Chapter Ii. a Medieval Roll

"Quelque diversite d'herbes qu'il y alt, tout s'enveloppe sous le nom de salade; de mesme, sous la consideration des noms, je m'en voys faire icy une galimafree de divers articles." (Montaigne, Essais, i. 46.)

Just as, in studying a new language, the linguist finds it most helpful to take a simple text and hammer out in detail every word and grammatical form it contains, so the student of name-lore cannot do better than tackle a medieval roll and try to connect every name in it with those of the present day. I give here two lists of names from the Hundred Rolls of 1273. The first contains the names of London and Middlesex jurymen, most of them, especially the Londoners, men of substance and position. The second is a list of cottagers resident in the village of Steeple Claydon in Bucks. Even a cursory perusal of these lists should Suffice to dispel all recollection of the nightmare "philology" which has been so much employed to obscure what is perfectly simple and obvious; while a very slight knowledge of Latin and French is all that is required to connect these names of men who were dead and buried before the Battle of Crecy with those to be found in any modern directory. The brief indications supplied under each name will be found in a fuller form in the various chapters of the book to which references are given.

For simplicity I have given the modern English form of each Christian name and expanded the abbreviations used by the official compilers. It will be noticed that English, Latin, and Anglo-French are used indifferently, that le is usually, though not always, put before the trade-name or nickname, that de is put before place-names and at before spots which have no proper name. The names in the right-hand column are only specimens of the, often very numerous, modern equivalents.

LONDON JURYMEN

Hundred Rolls

Modern Form

William Dibel.

Dibble (Theobald).

Initial t- and d- alternate (Dialectic Variants, Chapter III) according to locality. In Tennyson, for Denison, son of Denis, we have the opposite change. The forms assumed by Theobald are very numerous (Chapter I). Besides Dibble we have the shorter Dibb. Other variants are Dyball, Dipple, Tipple, Tidball, Tudball, and a number of names in Teb-, Tib-, Tub-. The reason for the great popularity of the name is obscure.

Baldwin le Bocher.

Butcher.

On the various forms of this name, see Chapter XV.

Robert Hauteyn.

Hawtin

The Yorkshire name Auty is probably unconnected. It seems rather to be an altered form of a Scandinavian personal name cognate with Odo.

Henry le Wimpler.

The name has apparently disappeared with the garment. But it is never safe to assert that a surname is quite extinct.

Stephen le Peron

Fearon

From Old Fr. feron, ferron, smith. In a few cases French has -on as an agential suffix (Chapter XVIII).

William de Paris.

Paris, Parris, Parish.

The commoner modern form Parish is seldom to be derived from our word parish. This rarely occurs, while the entry de Paris is, on the other hand, very common.

Hundred Rolls

Modern Form

Roger le Wyn.

Wynne.

Anglo-Saxon wine, friend. Also a Celtic nickname, Identical with Gwynne (Chapter XXII).

Matthew de Pomfrait

Pomfret

The usual pronunciation of Pontefract, broken bridge, one of the few English place-names of purely Latin origin (Chapter XIII). The Old French form would be Pont-frait.

Richard le Paumer.

Palmer.

A man who had made pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Chapter XVII). The modern spelling is restored, but the l remains mute. It is just possible that this name sometimes means tennis-player, as tennis, Fr. le jeu de paume, once played with the palm of the hand, is of great antiquity.

Walter Poletar.

Pointer.

A dealer in poults, i.e. fowls. For the lengthened form poulterer, cf. fruiterer for fruiter, and see Chapter XV.

Reginald Aurifaber.

Goldsmith.

The French form orfevre may have given the name Offer.

Henry Deubeneye.

Daubeney, Dabney.

Fr. d'Aubigny. One of the many cases in which the French preposition has been incorporated in the name. Cf. Danvers, for d'Anvers, Antwerp, and see Chapter XI.

Hundred Rolls

Modern Form

Richard Knotte

Knott

From Scandinavian Cnut, Canute. This name is also local, from knot, a hillock, and has of course become confused (Variant Spellings, Chapter III) with the nickname Nott, with cropped hair (Chapter XXII)--

"Thou nott-pated fool."

(1 Henry IV, ii. 4.)

Walter le Wyte.

White

The large number of Whites is partly to be accounted for by their having absorbed the name Wight (Chapter XXII) from Mid. Eng. wiht, valiant.

Adam le Sutel.

Suttle.

Both Eng. subtle and Fr. subtil are restored spellings, which do not appear in nomenclature (Chapter III).

Fulk de Sancto Edmundo.

Tedman.

The older form would be Tednam. Bury St. Edmund's is sometimes referred to as Tednambury. For the mutilation of the word saint in place-names, see Chapter III.

William le Boteler.

Butler.

More probably a bottle-maker than what we understand by a butler, the origin being of course the same.

Gilbert Lupus

Wolf.

Wolf, and the Scandinavian Ulf, are both common as personal names before the Conquest, but a good many Modern bearers of the name are German Jews (Chapter IV). Old Fr. lou (loup) is one source of Low.

Hundred Rolls

Modern Form

Stephen Juvenis.

Young

Senex is rarely found. The natural tendency was to distinguish the younger man from his father. Senior is generally to be explained differently (Chapter XV).

William Braciator.

Brewer.

The French form brasseur also survives as Bracher and Brasher, the latter being also confused with Brazier, the worker in brass.

John de Cruce.

Cross, Crouch.

A man who lived near some outdoor cross. The form crouch survives in "Crutched Friars." Hence also the name Croucher.

Matthew le Candeler.

Candler, Chandler.

Initial c- for ch- shows Norman or Picard origin (Chapter III).

Henry Bernard.

Barnard, Barnett.

The change from er to ar is regular; cf. Clark, and see Chapter III. The endings -ard, -ald, are generally changed to -ett; cf. Everett for Everard, Barrett for Berald, Garrett for Gerard, Garrard, whence the imitative Garrison for Garretson.

William de Bosco.

Bush, Busk, Buss.

"For there is neither bush nor hay (Chapter XIII) In May that it nyl shrouded bene."

(Romaunt of the Rose, 54.)

The name might also be translated as Wood. The corresponding name of French origin is Boyce or Boyes, Fr. bois (Chapter XIV).

Hundred Rolls

Modern Form

Henry de Sancta Ositha.

Toosey.

Cf. Fulk de Sancto Edmundo (supra), and cf. Tooley St. for St. Olave St. (Chapter III).

Walter ate Stede.

Stead.

In this case the preposition has not coalesced, as in Adeane, at the dean, i.e. hollow, Agate, at gate, etc. (Chapter XII).

William le Fevere.

Wright, Smith.

The French name survives as Feaver and Fevyer. Cf. also the Lat. Faber, which is not always a modern German importation

(Chapter XII).

Thomas de Cumbe.

Combe, Coombes.

A West-country name for a hollow in a hillside (Chapter XII).

John State.

State, Stacey.

Generally for Eustace, but sometimes perhaps for Anastasia, as we find Stacey used as a female name (Chapter III).

Richard le Teynturier.

Dyer, Dexter.

Dexter represents Mid. Eng. dighester, with the feminine agential suffix (Chapter XV).

Henry le Waleys.

Wallis, Walsh, Welch.

Literally the foreigner, but especially applied by the English to the Western Celts. Quelch represents the: Welsh pronunciation. With Wallis cf. Cornwallis, Mid. Eng. le cornwaleis (Chapter X).

John le Bret.

Brett, Britton.

An inhabitant of Brittany, perhaps resident in that Breton colony in London called Little Britain. Bret The Old French nominative of Breton (Chapter VIII).

Hundred Rolls

Modern Form

Thomas le Clerc.

Clark.

One of our commonest names. We now spell the common noun clerk by etymological reaction, but educated people pronounce the word as it was generally written up to the eighteenth century (Chapter III).

Stephen le Hatter

Hatter

The great rarity of this name is a curious problem (Chapter XV). The name Capper exists, though it is not very common.

Thomas le Batur.

Thresher.

But, being a Londoner, he was more probably a gold-beater, or perhaps a beater of cloth. The name Beater also survives.

Alexander de Leycestre

Leicester, Lester.

For the simpler spelling, once usual and still adopted by those who chalk the names on the mail-vans at St. Pancras, cf. such names as Worster, Wooster, Gloster, etc. (Chapter XI).

Robert le Noreys.

Norris, Nurse.

Old Fr. noreis, the Northerner (Chapter XI), or norice (nourrice), the nurse, foster-mother (Chapter XX).

Reginald le Blond

Blount, Blunt.

Fr. blond, fair. We have also the dim. Blundell. The corresponding English name is Fairfax, from Mid. Eng. fax, hair (Chapter XXII).

Randolf ate Mor.

Moor.

With the preposition retained (Chapter XII) it has given the Latin-looking Amor.

Hundred Rolls

Modern Form

Matthew le Pevrier.

Pepper.

For the reduction of pepperer to Pepper cf. Armour for armourer, and see Chapter XV.

Godfrey le Furmager.

Cheeseman, Firminger.

From Old Fr. formage (fromage). The intrusion of the n in Firminger is regular; cf. Massinger, messenger, from Fr. messager, and see