, a cliff. A stone-cliff; a rock.

Standing. Standan, to stand, to continue; ing, expressing action. Standing; continuing.

Standish. Stand, a stand; isc, a termination of an adjective used substantively. A stand.

Standring. Stand, a station; hring, a ring. A station-ring. Standering, a kindred term.

Stanford. Stán-ford, from stán, a stone, and ford, a ford. A stone-ford.

Stang. Stæng, a bar of wood, a pole, a lever, a club. In Derbyshire, England, the word was used to denote a large pole employed in removing new-made hay.

Stansberry. Stánes, genitive of stán, a stone; berige, a berry. The berry of a stone; a stone-fruit. Stansbery, from the same roots.

Stansbury. Stánes, genitive of stán, a stone; byríg, a city. A city of stone; a stone-city.

Stansfield. Stánes, of stones; feld, a field. A field of stone; a stone-field.

Stanton. Stán, a stone; tán, a town. A stone-town. Stant, possibly, a contraction of the name. Staunton, from the same roots.

Stapleford. Stapel, a step, a prop, a trestle; ford, a ford. A trestle-ford.

Stapleton. Stapel, a step, an elevated place; tún, a mansion. A mansion reached by steps.

Starling. Stærn, a starling; ling, a termination indicative of image, example.

Staubes. Staubes, genitive of staub, a useless vessel. Belonging to a worthless vessel.

Steadman. Stede, steady, stable; man, a man. A steady man. Stedman, a kindred term.

Stebbing. Steb, a boll, a trunk; ing, originating from. Offspring of a trunk; a shoot; a branch.

Steelwagon. Stýl, steel; wǽgen, a wagon, a car. A steel-wagon; a car for the conveyance of steel.

Steere. Stýre, a rule, direction, regulation, government. Steer, from the same root.

Steeringer. Steór-an, to steer; ing, implying action; ere, an agent. One who has charge of the steering; a pilot.

Steever. Stæf, a staff, a stick; ere, an agent. One who uses a staff; an old man.

Steffen. Stefen, a voice, message, sound, tone, concert, agreement. Steffan, of like meaning.

Stellwagen. Stell, a seat; wǽgen, a wagon, a car. A carriage. Stelwagon, of kindred signification.

Stemmler. Stemn, a voice; lǽr, doctrine. Voice-knowledge. Stemler, from the same roots.

Stempel. Stemn, a voice, a command; el, indicative of a person. A leader; a commander.

Stengel. Stenge, a lever; el, implying a person. A person that uses a lever. Stengle, a slightly varied form.

Stephens. Stephen, Stephen; s for sun, son. Son of Stephen. Stevens, a kindred term.

Stephenson. Stephen, Stephen; sun, son. Son of Stephen. Stevenson, from the same roots.

Sterling. Steóran, to direct; ling, a termination denoting the condition of a person. In a condition to direct. Stirling, an equivalent word.

Steward. Stiward, from Icelandic stia, work, and Anglo-Saxon weard, a guard. One who has the guard of work. Anciently, stede-weard, from stede, place, station, stead, and weard, a guard, guardianship, watch: that is, one who has the guardianship of a place. Stewart, of like kinship.

Stickle. Sticca, a stick; le for el, indicative of a person, or expressive of the action of a person. The word originated from the practice of prize-fighters, who placed seconds with staffs, or sticks, to interpose occasionally: hence, to interpose.

Stickler. Stickle, to stickle, to interpose; ere, an agent. One that interposes; a sidesman to fencers; a pertinacious contender. Formerly, one who stood by to prevent the shedding of blood in a contest between two persons: so called, from the sticks, or staves, in his hands, with which he interposed between the combatants.

Stickley. Stickler, a stickler; líc, like. Resembling a stickler; stickler-like.

Stickling. Stickle, to stickle; ing, denoting an action. The action of a stickler.

Stickney. Stician, to stick, to adhere; Irish neać, an agent. One that sticks to another; an adherent.

Stilling. Still-ian, to make still, to tranquilize; ing, implying action. Tranquilizing.

Stillwell. Stille, quiet; wel, a well. A quiet well; an unused well. Stelwell, a cognate term.

Stinger. Stingan, to sting, to prick, to stab; ere, an agent. He who, or that which, stings, or pricks.

Stock. Stoc, a stock, stem, trunk, block, stick. Stock, past participle of stician, to stick: hence stock, in its multifarious meanings, implies fixedness.

Stockham. Stoc, stock, stem; hám, a farm. A stock-farm; a nursery of trees.

Stockler. Stoc, stock, stem; lǽr, learning, knowledge. Stock-lore; tree-knowledge.

Stockley. Stoc, stock; líc, like. Stock-like; trunk-like; thick; stubbed; stocky.

Stockman. Stoc, stock, stem; man, a man. A stock-man; a keeper of stock; a nurseryman.

Stockwell. Stock, a stock, stem, trunk, stick; well, a well. A well found in a wooded place.

Stoddard. Stod, a post, a stand, a pillar; ard, an ensign of office. A post-sign. Stoddart, doubtless, from the same roots.

Stokely. Stock, past participle of stic-ian, to stick, to push, to poke, and, hence, to stir; a person who sticks, pushes, or pokes is a sticker, or a stoker; líc, like. Stoker-like. Stokley, a cognate form.

Stoker. Sticker, one who, or that which, sticks, pushes, or stirs, as it were, a fire. In Ireland, such a person was a stoca, a servant-boy.

Stoops. Stoop, Stoop; s for sun, son. Son of Stoop. Stoopes, a kindred form.

Stotts. Stott, Stott; s for sun, son. Son of Stott. Stotz, of similar derivation.

Stracker. Strac, rigid, violent; ere, an agent. A stern man; a violent man.

Strader. Strade, imperfect of stredan, to spread; ere, an agent. One who spreads, or straddles. Or, from stræde, a stride; ere, one who. One who strides.

Stradinger. Strade, spread; ing, implying action; ere, an agent. A straddling person.

Stradling. Strade, spread; ling, denoting state or condition of a person. Act of one who straddles.

Strang. Strang, strong, powerful, valiant, severe, rigid. Strong, from the same root.

Stratton. Stræte, what is spread, a couch, a bed; tún, a house. A bed-house; an inn.

Strawbridge. Streaw, a bed; brycg, a bridge. A bridge that is flat like a bed.

Stricker. Strica, a stroke; ere, an agent. One who makes a strike; a striker.

Strickland. Astricen, a participle from astrican, to smite; land, a land, a region. A smitten region. Or, from stric, plague, sedition, and land, land. A plague-land; a land of sedition.

Stringer. String, a chord, the string of a musical instrument; ere, an agent. A musician.

Stringfellow. String, a string; felaw, a companion. A string-companion; a band-fellow.

Styer. Stýre, ruling, direction, regulation, government, discipline, punishment.

Sulger. Sulg, a plough, a ploughshare; ere, an agent. One who ploughs; a ploughman.

Sullwin. Sul, a plough; wine, a friend, a disciple. A disciple of the plough; a farmer.

Summerfield. Sumer, or somer, summer; feld, a field. A summer-field; a field of grass and flowers. Sommerfield, of like derivation.

Sumner. Sumer, summer, by the insertion of an n between m and e, becomes the name under consideration, and affords a good illustration of one of the many attempts made to disguise the origin of names.

Sundberg. Sund, floating; beorg, a mountain. A floating mountain; an iceberg.

Sunderland. Sunder, sunder, separate, different; land, land. A separate land; a land that has been sundered, from sundrían, to sunder, or separated.

Swank. Swânc, imperfect of swincan, to toil, to labor. Labored; toil-worn.

Sweigard. Sweig, a noise; ard, an ensign of office. One whose office is to make a noise, as evidenced by an ensign; a town-crier. Sweigert, Swigert, of like derivation.

Sweiger. Sweig, a noise; ere, an agent. A noisy fellow. Or, from sweig-an, to make a noise, and ere, an agent.

Swenson. Swein, a swain, a herdsman, a servant; sun, son. Son of a swain; son of a herdsman.

Swigler. Swíga, silence; lǽr, learning, knowledge, doctrine. Silence-doctrine.

Swiler. Swil-ian, to swill, to wash; ere, an agent. One who swills; a swiller; a drunkard.

Swinehart. Swín, swine; heort, a termination denoting hearty, hearted, brave. Swine-hearted; brave as swine.

Swink. Swinc, labor, inconvenience, fatigue, trouble, affliction, torment, temptation, banishment.

Swinton. Swin, a song; tún, a house. A song-house. Swint, perhaps, a contraction.

Tag. Tæg, a bag, a chest, a coffer, a cupboard. Tage, Tagg, Tague, kindred names.

Tams. Irish tam, slow, sluggish; Anglo-Saxon s for sun, son. Son of Tamm; a slow son.

Tappen. Tæppen, indicative of a participle from tæppan, to tap, to draw out, to drink. Tapped; drawn out; drank.

Tatham. Tát, soft, tender; hám, a home. A tender home. Tatem, perhaps, an abbreviated form of the word.

Tatlow. Tát, soft, tender, and low, a low, a bellow, from hlowan, to low, to bellow. A tender low; a soft bellow.

Templeton. Tempel, a temple; tún, a house, a town. A temple-house; a church; a town of temples. When the Angles and Saxons settled in Britain, they had idols, altars, temples, and priests. These temples were surrounded with enclosures, and were profaned if lances were thrown into them. It is probable, therefore, that they obtained their word for temple directly from the Latins, and not from the Norman-French after the Conquest by William.

Thacher. Thecere, from thæc, a thach, a thatch, a roof, and ere, an agent. A thatcher; a roofer. Thatcher, from the same derivation.

Thegen. Thegen, a servant, attendant, disciple, scholar, soldier, officer, knight, nobleman.

Thorman. Thor, Thor; man, a servant. A servant of Thor. Thor was one of the principal idols of the Saxons, Germans, etc. He was their Jupiter.

Thornberg. Thorn, a thorn; beorg, a hill. A thorn-hill; a thorny hill. Thornburg, from the same roots.

Thornberry. Thorn, a thorn; berige, a berry. A thorny berry; a prickly berry.

Thrasher. Thærsc-ere, from thærsc-an, to thrash, and ere, an agent. A thrasher.

Threlfall. Threal, a servant; fæl, pure, clean, good, true. A good servant.

Tilburn. Til, station; burne, a bourn, stream, brook. A station near a stream.

Tillman. Till, a station; man, a man. A station-master. Tilman, a cognate name.

Tillyer. Till-an, to till, to cultivate; ere, an agent. A tiller; a cultivator.

Tindall. Tin, tin; dál, a valley. A tin-valley. Tindel, from the same root.

Tinsley. Tines, genitive of tin, tin; líc, form, like. Tin-like; form of tin. Tinley, of similar derivation.

Tinsman. Tines, genitive of tin, tin; man, man. A dealer in tin; a seller of tin.

Toon. Tún, pronounced toon, a field, dwelling, house, mansion, yard, farm, village, class, course, town. Toone, of like derivation.

Tooney. Tún-ig, from tún, a town, and ig, an adjective termination implying resemblance. Townish.

Toorish. Torr, a tower; isc, an adjective termination signifying resembling. Tower-like.

Toothaker. Tódh-ece, the toothache; ere, an agent. One who has the toothache.

Topham. Top, a ball, a tuft at the top of anything; hám, a home. A hilly home.

Torbeort. Tor, a tower, a high hill, rock, peak, tor; beorht, glistening, shining. A glistening peak.

Torrey. Tor-ig, from tor, a tower, a hill, a rock; ig, an adjective termination. Towering; hilly; rocky.

Town. Tún, a field, a dwelling, house, mansion, farm, village, town, city. Towne, from the same radix.

Townsend. Túnes, genitive of tún, a town; end, termination of masculine nouns denoting a man. A townsman.

Treadway. Træd, trod; wæg, a way. A trodden way. Or, from tred, a step, and wæg, a way. A step-way; a stairs. Tredway, of like derivation.

Tregea. Tréga, vexation, tribulation, contumely, loss, misery, torment. Trego, perhaps, from the same root.

Trescher. Treisc, tragical; ere, an agent. A tragedian. Tresher, an equivalent name.

Trimmingham. Trymming, confirming, fortifying, establishing; hám, a house. A house of confirmation.

Trowell. Treów, trust, faith; el, indicative of a person. A trusty person; a faithful person.

Trueman. Trýwe, true; man, a man, a servant. A true man; a faithful servant. Truman, of similar import.

Tudor. Tudor, issue, offspring, seed, progeny, posterity, family. Tuder, a kindred name.

Tumbleston. Tumb-ian, to tumble; stán, a rock. A rock that tumbles; a tumbling rock.

Tunison. Túnes, genitive of tún, a town; sun, son. Son of a town; a townsman.

Tunney. Tún, a town; ig, an adjective termination. Townish. Tunny, of similar derivation.

Turkington. Turk, from Irish torc, a boar; ing, implying a descendant; tún, house. Home of a descendant of Turk. Torkington, of similar significance.

Turley. Tur, a tower; líc, like. Resembling a tower; tower-like; towering.

Tussey. Tusc, the canine, or eye-tooth, a tusk; ig, denoting an adjective. Tusky.

Twaddell. Twæde, double, two-fold; dǽl, a dale, a valley. A twin-valley.

Twitman. Ætwitan, to tease, to reproach, to blame, to upbraid; man, a man. A person who upbraids another.

Twiford. Twý-ford, a double ford. Applied to the name of places near a river where two branches had to be forded.

Twiney. Twín, thread, twine, fine linen; ig, expressive of an adjective. Resembling twine.

Twining. Twín-an, to twine, to twist; ing, implying action. Twining; twisting.

Twitchell. Twiccian, to twitch; el, a termination denoting a person. A person that twitches; a nervous, restless person.

Tylacher. Ty, instructs; lach, a garment; ere, an agent. A sewing-teacher; a tailor. Tylacker, a kindred name.

Ulric. Ulph-ríc, from ulph, help, aid, assistance, and ríc, rich, powerful. Rich, or powerful in help. Ulrick, a cognate term.

Umstead. Hulme, for holm, the deep sea, abyss, ocean, water, and stede, a place. Ocean-place. Umsted, an analogous name.

Upmann. Upp, high; mann, a man. A man high in position; a man of rank; a superior.

Uth. Udh, pronounced uth, termination of the feminine noun geogudh, youth.

Wadsworth. Wádes, genitive of wád, a ford; weordh, value, price. Valuable ford.

Wagener. Wǽgen-ere, a wagoner, driver of a car. Waggener, Wagner, Wagoner, kindred terms.

Wakefield. Wæcan, to awake, arise, to be born; past participle wacen, awakened; feld, a field. An awakened field.

Wakeley. Wǽc-líc, from wǽc, weak, and líc, like. Weak-like; weakly. Wakelee, of similar derivation.

Wakeling. Wǽc, weak; ling, implying the condition of a person. A weakling; a feeble creature.

Walborn. Wæl, or wal, slaughter, carnage, death; born, born. Dead-born; stillborn.

Wald. Wald, a forest, wood, grove, weald, wild, wold. Walde, of like import.

Walderly. Walda-líc, from walda, a ruler, and líc, like. Resembling a ruler.

Walk. Weolc, imperfect of wealcan, to roll, turn, tumble, revolve, turn up and down. Rolled; tumbled; revolved; turned up and down.

Walker. Weolc, rolled, revolved, turned up and down; ere, an agent. One who turned up and down; a walker.

Wallace. Wáll, a rampart, a bulwark; lǽce, a surgeon. The surgeon of a rampart. Wallack, Wallick, of like derivation.

Walmsley. Wælmes, genitive of wælm, heat, anger; líc, form, likeness. Form of anger; resembling heat.

Walstrum. Wáll, a wall, a rampart; streom, a stream. A walled stream; an aqueduct.

Walter. Wald, a forest; ere, an agent. A forester. Walther, doubtless, a kindred name.

Waltoe. Wál, a wall; tǽ, a toe. A wall-toe; the toe used in scaling a rampart.

Walwork. Wáll-geweorc, from wáll, a wall, and geweorc, work. Wall-work.

Wanamaker. Wana, deficient, lacking, imperfect; macian, to make; ere, an agent. An unskilled mechanic.

Wandall. Wan, deficient, wanting, void; dál, a valley. An empty valley. Wandell, of like significance.

Warburton. Wǽr-borh, a pledge for the payment of the were or fine for slaying a man; tún, a town. A town’s pledge for the payment of the were or fine for slaying a man.

Wardle. Weard, a guard, guardianship, watch; le for el, implying a person. A watchman.

Wareham. Wǽr-hám, from wǽr, an enclosure, and hám, a house, a dwelling. A fortified dwelling. Waream, an abbreviated form of the same.

Waring. Ware, Ware; ing, an offspring. Son of Ware. Or, from wǽring, a wall.

Warnig. Wearn, obstacle, resistance; ig, denoting an adjective. Opposing; resistful. Warnick, Warnecke, Warnock, kindred terms.

Warris. Wearr, a knot, a wart; isc, implying like. Knot-like; hard; rough.

Warwick. Wǽring-wic, from wǽring, a bulwark, and wic, a dwelling. A fortified dwelling.

Washburne. Wæsc, a washing; burne, a stream, brook, river, well. A washing stream. Washburn, from the same root.

Waterford. Wæter, water; ford, a ford. A watery ford; a ford that is not dry.

Waters. Water, Water; s for sun, son. Son of Water. Watters, a cognate term.

Waterson. Water, Water; sun, son. Son of Water. Watterson, of like derivation.

Wattson. Watt, Watt; sun, son. Son of Watt. Watson, a slightly abbreviated form of the name.

Weaber. Wæbb, a web; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, makes a web; a weaver.

Weadley. Wǽd, a garment, apparel, weeds; líc, form. Form of weeds; garment-like.

Weakley. Wǽc-líc, from wǽc, weak, and líc, like. Weakly; foolishly; vilely.

Weatherby. Wæder, or weder, weather, storm, tempest; bý, a habitation, a dwelling. A signal dwelling; a weather-house.

Weatherley. Wæder, weather, storm; líc, like. Weather-like; storm-like. Wetherly, of like meaning.

Weber. Web, a web, cloth, tapestry; ere, an agent. A weaver. Weeber, of similar import.

Webster. Web, a web, cloth; ster from steóre, direction, a noun-ending denoting direction, guidance. Web-direction.

Weckerly. Wæccer-líc, from wæccer, watchful, and líc, like. Watchful-like; watchfully. Weckerley, a kindred term.

Weddell. Wed, a pledge, a promise; dál, a dale. A promised dale. Wedell, from the same roots.

Weder. Weder, weather, the air, firmament, storm, tempest. Or, from weder, a wether.

Wedinger. Weódung, a weeding; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, weeds; a weeder.

Wedman. Wed, a pledge; man, a man. A pledge-man; a married man. Wedmann, of like meaning.

Weeden. Weód-ian, to weed; weód-en, perfect participle. Weeded; rid of weeds.

Weckley. Weoc, a week; líc, like. Week-like; weekly. Weekly, of similar derivation.

Weer. Wér, a fine for slaying a man, the price or value of a man’s life. Every man was valued at a certain sum, which was called his wér, and whoever took his life was required to pay this wér to the family or relatives of the deceased. Perhaps the name is derived from wér, an enclosure.

Welbank. Well, a well, a fountain; banc, a bench, bank, hillock. A well-bank. Wellbank, a kindred name.

Welcom. Wél-cuma, a pleasure-comer, one received with gladness, a beloved guest.

Welles. Welle, Welle; s for sun, son. Son of Welle. Wells, Welz, from the same roots.

Welmesley. Welmes, genitive of welm, heat, fire; líc, form. Form of heat; fire-like.

Wendel. Wend, a turn, change; el, implying a person. One who turns, or changes; a fickle person. Wendell, Wendle, from the same roots.

Wendling. Wend, a turn, a change; ling, a termination denoting the state of a person. Turning; changing.

Wensler. Wenes, genitive of wen, pleasure; lár, doctrine. Pleasure-knowledge.

Wensley. Wenes, genitive of wen, pleasure; líc, form. Form of pleasure; joy-like.

Wentling. Wente, the Gwents, or Welsh; ling, a termination denoting the state or condition of a person. Welsh-state.

Westcott. West, the west; cóte, a cottage. A western cottage. Westcote, of like derivation.

Wester. West, the west; ere, an agent. A western man. Or, from wéste, a desert, and ere, an agent. A man of the desert.

Westwood. Westan-wudu, from westan, western, and wudu, wood. Western wood.

Wetherbee. Wedher, weather; beo, a bee. A weather-bee. Weatherbee, a kindred name.

Wetherell. Wedher, weather; ell, all. All weather; weather for all. Wetherill, doubtless, from the same roots.

Wheeler. Hweohl, or hweol, a wheel, circle, the world; ere, an agent. A wheeler. Or, from hweolere, a diviner.

Whelen. Hwélen, a participle derived from hwélan, to become foul. Made foul.

Whetham. Hwet, wet; hám, house. Wet house; water-house. Whithem, Whittem, other forms of spelling.

Whetstone. Hwet-stán, from hwet, sharpening, and stán, stone. Whetstone.

Whipple. Hweop, a whip; el, a termination expressive of an inanimate object. A whip-like bar.

Whistler. Hwistlere, a whistler, a piper. Whisler, an abbreviated form of the name.

Whitaker. Hwít, white; æcer, a field. A white field. Whitecar, Whittaker, of like import.

Whitall. Hwítel, a white mantle; a priest’s cope. Whital, Whittle, cognate terms.

Whitechurch. Hwíte-cirice, from hwít, white, and cirice, a church. A white church.

Whitefield. Hwíte, white; feld, a field. A white field. Whitfield, of similar meaning.

Whiteley. Hwíte, white; líc, like. Resembling white. Whitely, Whitley, of like derivation.

Whiteline. Hwíte, white; lín, flax. White flax. Or, from hwíte, white, and Latin linea, a line: hence, a white line.

Whiteling. Hwíte, white; ling, a termination denoting state of a person. Whiteness. Whitling, a kindred term.

Whitelock. Hwíte, white; locc, a lock, hair. White hair. Whitlock, from the same roots.

Whitesell. Hwíte, white; sel, a hall. A white hall. Whitzell, of similar import.

Whitnall. Hwíten,—participle from hwítian, to whiten,—made white or whitened; all, all. All whitened.

Whitney. Hwíten, whitened; ig, an adjective termination. Whitish; somewhat white.

Whittig. Hwít, white; ig, an adjective termination. Whitish. Whittick, Whitty, of like derivation.

Whitworth. Hwít, white; weordh, honor, dignity. White, or unsullied honor.

Whyard. Hwy, why; ard, indicating an ensign. One who asks for reasons; a questioner.

Wicemann. Wic, a castle; mann, a man. Man of the castle. Wichmann, of similar derivation.

Wick. Wic, a dwelling-place, mansion, village, street, convent, camp, castle, fortress.

Wickel. Wicele, present indicative first person of wicelian, to stagger, to reel.

Wickersham. Wic, a camp; ere, an agent; wiceres, genitive of wicere, a soldier; hám, a house. A soldier’s home.

Wicks. Wick, Wick; s for sun, son. Son of Wick. Wickes, from the same roots.

Wickfield. Wic, a camp; feld, a field, a plain. A camp-field; a tented plain.

Widdis. Wíd, grass; ísc, an adjective termination denoting like. Grassy.

Widdows. Widewe, a widow; s for sun, son. Son of a widow. Widdoes, a cognate term.

Wideman. Wíd, wide, broad, famous; man, a man. A broad man; a famous man. Widemann, Widman, Widmann, of like import.

Widemer. Wíd-mǽre, from wíd, far, and mǽre, famed. Far-famed. Widmer, from the same roots.

Widener. Wíd, grass; nere, a refuge. A grass-refuge. Widner, a cognate term.

Wightman. Wiht-man, from Wiht, the Isle of Wight, and man, a man. A man of the Isle of Wight.

Wigman. Wig-mann, from wig, war, and mann, a man. A warlike man; a warrior; a soldier.

Wilbur. Wil, pleasant; búr, a bower. A pleasant bower. Wilber, from the same roots.

Wilcocks. Wilcock, Wilcock; s for sun, son. Son of Wilcock. Wilcox, a kindred term.

Wild. Wíld, following its own will and impulse, wild, powerful. Wilde, of similar meaning.

Wildes. Wild, Wild; s for sun, son. Son of Wilde. Wilds, of like derivation.

Wildey. Wíld-ig, from wíld, wild; ig, an adjective termination. Wild-like; wildly. Willdey, from the same roots.

Wiley. Wíle, wile; ig, an adjective termination. Wily; tricky; crafty. Wilie, from the same roots.

Wilfonger. Wil, well; fong, received; ere, an agent. One who is well received.

Wilhare. Wil, pleasant; harra, a lord. A pleasant lord. Wilher, from the same roots.

Wilhelm. Wil, well, pleasant; helm, a crown. An easy crown; a happy monarch. Or, from will, a will, and helm, a helmet. A will-helmet; an undaunted helmet.

Wilkening. Wil, pleasant; cyn, people; ing, offspring. Descendant of pleasant people.

Wilkens. Wilken, pleasant people; s for sun, son. Son of pleasant people. Wilkes, Wilks, possibly, contractions of the same name.

Willand. Willende, willing, wishing. Willang, doubtless, from the same radix.

Willard. Wil-laueord, from wil, good, pleasant, and laueord, a lord. A kind lord; a beneficent master. Willauer, Williard, from the same.

Willdon. Wil-dón, from wil, well, and dón, to do. To do well; well-done.

Willeman. Wille, a well; man, a man. A well-man; a well-borer. Williman, Willman, of like import.

Willemin. Willan, to will; mine, the mind. A willing mind. Willimen, a kindred term.

Willer. Willan, to will, to wish; ere, an agent. One who wills, or wishes; a willer; a wisher. Willar, another form of the name.

Willet. Wil, a well, a fountain; lyt, little. A small fountain. Or, from will, mind, and lyt, little. A little mind. Willett, of like derivation.

Willets. Willet, Willet; s for sun, son. Son of Willet. Willetts, Willitts, from the same roots.

Willey. Will-íce, contraction of willendlíce, from willende, willing, and líce, like. Willing-like; willingly. Willi, Willie, perhaps, corruptions of the name.

Willig. Will, will; ig, an adjective termination. Willing; desirous; prone. Willey, Willi, and Willie, may be derived from the same roots. See Willey.

Willingmyre. Willing, from willende, willing; myre, a mare. A willing mare; a ready mare. Willingmeyer, from the same roots.

Willman. Will, a will; man, a man. A will-man; a man of will; a resolute man. Willeman, Williman, may be traced to the same roots. See Willeman.

Willmarth. Will, mind; mǽrdh, wonders. Mind-wonders. Wilmarth, a kindred name.

Willmunder. Will, mind; mundian, to protect; ere, an agent. A mind-protector; an instructor; a teacher; a physician.

Willoughby. Wilige, what is made of willow, a basket; bý, a habitation. A house where baskets are made; a basket-factory.

Willsey. Willes, Will’s; ig, an island. Will’s island. Wilsey, from the same roots.

Wilmoore. Wil, pleasant; mór, a moor. A pleasant moor. Wilmore, from the same roots.

Wilmot. Wil, pleasant; mót, an assembly. An agreeable assembly. Wilmott, a kindred term.

Wilsky. Wilsc-ig, from Wilsc, Welsh, and ig, an adjective termination. Welsh.

Willsleger. Willes, genitive of will, mind, affection; leger, disease, couch. Disease of the mind; couch of affection.

Wiltbank. Wilt, willest; banc, a bank. A bank thou willest, or wishest; a wished-for bank.

Wilten. Wiltún, contraction of Willy-tún, from Willy, the name of a river, and tún, town. Town on the river Willy. Willy is, perhaps, from wilie, a basket, or wilig, a willow.

Wiltshire. Wiltún-scíre, from Wil, Willy, and tún, town; scíre, a shire, a district. Wiltonshire; Wilton-district.

Winch. Wince, a winch, a reel to wind thread upon. Winsch, from the same root.

Winchester. Win-ceaster, from wín, wine; ceaster, a castle. A wine-castle.

Winder. Winde, what winds round, a winder, a reel. Or, from windan, to wind, and ere, an agent. One who winds; a winder.

Windisch. Windan, to wind; isc, an adjective termination denoting external quality of a thing. Winding; flexuous.

Windrim. Wyn-drím, or wyn-dreám, from wyn, joy, and drím, or dreám, joy, rejoicing. Great joy, exultation.

Windsor. Wind, wind; sór, sorrow, grief. Wind-sorrow. Windser, from the same roots.

Winelander. Wín, wine; land, a region; ere, an agent. A resident of a wine region.

Wingart. Wín-geard, from wín, wine, and geard, a garden. A wine-garden; a vineyard. Wingert, a kindred name.

Wingate. Wín, wine; geát, a gate, a door, an opening. A wine-gate; an opening to a wine-cellar.

Winline. Winn, acquisition, possession, winning; Latin linea, a line. Acquisition-line; border-line; winning-line.

Winn. Winn, contention, strife, war, trouble, acquisition, possession, winning. Winne, from the same radix.

Winnel. Winn, a contest; el, implying a person. A contestant; a rival; a fighter.

Winnemoore. Winn-an, to win, to conquer, to subdue; mór, a moor. A conquered moor.

Winner. Winna, a rival, an enemy, a fighter. Or, from winn, contest, war, and ere, an agent. A contestant; a warrior.

Winnig. Winn, contention, war, labor; ig, an adjective ending. Contentious; warlike; laborious. Winnie, a slightly modified form of the name.

Winpenny. Winn, labor, winning; pening, a penny. Labor-penny; win-penny; winning penny.

Winring. Win, winning; hring, a ring. Winning ring. Or, from win, pleasure, and hring, a ring. A pleasure-ring; a wedding-ring.

Winship. Wine-scipe, from wine, a friend, and scipe, a termination denoting form, condition, state, office, dignity. A society of friends; a fraternity.

Winslow. Win, contest; sláw, slow, idle, lazy. A slow contest. Or, from win, pleasure, and sláw, idle. An idle pleasure.

Winsmore. Wines, genitive of win, contention; mór, a moor. A contending moor.

Winstanley. Wine, a friend; Stanley, Stanley. Stanley’s friend. See Stanley.

Winston. Wínes-tún, from wínes, genitive of wín, wine, and tún, a house. A house of wine; a wine-house; a tavern.

Winter. Winter, winter, a year. The Anglo-Saxon, and other northern nations, reckoned by winters instead of years.

Winterer. Winter, winter; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, winters in a certain place.

Winterhalter. Winter, winter; healtian, to halt; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, halts for the winter; a winter sojourner.

Winterholer. Winter, winter; hole, a hole; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, seeks winter-quarters in holes.

Winton. Wín-tún, from wín, wine, and tún, a house. A wine-house; a tavern.

Wireback. Wír, wire; bæc, a back. A wire-back. Wirebach, from the same roots.

Wischman. Wiscan, to wish; man, a man. A man that wishes; a wisher. Wischmann, Wishman, from the same roots.

Wisdom. Wís-dóm, from wísa, a sage, and dóm, opinion. Opinion of a sage; wisdom.

Wisely. Wís-líce, from wís, wise, prudent, and líce, like. Wise-like; wisely; prudently.

Wiseman. Wís, wise, prudent; man, a man. A wise man; a prudent man. Wisman, from the same roots.

Wiser. Wísa, a sage, a philosopher, a wise man, a leader, guide, director. Or, from wís, wise, and ere, an agent. One who, or that which, is wise or prudent.

Wishart. Wís, wise, prudent; heort, a termination denoting hearty, hearted, brave. Wise-hearted.

Wisenger. Wísung, making wise, instruction, command, a governing, regulator; ere, an agent. Wisdom-maker; instructor; commander; governor; regulator.

Wisler. Wís, wise, prudent; lár, doctrine. Wise doctrine. Wissler, a kindred term.

Wisse. Wisse, for wiste, past of witan, to know, to be conscious. Knew; was conscious.

Wissman. Wisse, knew, was conscious; man, a man. A man that knew; a wise man.

Wister. Wiste, knew; ere, an agent. One that knew. Wistar, from the same root.

Witchel. Wicce, a witch, an enchantress; el, a termination denoting a person. A witch; an enchantress.

Witcraft. Wit, mind, wit, understanding; cræft, continuance. Mind-continuance; invention.

Witman. Wit, wit; man, a man. A witman; a man of wit. Wittman, of kindred significance.

Wittig. Witt-ig, from witt, wit, and ig, an adjective termination. Witty; wise.

Wolfel. Wulf, wolf; el, a termination denoting a person. A wolfish person; a ravenous person.

Wonderly. Wunder-líc, from wunder, wonder, and líc, like. Wonder-like; wonderful; wondrous.

Woodcock. Wude, wood; coc, or cocc, a cock, a male fowl, or bird. A woodcock; a bird that affects wooded places.

Woodelton. Wudelíc-tún, from wudelíc, woody, wild; tún, a farm. A woody, or wild farm.

Woodington. Wudiende, present participle of wudian, to cut wood; tún, a farm. A wood-cutting farm.

Woodland. Wudu-land, from wudu, or wude, wood, and land, land, region. A woodland; a wooded region.

Woodley. Wudu-líc, from wudu, wood, and líc, like. Wood-like; woody; wild.

Woodman. Wudu-mann, from wudu, wood, and mann, a man. A woodman; a wood-ward.

Woodmansee. Wudu-mann-seo, from wudu-mann, a woodman, and seo, the sight of the eye. A woodman’s vision.

Woodruff. Wude, wood; róf, a roof. Woodroof, Woodroff, Woodroffe, from the same roots.

Woodson. Wood, Wood; sun, son. Son of Wood. Or, from wude, wood, and sun, son. Son of the woods.

Woodstocker. Woodstock, from wude, wood, and stóc, a place; ere, an agent. A resident of Woodstock—a woody place.

Woodward. Wudu-weard, from wudu, wood, and weard, a ward, a guardian. A wood-ward; a woodman.

Woody. Wudu-líc, from wudu, wood, and líc, like. Wood-like; woody; wild. Or, from wud, wood, and íg, an adjective termination. Woody; wild.

Woolery. Wúlle, wool; ríce, a region. A wool-growing region. Woolrey, from the same roots.

Woolford. Wúll, wool; ford, a ford. A wool-ford; a place where the wool-bearers crossed the stream.

Wooliscroft. Wúlles, genitive of wúll, wool, sheep; croft, a croft, a field. A wool-field; a sheep-pasture.

Woollerton. Wúll, wool; ere, an agent; tún, house. Home of a wool-grower.

Woolley. Wúll-íc from wúll, wool, and íc for líc, like. Wool-like; woolly; hairy.

Woolsey. Wúlles, genitive of wúll, wool, sheep; íg, an island. Isle of wool, or sheep.

Wopson. Wóp, a whoop, weeping, cry, bewailing, lamentation; sun, son. A weeping son.

Worden. Worden, or weordhan, to become, to be, to happen, to come to pass.

Wormsley. Wormes, genitive of worm, a worm; líc, form. Form of a worm; worm-like; spiral. Or, from worms, corruption, and líc, like. Corruption-like.

Worn. Worn, a number, multitude, body, company, band, troop, crowd, herd, power, force. Worne, from the same radix.

Worthington. Weordh-ung, honoring, worshipping; tún, a house. A worshipping-house.

Wotherspoon. Wodh-spónere, from wodh, eloquence, song, and spónere, an enticer. Song-enticer.

Wrede. Wrǽde, a latch, buckle, clasp, restraint, control, fastness, haft, handle.

Wrensley. Wrǽnnes, extravagance, luxury, lust, lechery; líc, like. Extravagantly; luxuriously.

Wunderly. Wundr, wonder; líc, like. Wonder-like. Wunderle, from the same roots.

Wunning. Wun-ung, from wun-ian, to won, to dwell, to inhabit. A woning; a dwelling; a habitation.

Wurster. Wurst, worst; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, is the worst. Wuster, perhaps, from the same radix.

Wurtele. Wurt, a wort, an herb; el, implying a person. An herb collector; an herbalist.

Wurts. Wurtes, genitive of wurt, a wort, an herb. Belonging to an herb. Wurtz, another spelling of the name.

Wyckoff. Wyc, a dwelling-place, habitation, city, castle, fortress; cofa, a room, a chamber. A castle-chamber.

Wylie. Wyllíc, from wyl, a well, a fountain, and líc, like. Like a well; as a fountain.

Wynkoop. Wyn, joy, pleasure, light; copp, or cuppa, a cup. A pleasure-cup.

Yarnall. Gearn, yarn, spun wool; eall, all, whole. All yarn; entirely woollen.

Yateman. Iát, or geát, a gate; man, a man. A gate-keeper. Yeatman, Yetman, from the same roots.

Yates. Iátes, or geátes, genitive of iát, a gate. Belonging to a gate. Yeats, of like derivation.

Yeakle. Iac, a cuckoo; el, indicative of personality. A person like a cuckoo; a simpleton.

Yeakley. Iac, a cuckoo; líc, like. Cuckoo-like; wild; careless; lascivious. Yeckley, of similar meaning.

Yearick. Gear, a year; icg, or ig, an adjective termination. Yearly. Yearicke, Yerrick, from the same roots.

Yearly. Gear-líc, from gear, a year, and líc, like. Year-like; yearly.

Yearsley. Geares, genitive of gear, a year; líc, form. Form of a year; yearly.

Yeasler. Ysele, a fire-spark, spark, ember, hot ashes; ere, an agent. A fire-maker; a fireman; a stoker.

Yeather. Ýdh, what rises up, a wave, a flood; ere, an agent. That which rises up; a wave; a flood.

Yeatts. Geátes, genitive of geát, a gate. Belonging to a gate. See Yates.

Yegen. Yg-búend, from yg, or ig, an island, and búend, an inhabitant. An inhabitant of an island; an islander.

Yeingest. Iungest, or geongest, comparative of iung, or geong, young. Youngest.

Yeiter. Ýtte, past of ýtan, to out, to drive out, to expel, to banish; ere, an agent. One expelled; an exile.

Yellard. Yl, or il, a hedgehog, a porcupine; land, land. Land of the hedgehog, or porcupine.

Yeomans. Yeoman, from ieo, or geo, of old; man, a man, and s for sun, son. Son of a man of old; son of a yeoman; son of a tiller of the soil.

Yepson. Yppe, plain, open, manifest; sun, son. A plain, open, straightforward son.

Yerges. Yerg, Yerg; s for sun, son. Son of Yerg. Yerkes, perhaps, corruption of the same.

Yettinger. Yting, a way, a journey; ere, an agent. A wayfarer; a journeyer. Perhaps, from get-ung, getting, and ere, an agent. A getter.

Yhost. Gást, breath, spirit, ghost. Yoast, Yost, like it, a corruption of the original.

Yingling. Ging, young, tender; ling, a termination denoting state or condition of a person. Youth; tenderness.

Yochum. Ioc, a yoke; hum, for hám, a house. A yoke-house. Yocam, Yocum, Yokam, from the same roots.

Yockel. Ioc, a yoke; el, a termination denoting a person. One who has charge of a yoke of oxen; a farmer; a bumpkin.

Yonker. Iunga, or geonga, a youth. A young fellow; a youngster. Or, from iuncer, a younker, a young nobleman, one that is young, a young fellow. Younker, of like kinship.

Younger. Geongra, comparative of geong, young, tender. Younger; more tender.

Younginger. Young, Young; ing, an offspring; ere, an agent. A descendant of Young.

Yuker. Iuc, a yoke; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, is yoked; a companion; a yoke-mate.

The Normans, or Northmen, were primarily of the Norse, or Scandinavian, branch of the Teutonic race. They were active, enterprising men—merchants, navigators, soldiers. Restless under the restraints of a power that was slowly and surely consolidating the Scandinavian kingdoms, they broke away from its influence, and boldly ventured forth, conquered the Shetland Islands, the Orkneys, and the Hebrides, founded the kingdom of Caithness in Scotland, settled Iceland, discovered Greenland, and colonized Vinland, which is supposed to be on the coast of New England.

In 911, Rolf, or Rollo, the Ganger, with his daring band of vikings, obtained a footing in the fertile valley of the Seine. The province, which was afterwards called Normandy, was received by him as a fief from Charles the Simple. Friendly relations were soon established, and Rollo became the king’s vassal with the title of duke, and subsequently married his daughter. The Normans were brought under French law and customs, became Christians, adopted the French language, married into French families, and caught the French spirit.

Edward the Confessor dying without issue in 1066, Harold, his brother-in-law, succeeded to the throne. But William, seventh Duke of Normandy, whose aunt, Emma, had been married to Ethelred II of England, claimed it by hereditary right and by the promise of both Edward and Harold.

Determined to establish his claim, he set sail with thirty thousand followers for the coast of England. On October [174]14, 1066, he met and defeated Harold, near Hastings, and was soon afterwards crowned king at Westminster. This was the only conquest—and British soil has throbbed to the clatter and tramplings of four—that reached down to the people of the island and thoroughly leavened them. The admixture of a new blood and a new spirit with theirs proved the greatest good that ever befell them. It can be considered as nothing short of a regeneration, for it made the English nation of to-day, the English language, and the English literature.

The modern Englishman owes to his Teutonic ancestry his love of justice and fair play, his religious nature, his physical robustness and intellectual vigor, his love of liberty, and to his French lineage—and we must not lose sight of the fact that, though originally Teutonic, the Normans had been metamorphosed by their life in France—his manner, his tact, his administrative genius, his poetic skill, and his artistic nature. In him are most happily blended the two races, forming a composite better than either component, greater even than both elements while in separation. The changes which Anglo-Saxon thus underwent are vital, fundamental, and, we may say, revolutionary.

Expressive of the change thus effected, a new name is needed. Before 1066, writers refrained from calling the dominant people of the island, or their language, by any other term than Anglo-Saxon. But after the union of the people and of the languages, no name expresses the new condition of things so well as English. As thus applied, English denotes always the race resulting from the marriage of the two peoples, or the speech resulting from the union of the two tongues.

The Anglo-Saxons and the Normans lived side by side. It must not be supposed, however, that either the two peoples or the two languages were welded instantaneously. They grew together, and the growth was slow. There were special reasons why such should be the case. The conqueror was of alien blood. National animosity existed between him and the conquered. In the north, more especially than in the south, William’s conquest was ruthless. Harvests were destroyed, cattle killed or carried off, implements of husbandry sacrificed, towns and villages burned, and the inhabitants slain or driven across the border. The entire soil was confiscated, and the land, upon condition of military service, parcelled out among a score or more of great vassals, among hundreds of inferior crown vassals, and among the higher clergy. The meanest Norman was raised to opulence and influence in the new dominion. By the establishment of this modified feudal system, the masses were reduced to a species of serfdom. They became mere tillers of the soil. Shoals of Norman ecclesiastics came across the Channel, and the people were forced to accept religious instruction and consolation from the strangers. Everywhere, in the palace and among the nobility, in the law courts and the schools, as authority dictated, another language than their own prevailed. A keen sense of the scorn with which their lack of culture and their “barbarous tongue” were regarded, added to a painful consciousness of their social and political degradation, only served the more to heighten their aversion to the strangers, and to make the problem of coalescence slow and difficult.

But the influences at work were not wholly those of repulsion. Living together as they did, they had to meet each other in the field and in the town. They were forced to buy from each other and to sell to each other. Time could not but lessen the arrogance of the one, and modify the moroseness of the other. Definite rights were gradually acquired by the subject race. His services became limited, and could be commuted for money considerations. The ownership of his hut and of the plat of ground surrounding it, and the privilege of using the waste land of the manor for the pasturage of his cattle, which were mere indulgences at first, grew into rights that could be pleaded at law. The serf became a power. He was struggling to grow to a copyholder, and the copyholder, to a freeholder. Such things had their effects. The military strength of the nobles waned, the courts of the feudal baronage were shorn of their influence, and the feudal system was fast sinking into decay. In education, as well as in material things, the Anglo-Saxons were improving. Intermarriages were common, and strong social and national feelings were springing up, before which their mutual antagonism was giving away.

The vast possessions, partly hereditary and partly acquired by marriage, held by the English kings in France, served but to aid this feeling. To hold these against the French kings required not only a united people, but a people unified by the strong sentiment of nationality. And to make progress against the encroachments of their own kings the nobility were forced to make common cause with the people. To what extent the interests of barons and commons were identified may be seen from the provisions of the Great Charter extorted from King John in 1215.

For a long time after the Conquest there existed in England the singular spectacle of two languages declining to coalesce and yet spoken by two peoples living together. Neither language would give way to the other. How little these two languages had blended in the vocabulary of [177]authors, may be seen when it is said that Layamon’s Brut, a poem of thirty-two thousand lines, written in 1205, does not contain a hundred and fifty French words; and that in the Ormulum, a poem of twenty thousand lines, which appeared in the year of Magna Charta, hardly fifty French words are found. But the difficulties in the way of coalescence were slowly diminishing. Such as were political have already been spoken of, but those more properly linguistic will now be considered.

This period was, to the subject race, one of general depression. Very little literature, and that of an indifferent quality, was produced. Their language was no longer spoken, and their standards in it forgotten. Anglo-Saxon had been banished from the schools, was no longer used at the palace and castles of the nobles, or in the courts. Few were writing it. It seems to have been left in the care, if care it can be called, of those ignorant of its literature and grammar, and familiar only with the vocabulary employed in colloquial speech. The effect of all this upon the language can be easily inferred. A large fraction of the vocabulary, the more dignified and scholarly portion, fell into neglect and then into oblivion. The grammatical inflections, denoting case, person, number, tense, of the words kept in circulation, almost entirely perished. These inflections would only be retained by those who knew their importance, but they sloughed off as the words fell from the tongues of those who were ignorant of them. When, then, this Anglo-Saxon speech had forced itself upon the Normans, as it had fairly done by the latter half of the fourteenth century, it was far easier to master than would have been the case immediately after 1066. Nearly one-half of the words in the vocabulary before the Conquest, it is estimated, dropped out of it in the three hundred years immediately following, and it is certain that the grammar had been vastly simplified. With one-half of its words lost, and the remaining half nearly flectionless, the work of learning the language was made comparatively easy for the Norman.

This forcing of the tongue of a conquered people upon its conquerors was a signal achievement and of far-reaching consequences. Upon the authority of John of Trevisa, we are told that, after the great pestilence of 1349, the instruction of youth was revolutionized. John Cornwall changed the instruction in the grammar-school from French into English, and was followed by Richard Pencrich and others, so that in 1335 in all the grammar-schools of England the children were being taught English rather than French. In 1362 French was exchanged for English in the courts of law, Parliament having passed an act that year ordering that in all the courts “all pleas ... shall be pleaded, shewed, defended, answered, debated, and judged in the English tongue.” Great writers had now arisen—Wyclif, 1324-1384, in prose; Chaucer, 1340-1400, in poetry. They wrote in English, and their influence upon the plastic language of their day, and upon all subsequent writers, is simply incalculable.

The adoption of the Anglo-Saxon by the Norman was greatly facilitated by the fact that the French he was using was not the French of Paris, but the degenerate tongue of Normandy, which was at best but provincial. But during the centuries of its use in England it had been kept from free contact with the dialect of Normandy, and so had deteriorated even from the imperfect standard. Even the Norman himself had grown ashamed of it, and was not unwilling to part with it.

When it is said that by 1400, or even earlier, English was generally used, it is meant a speech not in existence by itself till long after the Norman Conquest, a speech neither Anglo-Saxon nor French, but Anglo-Saxon and French. It was a speech to which both of these languages contributed, to form which both of these were combined. The adoption of words was not all done by the Norman. While he borrowed many from the Saxon, the Saxon borrowed some from the Norman. English may, therefore, be considered a [179]compromise, a compound. It is one speech after the union, but not univocal, not all of a piece, every speaker of which being bilingual.

The tongue brought over by the Conqueror has been called Norman-French. It is in reality Latin. Just before the Christian era Julius Cæsar subdued the people then in possession of Gaul, what is now France, and imposed upon them his language, which was that of Rome. This language, used for a thousand years by a people to whom it was not the vernacular, was acquired by the Normans, of still another alien stock, and by them introduced into England. Spoken a whole millennium by people whose mother-tongue it displaced, and from them learned by strangers, it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that the words had lost much of their original form and meaning. Proofs, in the words themselves, are not wanting to sustain the assertion. Outwardly they were almost invariably shortened. By a dropping of vowels or consonants, or of both, two or three syllables had been squeezed into one, as some examples will conclusively show. French sûr, our sure, came originally from the Latin securus; French règle, our rule, from Latin regula; French île, English isle, from insula. And not unfrequently the final and unaccented syllable or syllables seem not to have been caught by the subject Gaul, or, if caught by his ear, were not retained on his tongue. The Latin domina, for instance, appears in French as the truncated dame; medius as midi; and malum, as mal. Though changed, yet it must be patent to all that the French words are Latin, as their essential identity with the words used by Horace and Virgil unmistakably show.

Ayles. Ayeles, genitive of ayel, a grandfather. Belonging to a grandfather.

Batchelor. Bachelor, an unmarried man, a knight, one who has taken his first degree in a college.

Bayard. Bayard, a bay horse, a blood-horse; so called in Chaucer, and in old romances. Byard, abbreviation of the term.

Borell. Borel, coarse cloth of a brown color, made of plain, coarse stuff. Borel folk, borel men, were laymen.

Bosek. Bos, a protuberance; ig, an adjective termination. Bossy. Bose, Bosee, from the same roots.

Boser. Bos, a protuberance; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, has a protuberance.

Bossard. Bosard, a buzzard, a species of hawk unfit for sporting. Bossart, Bossert, identical in derivation and meaning.

Boswell. Latin bos, an ox; well, a well, a fountain. An ox-well; a well where oxen are watered.

Botler. Botel, or botelle, a bottle; ere, an agent. A bottler. Butler, from the same radix.

Brearey. Brere, a bramble; ig, an adjective termination. Briery; brambly; full of briars; rough.

Brinton. Brin, a sprig, a slip; tún, a house, an enclosure. A hot-bed; a green-house; a nursery.

Casely. Cas, chance; líc, like. Chance-like; accidental. Casley, from the same root.

Casey. Cas, chance, condition; ig, an adjective termination. Accidental; conditional.

Cellerier. Celerer, the officer in a monastery who had the care of the provisions.

Chambers. Chamberes, genitive of chamber, a chamber, a room, an apartment. Belonging to a chamber.

Chambley. Chamb, for chamber, a chamber; ley, for líc, like. Chamber-like.

Clary. Clarré, wine mixed with honey and spices, and afterwards strained till it is clear. Clarey, of like relationship.

Couch. Couche, to lay, place; past participle couched, laid. Couched with pearls means laid or trimmed with pearls. Couch, also, a bed.

Crowne. Crown, crown of the head, top of the head. Crown, from the same radix.

Dresser. Dresse, to address, to apply; ere, an agent. One who addresses, or applies himself to any task.

Fayle. Fay, faith; le, for el, denoting a person. A person of faith; a believer.

Forster. Forster, a forester, an officer of the forest. Foster, a kindred term.

Franklin. Frankeleyn, the father of a family. This is the application in Chaucer’s time. Spencer uses the term in the sense of a freeholder, but in Queen Elizabeth’s day it denoted a yeoman, or a man above a vassal, but not a gentleman.

Gaylord. Gaylard, gay, licentious. Perhaps from galliard, a sprightly kind of dance.

Gentil. Gentil, gentlemanlike, gentlemanly. Gentel, Gentle, of like kinship.

Gentry. Genterye, gentility. Chaucer spelt the word with the additional e’s. Even at the present day it is not unusual to find some writing the name—Gentery.

Gracey. Grace, favor, kindness; ig, an adjective termination. Gracious; kind.

Granger. Graunge, a farm-house; ere, an agent. One who has a farm-house; a farmer.

Greeley. Gree, pleasure, satisfaction, prize, grade; líc, like. Pleasurable; satisfactory; estimable; gradual.

Groning. Grone, to groan, to grunt; ing, expressive of action. Groaning; grunting.

Hamburger. Hamburgeon, a coat of mail; ere, an agent. One who wears a coat of mail; a warrior.

Hauberger. Hauberg, a coat of mail; ere, an agent. An armor-bearer; a knight; a warrior.

Lacey. Laas, or lace, a lace, a net, a snare; ig, an adjective termination. Resembling a lace, or net.

Larger. Larger, comparative of large, spacious, prodigal. More spacious; more prodigal.

Largey. Large, large, prodigal; ig, an adjective termination. Large; prodigal.

Layard. Liard, a name of a horse, belonging originally to a horse of a gray color. A gray horse.

Logerman. Loge, a lodge; ere, an agent; man, a man. A person who lodges, or is lodged; a lodger.

Noon. Noon, the ninth hour of the natural day, nine o’clock in the morning, the hour of dinner.

Parvis. Parvis, a portico before a church. Purvis, perhaps, from the same root.

Pomeltree. Pomel, any ball or round thing, as an apple; treow, a tree. An apple-tree.

Poynter. Poynt, the principal business, a point, a stop; ere, an agent. That which acts as a point, or a stop; a pointer.

Poynton. Poynt, a point, a stop; tún, a house. A point-house; a business place.

Preston. Prest, from prese, to press, to crowd; tún, a house. A crowded house.

Prevear. Preve, to try, to demonstrate by trial; ere, an agent. An experimenter; a demonstrator.

Prime. Prime, the first quarter of the artificial day. Sometimes metaphorically used in Chaucer for the season of action or business. Perhaps, from pryme, daybreak.

Rocholl. Roche, a rock; ol, a termination denoting a personal noun. A rock-dweller; a man of decision.

Spence. Spence, a store-room for wine or victuals. A buttery; a larder; a store-room.

Spencer. Spence, a store-room; ere, an agent. One who has charge of the spence.

Timbers. Timbres, basins. Timbesterre was a term applied to a woman who played tricks with timbres, or basins of some sort or other, by throwing them up into the air and catching them upon a single finger; a kind of balance-mistress.

Tressley. Tresse, an artificial lock of hair; líc, like. Tress-like; gathered into a tress.

Voucher. Vouche, contraction of vouchen sauf, to vouchsafe; ere, an agent. One who vouches a thing safe. In Chaucer, such expressions as voucheth sauf, vouchsafe ye, and the king vouches it save, the king vouchsafes it, were of common occurrence.

Who were the Scots? This is a question extremely difficult to answer. No satisfactory account of the origin of the appellation has been given. It has puzzled the most distinguished antiquaries, whose conjectures serve rather to perplex than clear up the difficulty. Nor is this surprising, when Varro and Dyonysius could not agree about the etymon of Italia, nor Plutarch and Selinus about that of Rome. All that is known with certainty is, that it was at first a term of reproach, and consequently framed by enemies, rather than assumed by the nation distinguished by that name. The Highlanders, who were the genuine descendants of the ancient Scots, are absolutely strangers to the name, and have been so from the beginning of time. All those who speak the Gaelic language call themselves Albanich or Gael, and their country Alba or Gaeldochd.

The Picts, who possessed originally the northern and eastern, and, in a later period, the more southern division of North Britain, were at first more powerful than the Caledonians of the west. It is therefore probable that the Picts, from principles of malevolence and pride, were ready to traduce and ridicule their weaker neighbors of Argyle. These two people spoke the same language—the Gaelic. In that language Scot, or Scode, signifies a corner or small division of a country. Accordingly, a corner of North Britain is the very name which Giraldus Cambrensis gives the little kingdom of Argyle, that the six sons of Muredus, King of Ulster, are said to have established in Scotland. Scot, in Gaelic, is much the same as little or contemptible in English; and Scotlan literally signifies a small flock, but metaphorically [192]stands for a small body of men. Scuit, a wanderer, is also from the Gaelic, and a few writers suppose that this may have been the origin of the name of Scot, a conjecture which seems to be countenanced by a passage in Ammianus Marcellinus, where the men are characterized “per diversa vagantes.” All that can be affirmed is, that, for some one of the reasons stated above, the Picts or the Britons may have given, out of derision, the appellation of Scots to the ancestors of the Scottish nation.

At what time the inhabitants of the west of Scotland came to be distinguished by this name is uncertain. Porphyrius, the philosopher, is the first who mentions them, and this was about the year of the Christian era 267. Towards the middle of the fourth century Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of them along with other British nations.

Much discussion among antiquaries of note has taken place in regard to the origin of the Scots. Dr. Macpherson contends that they are of Caledonian, and Mr. Whitaker that they are of Irish extraction. Each supports his position with such arguments and authorities that an impartial inquirer is almost at a loss to know which to accept. What appears most probable is, that both are partly in the right and partly in the wrong. From what can be gleaned from past records the Scots seem to have been originally descended from Britons of the south, or from Caledonians, who, being pressed forward by new colonies from Gaul till they came to the western shore of Britain, passed over into Ireland probably one hundred years before the Christian era. Subsequently, about the year of Christ 320, they, or a large colony of them, returned under Fergus to Britain, and settled on the western coasts of Caledonia, from which place they had formerly migrated. As early as 340 they are found associated with the Picts in their expeditions into the Roman province, and for ninety or a hundred years afterwards Roman and British writers make frequent mention of their depredatory excursions.

The territory of the ancient Scots comprehended, before the annexation of Pictavia, all that side of Caledonia that stretched along the coast from the Frith of Clyde to the Orkneys. Towards the east their dominions were divided from those of the Picts by the high mountains running from Dumbarton to the Frith of Tain. In course of time the Scots, under the reign of Kenneth, son of Alpin, became so powerful as to subdue their neighbors the Picts, and to give their own denomination to all Caledonia, Pictavia and Valentia, which territories are still comprehended under the general name of Scotland.

Like those of all other nations, the historians of Scotland assume too great an antiquity for their countrymen, but are, however, much less extravagant in this particular than many others. According to them, the reign of Fergus, the first Scot monarch, is placed at 330 B. C. He was the son of Ferchard, an Irish prince, and is said to have been called into Scotland by the Caledonians to assist them against the Southern Britons, with whom they were then at war. Their language and manners he found to be the same as those of his countrymen. This happy condition of things rendered his position a very easy one. Placing himself at the head of his new allies, he engaged the Britons under their king, Coilus. Events proved him a brave and efficient leader. Coilus was defeated and killed, and victory soon settled upon the banners of the Scots. Shortly afterwards Fergus was declared, with the solemnity of an oath, king of the Scots. But he did not long enjoy his new dignity, for, being called to Ireland to quiet some commotions there, he was drowned on his return voyage at a place on the coast of Ireland, which was called for him, Knock-Fergus, or Carrick-Fergus; that is, Fergus’s Rock.

Feritharis, brother of Fergus, succeeded to the throne to the prejudice of his nephews—Ferlegus and Mainus. His reign was not a peaceful one, for Ferlegus fomented strifes and dissensions, which failed of success, and only resulted, [194]after the death of his uncle, in his being set aside from the succession. The throne was conferred upon his brother Mainus, Ferlegus having died in obscurity. The reign of Mainus and those of Dornadill and Nothat afford nothing remarkable. Reutha, Thereus, Jafina and Finnan then followed in regular succession, but no transactions of note marked their administrations, save that of the last, where we find the first beginnings of the Scottish Parliament. Durftus, Even and Gillus then succeeded, but their reigns were barren of interest. Even II, the nephew of Finnan, who came after Gillus, is said to have built the towns of Innerlochy and Inverness. He overcame Belus, king of the Orkneys, who had invaded Scotland. His son Ever, who next assumed the reins, became king at the time of the invasion of Britain by Julius Cæsar, and assisted the Britons against the common enemy. Even III, his successor, was a monster of cruelty and lust. His great wickedness occasioned a rebellion, and ended in his dethronement, imprisonment and death. Nothing memorable in the history of Scotland is met with from this time until that of Agricola, who having completed the conquest of the southern parts and in a great measure civilized the inhabitants, formed a like plan with regard to Scotland. Here he met a most formidable opposition, but Scotch valor was not proof against the discipline of Roman troops and the experience of their commander. The subsequent history of the Scot, his contact with the Dane, the Angles and the Saxons, and the Normans, must be left unmentioned. We have called attention to these people for the reason that they had in manner and language impressed the Scot of their days, and left an influence behind which is even felt in his progenitors of the present time. Our purpose at the beginning was to give but the history of the origin of the name and of those who had it imposed upon them, and this we have briefly, and it is to be hoped, successfully, accomplished.

Modern Scotch, or the language as spoken even a hundred years ago, differs very materially from that in use by the Scots when Cæsar invaded Britain.

Like the Erse, the latter was an important branch of the Celtic, or Keltic, family of Indo-European languages, of which the Irish, now almost extinct, affords a good illustration.

Eighteen centuries, with their destructive and modifying influences, have been at work upon its structure till its genius has departed, never to return. The Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman have supplanted many of its word-forms, and done away with its peculiarities of speech. What is now left of its former glory is but the shadow.

It is true we meet with Celtic words in current use, but time and neglect have so disfigured their physiognomies that even the practised mind of the philologist often fails to indicate their kinship.

Scotch words, or we might say with greater propriety and exactness Scottish words, for Scotch is seemingly nothing more than a corruption of Scottish, the English form of the Anglo-Saxon Scyttisc, vary their inflections as English words do. The changes, when there are changes, follow the usages of the Anglo-Saxon.

As should be expected, when is considered the influence of the Teutonic and Norman-French invasions, the sounds of certain letters, whether taken singly or in combination, must necessarily have varied. This, as we shall now see, has been the case.

In genuine Scottish words the a, except when constituting a diphthong, or when followed by an e mute after a single consonant, sounds generally like the broad English a in wall.

The Scottish diphthong æ always, and ea very often, sound like the French e masculine, while the Scottish diphthong ey sounds like the Latin in ei.

Bent. Bent, long grass, wild fields where bents, etc., grow. Bente, a kindred term.

Blyth. Blyth, joy, sprightliness, liveliness. Blythe, another spelling of the word.

Cauldwell. Cauld, cold; well, a well. A cold well. Caldwell, Colwell, from the same roots.

Creeley. Creel, a basket; líc, like. Resembling a basket. To have one’s wits in a creel, is to be crazed, to be fascinated.

Curling. Curling, a well-known game on ice. In Scotland, where it is practised, the player is called a curler.

Daley. Dale, a plain; ig, an adjective termination. Resembling a plain. Dealy, a kindred term.

Doupe. Doupe, the backside, the side or part of anything that is out of sight, or that is not observed.

Douredoure. Doure, stout, durable, sullen, stubborn; doure, stout, durable, etc. Very stout; portly; obstinate.

Eldridge. Elriche, Elritch, wild, hideous, ghostly, lonesome, uninhabited, except by spectres.

Fallows. Fallow, a fellow; s for sun, son. Son of a fellow. Also, fallows, plural of fallow, a fellow.

Fell. Fell, keen, biting, the flesh immediately underneath the skin, a moderately level field on the side or top of a hill.

Ferley. Ferley, or ferlie, to wonder, a wonder. Farley, from the same root.

Fothergill. Fother, fodder; gill, from giolla, a servant. A fodder-servant.

Fyler. Fyle, to soil, to dirty; ere, an agent. One who soils, or is soiled.

Geary. Gear, riches; ig, an adjective termination. Rich; wealthy. Gearey, another spelling.

Goff. Gowff, the game of Golf. A game played with a ball and a bat. It is a favorite game in Scotland and consists in driving the ball from one hole to another. The person who drives his ball into a hole with the fewest strokes is declared the winner.

Gowdy. Gowd, gould, gold; ig, an adjective termination. Gold-like; resembling gold.

Greely. Gree, prize, victory; líc, like. Victorious. Greeley, of like derivation.

Greer. Gree, prize, victory; ere, an agent. One who gains the prize; the victor.

Haldeman. Hald, an abiding place; man, a man. A man that has an abiding place.

Haphold. Hap, a plaid; hold, a captain. A captain invested with his plaid.

Harner. Harn, very coarse linen; ere, an agent. One who makes coarse linen.

Hasher. Hash, a fellow that neither knows how to dress nor act with propriety; ere, an agent. A fellow that does not dress becomingly.

Heather. Heather, a heath, a place overgrown with heath, a low shrub belonging to the family of ericaceous plants.

Heckle. Heckle, a board in which is fixed a number of sharp pins used in dressing hemp, flax, etc. Heckel, a cognate term.

Helmer. Helm, rudder; ere, an agent. One who has the charge of the rudder; a helmsman.

Helmbold. Helm, rudder, helm; bóld, a house. The helmsman’s house; pilot-house.

Keeley. Keel, a raddle; ig, implying an adjective. Raddle-like; resembling a raddle.

Kirkby. Kirk, church; bý, a habitation. A habitation belonging to the church; a parsonage.

Kitchen. Kitchen, anything that is eaten with bread, or that serves for gravy, soup, etc.

Knapper. Knap, to strike sharply; ere, an agent. One who strikes a smart blow.

Kyle. Kyle, a district in Ayrshire. Doubtless from kyel—the equivalent of kye, cows, and el, a personal suffix—a cowherd.

Lounes. Lounes, plural of loun, a fellow, a ragamuffin, a woman of easy virtue.

Lowrie. Lowrie, abbreviation of Lawrence. Lowry, from the same name. Lawrence, from the Latin, belonging to the laurel; secondarily, victorious.

Mawby. Maw, to mow; bý, a house, a habitation. A mow-house; a chamber in a barn where hay is stored.

Mell. Mell, to meddle. Also, a mallet for pounding barley in a stone trough.

Murney. Murne, mourn; Irish neać, an individual. One that mourns; a mourner.

Reamer. Ream, cream, to cream; ere, an agent. One who skims the cream from anything.

Ripley. Rip, a handful of unthreshed corn; líc, like. Resembling a handful of unthreshed corn.

Stangle. Stang, to sting; el, expressive of a personal name. That which stings.

Swank. Swank, stately, jolly. A tight, strapping young fellow or girl was called a swankie, or swanker.

Wambold. Wam, the womb, the belly; bóld, a house, a habitation. The womb-house; the abdomen.

Wrangham. Wrang, wrong, to wrong; hám, a house. A wrong home; a wronged house.

Yerkes. Yerkes, or yerks, present indicative third person singular of yerk, to lash, to jerk. Lashes; jerks.

Yetter. Yett, a gate; ere, an agent. One who has charge of a gate; a gate-keeper. Yett was usually applied to a gate that commanded the entrance to a farm-yard or a field.

Ackley. Ác-lea, from ác, an oak, and leag, a territory, a district. An oak-district. Oakley, from the same roots.

Adamson. Hebrew Adam, red earth; A. S. sun, son. Son of Adam; son of red earth. Adams, contracted form of the word.

Albertson. Albert, from æl, all, and beorht, bright; sun, son. Son of Albert; son of the all-bright, or illustrious. Alberts, of like kinship.

Anderson. Greek aner, French andré, a man; sun, son. Son of a man. Anders, Andrews, of like significance.

Antrim. Irish antrim, land of caverns. Very closely allied to antrum, the Latin for cave, den, grot, lurking-place.

Ashburn. Æsc, an ash-tree, a ship; burne, a bourn, stream, creek, river. A stream bordered by ash-trees; a river navigable by ships.

Barrow. Beorh, a heap, burrow or barrow, a heap of stones, a place of burial. Barrows, son of Barrow.

Bartram. Beorht, bright; remn, or hrem, a raven. A bright raven. Bertram, of like kinship.

Becker. Béc, a book; ere, an agent. A book-maker; a bookman. Béc, derivable from béce, a beech-tree, as books were first made out of the beech. Becher, a name of analogous significance.

Beckman. Béc, a book; man, a man. A bookman; a book-maker. Bechman, a kindred term.

Beckley. Béc, book, or béce, beech; líc, like. Book-like; resembling the beech.

Bigg. Byge, or bige, a corner, a bay. Perhaps, from byggan, to big, to build: hence, great, large in bulk.

Blackburn. Blæc, black; beorn, a prince, a king. A black prince. Or, from blæc, black, and byrne, a coat of mail. A black coat of mail.

Blade. Blæd, a blade, leaf, branch, twig. It also signifies a blowing, blast, breath, life, a favorable wind, success, prosperity, honor, reward, fame, glory.

Blading. Blæd, a blade, a leaf; ing, expressive of action. Leaf-producing.

Blakeley. Blæc, black; líc, like. Resembling black. Blakely, a kindred term.

Blakiston. Blæc, black; isc, an adjective termination denoting likeness; tún, town. A blackish town.

Blue. Bleo, blue, azure. Blew is, doubtless, from bleow, the past of bláwan, to blow, to breathe.

Boot. Bót, a boot, remedy, amend, atonement, offering, redress, compensation, cure. Boote, another spelling.

Borgman. Borg, a loan, a pledge; man, a man. A man who receives a loan, or one who gives a pledge; a bondsman.

Bostick. Bósig, a crib, a stall, a manger, a boose. Bostwick, from the same roots, both words, doubtless, being corruptions of the original.

Bower. Búr, a bower, cottage, dwelling, an inner room, bed-chamber, storehouse.

Bowman. Boga, a bow, arch, corner, bending, band, horn, tail; man, a man. A bow-man; an archer.

Brick. Ir. brice, French brique, a brick. Earth or clay formed into regular blocks and burnt in a kiln or baked in the sun.

Braddock. Brád, broad; Gothic dok, a deep or gulfy place. A broad dock. Or, from brád, broad; docce, a dock, a kind of plant. A broad-leaved dock.

Brightly. Beorht, bright; líc, like. Bright-like; with lustre; splendidly.

Bryan. Ir. briǵ, virtue, vigor, force; an, a personal termination. A virtuous person; a man of vigor.

Buckingham. Boccenham, from bóccen, an adjective derived from bócce, a beech, and hám, a house. A beechen house; a house surrounded by beech trees.

Burk. Bearoc, from bearo, a grove, a wood, a hill covered with wood. Burke, from the same root.

Burr. Búr, a bower, dwelling, storehouse. Also, from French bourre, the down on herbs and fruits. Most properly, from the Anglo-Saxon.

Burrell. Búr, a bower, a storehouse, a dwelling; el, a termination denoting both persons and inanimate objects. One who, or that which, dwells in a bower; a cottager; a storehouse.

Burrow. Beorh, a heap, a barrow, a heap of stones, a place of burial. Burrough, from the same radix.

Cade. Ir. céad, a hundred, first. Perhaps, from cat́, pronounced cath, or cadh, war, battle.

Cadic. Ir. céad, first; eać, for neać, an agent. The first man. Caddy, from the same roots. Probably, from cat́-aid́, a warrior.

Camley. Ir. cam, curved, crooked, bent; A. S. líc, like. Curved-like; crooked.

Campbell. Camp, a camp; bel, a bell. A camp-bell. Possibly, from French camp, a camp, and bel, beautiful: hence, a beautiful camp.

Carl. Carl, a male; chiefly used before words to denote the male, as cwén does the female. Carl-catt, meaning a male cat, and carl-fugol, a male or cock bird. Later, carl came to signify man, a married man, as well as the male of any kind.

Carley. Carl, a male, a man; líc, like. Male-like; resembling a man; churlish. Carle, from the same.

Carncross. Ir. carn, a heap of stones; cros, a cross. A cross composed of a heap of stones.

Carritt. Ir. car, dear; aid́, a termination indicative of personality. A dear person; a friend.

Carter. Cræt, or crat, a carriage, a cart; ere, an agent. One who drives a cart or carriage; a carter; a teamster. In Anglo-Saxon, cræt-wǽn was applied to a wain, a chariot. It is highly probable that cræt or crat is traceable through the Gaelic words cairt and carr to Latin carrus, a car, a chariot.

Caskey. Ir. Caisg, Easter; eać, an individual. One who celebrates Easter.

Cilles. Cille, a bottle; genitive cilles, of bottle. Belonging to a bottle.

Conrad. Cón, bold; rǽd, counsel, reason, opinion. Bold counsel; courageous opinion.

Cormac. Ir. corb, a chariot; mac, son. Son of a chariot; a charioteer. Cormick, Cormuck, barbarous spellings of the name.

Crawford. Cráw, a crow, chough, jackdaw; ford, a ford. A crow-ford; a ford crossed by crows.

Culbert. Col, a helmet; beorht, bright. A bright helmet. Colbert, of like derivation.

Curry. Ir. curam, care (applied in Irish to all over whom one has charge); eać, an agent, and not lać. A supervisor. See page 22.

Darby. Common name for Diarmoid in Limerick and Tipperary. See Dermod, page 23.

Darcey. Dearc, or deorc, dark, dusky; ig, an adjective termination. Dark; dusky.

Darling. Deór, dear; ling, a termination denoting state or condition of a person. A person that is dear, or beloved.

Davidson. David, Hebrew for “beloved;” sun, son. Son of David. Davids, a contracted form of the name.

Davies. Davie, Scotch for the Hebrew for “beloved;” s for sun, son. Son of Davie. Davieson, unabbreviated name, and Davis, a contraction thereof.

Deane. Deane, the Danes: so called from dene, a valley, a plain, for they are dwellers in a vale or plain. Dean, as commonly applied, is the same as deacon, a levite.

Denison. Denis, French of the Greek Dionysos, god of Nysos; sun, son. Son of Denis.

Derby. Deór-bý, from deór, a deer, a beast, and bý, a habitation. A deer-park.

Donald. Ir. Donghal, from donn, brown, and gall, stranger. Brown-haired stranger.

Donnell. Ir. Domhnall, possibly Donghal, from donn, brown, and gall, stranger. Brown-haired stranger.

Donaghy. Ir. Donoghoc, from Donnachu, which is from donn, brown, and neać, an individual, an agent. A brown-haired chief. Donnogh, Donahoe, Donahue, Donohoe, Donohue, from the same roots.

Douglass. Ir. dhu, from dub́, black, dark; glas, green, gray. Dark green; dark gray.

Dugall. Ir. dhu, from dub́, black; gall, a stranger. A black stranger. Dugald, from the same roots.

Downes. Dúnes, genitive of dún, a mountain, a hill. Belonging to a hill.

Douney. Dún-ig, from dún, a mountain, a hill, and ig, an adjective ending. Mountainous; hilly. Downy, from the same derivation.

Durburrow. Dur, a door, a gate; beorh, a burrow, a place of burial. A door-burrow; a place of burial entered by door, or gate. Durborrow, Durborow, cognate terms.

Earley. Eorl-líc, from eorl, an earl, and líc, like. Earl-like; belonging to an earl.

Easby. Eás, genitive of eá, a river; bý, a habitation. Habitation of a river; banks of a river.

Eckley. Éce-líc, from éce, eternal, and líc, like. Eternal-like; everlasting.

Edgar. Eádg, happy, prosperous, blessed, rich, perfect; gár, a dart, javelin, spear, weapon. A prosperous spear. Eádg, contraction of the adjective eád-ig, which is derivable from the substantive eád, prosperity, happiness. It is highly probable that eád is an altered form of eard, earth, a man’s prosperity and consequent happiness being measured by the extent of his earthly possessions. See page 68.

Edmund. Eádmund, from eádg, happy, and mund, hand, protection, defence. Happy defence.

Edward. Eádward, from eádg, blessed; weard, guardian, watchman. A blessed guardian.

Egge. Egge, present indicative first person singular of eggian, to egg, to excite.

Eglee. Egle, troublesome, difficult, hateful. Or, from egle, a sprout, an ear of corn, a thistle.

Farley. Far-líc, from fær, sudden, fortuitous, wonderful, and líc, like. Sudden; fortuitous; wonderful.

Fetterling. Feoter, a fetter; ling, a termination denoting the state or condition of a person. Bondage.

Finan. Ir. fionn, fair, white; an, a personal ending. A fair person. Finian, kindred in derivation.

Forder. Ford, a ford; ere, an agent. On who, or that which, fords a stream.

Fowler. Fugel-ere, from fugel, a bird, a fowl, and ere, an agent. One who pursues or traps wild fowl.

Freeborn. Freó-bearn, from freó, free, and bearn, born. One free born.

Fricka. Fríga, Saxon Venus, the goddess of love. Or, which is more likely, from fricca, a crier or preacher. Frick, from the same radix. See Frick, page 70.

Fuller. Fullere, from fullian, to whiten, and ere, an agent. One that whitens anything; a bleacher.

Fullom. Fúle-hám, from fúle, foul, muddy, corrupt, and hám, a house. A muddy house; a corrupt home. Fullum, a cognate term.

Gadd. Gád, or gǽd, a point of a weapon, a prick, a goad. Also, from gád, want, need, deficiency.

Gadsby. Gádes, genitive of gád, want, deficiency, need; bý, a habitation. A needy home.

Gale. Gale, a nightingale, is from galan, to sing, to enchant. Galey, of like derivation.

Garlic. Gár-leac, from gár, a spear, and leac, a leek, an onion, an herb. Spear-leek; garlic.

Gillingham. Gillinga-hám, or Gill-ingahám, from Gill, Gill, and ingahám, residence of the sons. Home of the sons of Gill. See Gill, page 27.

Gladney. Glǽd, purified, bright; Ir. neać, an individual. A purified person; a saint; an angel.

Glenney. Glen, a glen, a valley; Ir. neać, an individual. A dweller in a glen, or a valley.

Guildford. Gild-ford, from gild, a guild, society, or club where money was paid for support, and ford, a ford. A stock-ford.

Haddock. Hacod, by the inversion of the letters in the last syllable became hadoc, and signifies a pike, mullet.

Hadley. Heáfod-líc, from heáfod, a head, and líc, like. Head-like; capital; chief. Headley, of like kinship.

Haines. Heánes, from heáh, high, and nes, a termination of feminine nouns denoting qualify or state. Highness; height; top; end; pinnacle; fortress.

Haley. Heálig, from heáh, high, and ig, an adjective ending. High; lofty. Or, from hál, healthy, sound, whole, and ig, implying an adjective. Healthy; sound; wholly; holy.

Hallowell. Heálig, holy; well, a well. A holy well. Halliwell, from the same roots.

Hancock. Hean, worthless; cocc, or coc, a cock, a male bird. A worthless cock. See Hancock, page 72.

Handley. Handle, that which is used by the hand. A handle; a haft. Hanley, a kindred term.

Hansbury. Heán-burh, from heán, high, lofty, and burh, a tower. A lofty tower.

Hardick. Heard, hard; ig, an adjective termination. Hardy. Hardie, Hardy, from the same roots.

Hare. Hara, a hare. As hares are gray, the name was originally derived from hár, hoar, hoary, gray. Hare, an estuary, is a probable etymology.

Harmer. Hearm, harm, damage, calamity; ere, an agent. One who, or that which, produces harm. Perhaps, from harma, a sling to support a wounded arm, an arm that has been harmed or damaged.

Hazel. Hæsel, or hæsl, a nut-tree, hazel. Hæsel, also, signifies a hat. The husk of the hazel-nut resembles a hat, but whether the plant took its name from the form of the covering of the nut, or the hat received its name from its resemblance to the covering, is a question. We incline to the latter belief.

Heany. Heane, poor, needy, humble, worthless, despised. Heeny, from the same root.

Herman. Here-man, from here, an army, and man, a man. An army-man; a soldier.

Hilles. Hilles, or hylles, genitives of hill and hyll, a hill. Belonging to a hill.

Holden. Healden, past participle of healdan, to hold, rescue, fasten, rule, govern. Held; ruled; governed.

Holland. Hol, a hole, a cavern; land, region. A cavernous land. Or, hol, hollow; land, land. A hollow land.

Hookey. Hóc, or hooc, a hook, a stick, or iron bent at the end; iht, an adjective termination. Hooked.

Hoopes. Hópes, genitive of hóp, a hoop, circle, company. Belonging to a hoop.

Inger. Ing, Ing; ere, an agent. A descendant of Ing. According to Teuton mythology, Ing was the son of Tuisco, and is, without doubt, the name-father of the Anglo-Saxon and English.

Kane. Ir. cat́on, pronounced cahon, from cat́, battle, and an, a termination denoting a personal noun. A warrior.

Kindall. Cyn, or cin, suitable; dál, valley. A suitable valley. Kendall, of like kinship.

Kidder. Cidan, to contend, quarrel, chide; ere, an agent. One who chides; a chider.

Kingsbury. Cynges, genitive of cyng, king; beorh, a city. King’s city.

Knowles. Cnolles, genitive of cnoll, a knoll, a hill. Belonging to a knoll, or hill.

Landes. Landes, genitive of land, land, ground, earth, field, country. Belonging to the country. Landis, of cognate derivation.

Langley. Lang-líce, from lang, long, and líce, form. Form of long; a long time.

Lea. Lea, or leag, a law, a territory or district in which a particular law or custom was in force. See Lea, page 75.

Lovely. Lóf, praise; líc, like. Praise-like; lovely. Or, from luf-líc, lovely.

McAlpin. Ir. mac, son; ailpin, from ailp, a lump, a height, and in, implying a diminutive. Son of a small lump, or height.

McArthur. Ir. mac, son; Arthur, Anglicised form of Ir. ard, high. Son of Arthur; son of the high.

McBride. Ir. mac, son; briǵ, virtue, vigor, force. Son of virtue; son of force. Anglo-Saxon bride is, doubtless, traceable to Ir. briǵ.

McCadden. Ir. mac, son; cat́in, pronounced cathin, or, possibly, corrupted into cadhin, a warrior. Son of a warrior.

McCandless. Ir. mac, son; Anglo-Saxon candeles, genitive of candel, a candle. Son of a candle. Candle is from the Latin candeo, I burn.

McCarrick. Ir. mac, son; Carrick, Carrick. Son of Carrick. See Carrick, page 21.

McCartney. Ir. mac, son; cairt, a cart; neać, an agent. Son of a carter.

McCombes. Ir. mac, son; A. S. combes, genitive of comb, a valley. Son of a valley. McComb, McCombs, McCoomb, McCoombs, of kindred derivation.

McCoon. Ir. mac, son; A. S. coones, genitive of coon, bold. Son of the bold.

McCord. Ir. mac, son; coird, genitive of cord, a string. Son of a string.

McCormac. Ir. mac, son; cormac, from corb, a chariot, and mac, a son; hence, a charioteer. Son of a charioteer.

McCourt. Ir. mac, son; cuirte, genitive of cuirt, a yard, an enclosed place. Son of an enclosed place. McCort, from the same roots.

McDade. Ir. mac, son; A. S. dǽde, genitive of dǽd, deed, action. Son of action.

McFeat. Ir. mac, son; fearte, genitive of feart, a feat, an achievement. Son of achievement.

McFeeters. Ir. mac, son; A. S. fæteres, genitive of fæter, a fetter. Son of a fetter.

McGade. Ir. mac, son; A. S. gádes, genitive of gád, a goad, a prick. Son of a goad.

McManus. Ir. mac, son; manus, most likely a corruption of A. S. mannes, genitive of mann, a man. Son of a man.

McMaster. Ir. mac, son; maiǵistera, genitive of maiǵister, a master. Son of a master.

Mallow. Malwe, or malu, mallow. Mallow, name of a species of malvaceous plant.

Mear. Mear, a field. Also, from mear, or mearh, a horse. See Mear, page 76.

Merrill. Mere, the sea; Ir. aill, a wall, a cliff. A sea-wall; a sea-cliff.

Moody. Mód-ig, from mód, mind, and ig, an adjective ending. Proud; courageous; bold; irritable; moody. Moodie, from the same roots.

Mooney. Mon-ig, from móna, the moon, and ig, an island. Mona Island; Isle of the Moon.

Morley. Mǽr-líc, from mǽr, great, high, lofty, exalted, illustrious, famous; líc, like. Noble; lofty; glorious.

Morton. Mór, moor, heath; tún, town. A moor-town; a town built on a moor.

Munder. Mund-bora, from mund, protection, and bora, a bearer. A bearer of protection; a protector.

Mundy. Mundig, from mundean, to remember, and ig, an adjective termination. Mindful.

Nuttall. Hnut-hule, from hnut, a nut, and hule, hull or husk. A nut-hull.

Oakey. Ác, an oak; ig, an adjective termination, Oaky; like oak; hard as oak.

Oldham. Eald, old, ancient; hám, house. An ancient home. Oldam, contracted form of the name.

Peak. Peac, or pic, a peak, point, top, head. Peck, doubtless, from the same radix.

Perkin. Peter-kin, from Greek Peter, a rock; A. S. cyn, a relative. Peter’s relative.

Peters. Greek Peter, a rock; s for sun. Son of Peter; son of a rock. Peterson, from the same roots.

Roberts. Rodor-beorht, from rodor, heavens, and beorht, bright; s for sun, son. Son of the heavenly bright. Robertson, a lengthened form of the same name.

Robinson. Robin, endearing name for Robert; sun, son. Son of Robin; son of the heavenly bright. Robbinson, Robbins, of like derivation.

Robson. Rob, Robb; sun, son. Son of Robb. Robb, contraction of Robbin, title of endearment for Robert—heavenly bright. Robeson, of like kinship.

Scofield. Sceawe, a show; feld, a field. A show-field. See Scofield, page 99, which contains two errors.

Shourds. Sceardes, genitive of sceard, a sheard, division. Belonging to a sheard.

Sowden. Anglo-Norman soudan, from Moorish soldan, a prince. A prince; a sultan.

Sumpter. Anglo-Norman summere, a sumpter horse; and sumpter, a horse that carries clothes, furniture, etc. Going back to the original, from the Latin sumo, I take, sumptum, to take, with Anglo-Saxon ere, an agent: that is, one that takes or carries.

Thomason. Thomas, Thomas; sun, son. Son of Thomas. In the Hebrew, Thomas signifies a twin. Thompson, of like derivation and meaning.

Tolley. Tohl-líc, from tohl, a tool, and líc, like. Tool-like. Or, from toh-líc, compounded of toh, tough, clammy, and líc, like. Clammy.

Transcriber’s Note: The book cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

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	PAGE
Preface	3
From the Irish	7
History—The Celts	9
Lessons in Irish	13
Names—Their Derivation	18
From the Anglo-Saxon	51
History—Jutes, Saxons, Angles	53
Lessons in Anglo-Saxon	57
Names—Their Derivation	65
From the Anglo-Norman	171
History—Norman Conquest	173
Anglo-Norman Language	175
Names—Their Derivation	180
From the Scotch	189
History—The Scot	191
Scotch—as it now Exists	195
Names—Their Derivation	197
Addenda et Corrigienda	208

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Family names from the Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Scotch

Family Names FROM THE IRISH, ANGLO-SAXON, ANGLO-NORMAN AND SCOTCH

PREFACE.

CONTENTS.

From the Irish.

HISTORY—THE CELTS.

LESSONS IN IRISH.

Irish Letters—Their Sounds.

Sounds of the Consonants.

Sounds of the Vowels.

Union of Vowels, and their Sounds.

Sounds of the Six Long Diphthongs.

Sounds of the Seven Short Diphthongs.

Triphthongs, and their Sounds.

Aspirated Consonants.

Derivative Nouns.

Sounds of Certain Terminations.

NAMES—THEIR DERIVATION.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J.

K.

L.

M.

N.

O.

P.

Q.

R.

S.

T.

V.

W.

Y.

From the Anglo-Saxon.

HISTORY—JUTES, SAXONS, ANGLES.

LESSONS IN ANGLO-SAXON.

Anglo-Saxon Letters—Their Names.

Sounds of Vowels.

Sounds of Consonants.

Accent—Its Use.

Euphonic Changes.

Nouns—Their Declension.

Adjectives.—Their Degrees.

Verbs.—Their Attributes.

NAMES—THEIR DERIVATION.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J.

K.

L.

M.

N.

O.

P.

Q.

R.

S.

T.

U.

W.

Y.

From the Anglo-Norman.

HISTORY—NORMAN CONQUEST.

ANGLO-NORMAN LANGUAGE.

NAMES—THEIR DERIVATION.

Family Names
FROM THE
IRISH, ANGLO-SAXON, ANGLO-NORMAN AND SCOTCH