The Romance of Names Part 33

(E, 1458.)

DISGUISED SPELLINGS

But Stark is also for an earlier Sterk (cf. Clark and Clerk), which represents Mid. Eng. stirk, a heifer. In the cow with the crumpled horn we have a derivative of Mid. Eng. crum, crooked, whence the names Crum and Crump. Ludwig's German Dict. (1715) explains krumm as "crump, crooked, wry." The name Crook generally has the same meaning, the Ger. Krummbein corresponding to our Cruikshank or Crookshanks. It is possible that Glegg and Gleig are Mid. Eng. gleg, skilful, of Scand. origin.

There are some adjectival surnames which are not immediately recognizable. Bolt, when not local (Chapter XIII) is for bold, Leaf is imitative for lief, i.e. dear. Dear itself is of course hopelessly mixed up with Deer... The timorous-looking Fear is Fr. le fier, the proud or fierce. Skey is an old form of shy; Bligh is for Blyth; Hendy and Henty are related to handy, and had in Mid. English the sense of helpful, courteous--

"Oure hoost tho spak, 'A, sire, ye sholde be hende And curteys, as a man of youre estat.'"

(D, 1286.)

For Savage we find also the archaic spelling Salvage (Lat.

silvaticus). Curtis is Norman Fr. curteis (courtois). The adjective garish, now only poetical, but once commonly applied to gaudiness in dress, has given Gerrish. Quaint, which has so many meanings intermediate between its etymological sense of known or familiar (Lat.

cognitus) and its present sense of unusual or unfamiliar, survives as Quint. But Coy is usually local, from Quy (Cambridgeshire).

Orpwood is a corruption of Mid. Eng. orped, bold, warlike. Craske is an East Anglian word for fat, and Crouse is used in the north for sprightly, confident. To these we may add Ketch, Kedge, Gedge, from an East Anglian adjective meaning lively--

"Kygge, or joly, jocundus" (Prompt. Parv.)--

and Spragg, etymologically akin to Spry. Bragg was once used for bold or brave, without any uncomplimentary suggestion. The New English Dictionary quotes (c. 1310) from a lyric poem--

"That maketh us so brag and bolde And biddeth us ben blythe."

Crease is a West-country word for squeamish, but the East Anglian name Creasey, Cressy, is usually for the local Kersey (Suffolk). The only solution of Pratt is that it is Anglo-Sax. praett, cunning, adopted early as a personal name, while Storr, of Scandinavian origin, means big, strong. It is cognate with Steer, a bull. Devey and Dombey seem to be diminutive forms of deaf and dumb, still used in dialect in reference to persons thus afflicted. We find in French and German surnames corresponding to these very natural nicknames. Cf. Crombie from Crum (Chapter XXII).

FRENCH ADJECTIVES

A large proportion of our adjectival nicknames are of French origin.

Le bel appears not only as Bell but also, through Picard, as Beal.

Other examples are Boon, Bone, Bunn (bon), Grant (grand), Ba.s.s (bas) and its derivative Ba.s.sett, Dasent (decent), Follett and Folliott, dim. of fol (fou), mad, which also appears in the compound Foljambe, Fulljames.

Mordaunt means biting. Power is generally Anglo-Fr. le poure (le pauvre) and Grace is for le gras, the fat. Jolige represents the Old French form of joli--

"This Absolon, that jolif was and gay, Gooth with a sencer (censer) on the haliday."

(A, 3339.)

Prynne, now Pring, is Anglo-Fr. le prin, the first, from the Old French adjective which survives in printemps. Cf. our name Prime and the French name Premier. The Old French adjective Gent, now replaced by gentil, generally means slender in Mid. English--

"Fair was this yonge wyf, and therwithal As any wezele hir body gent and smal."

(A, 3233)

Petty and Pett.i.t are variant forms of Fr. pet.i.t, small. In Prowse and Prout we have the nominative and objective (Chapter I) of an Old French adjective now represented by preux and prude, generally thought to be related in some way to Lat. pro in prosum, and perhaps also the source of our Proud.

Gross is of course Fr. le gros, but Grote represents Du. groot, great, probably unconnected with the French word. The Devonshire name Coffin, which is found in that county in the twelfth century, is the same as Caffyn, perhaps representing Fr. Chauvin, bald, the name of the theologian whom we know better in the latinized form Calvin. Here belongs probably Shovel, Fr. Chauvel. We also have the simple Chaffe, Old Fr. chauf (chauve), bald. Gaylard, sometimes made into the imitative g.a.y.l.o.r.d, is Fr. gaillard, brisk, lively

"Gaillard he was as goldfynch in the shawe."

(A, 4367.)

COLOUR NAMES

Especially common are colour nicknames, generally due to the complexion, but sometimes to the garb. As we have already seen (Chapter XV), Black and its variant Blake sometimes mean pale. Blagg is the same word; cf. Jagg for Jack. White has no doubt been reinforced by wight, valiant

"Oh for one hour of Wallace wight Or well-skilled Bruce to rule the fight."

(Marmion, vi. 20.)

As an epithet applied to the hair we often find h.o.a.r; cf. Horlock.

Redd is rare, the usual forms being the northern Reid, Reed, Read; but we also have Rudd from Anglo-Sax. rud, whence ruddy and the name Ruddock, really a bird nickname, the redbreast. To these must be added Rudge, Fr. rouge, Rouse, Rush and Russ, Fr, roux, and Russell or Rowsell, Old Fr. roussel (Rousseau). The commonest nickname for a fair-haired person was Blunt, Blount, Fr. blond, with its dim.

Blundell, but the true English name is Fairfax, from Anglo-Sax. feax, hair. The New English Dictionary quotes from the fifteenth century

"Then they lowsyd hur feyre faxe, That was yelowe as the waxe."

The adjective dun was once a regular name, like Dobbin or Dapple, for a cart-horse; hence the name of the old rural sport "Dun in the mire"--

"If thou art dun we'll draw thee from the mire." (Romeo and Juliet, i.

4.)

It is possible that the name Dunn is sometimes due to this specific application of the word. The colour blue appears as Blew--

"At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blew: To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new"

(Lycidas, 1. 192)--

and earlier still as Blow--

"Blak, blo, grenysh, swartysh, reed."

(House of Fame, iii. 557.)

Other colour names of French origin are Morel, swarthy, like a Moor, also found as Murrell [Footnote: This, like Merrill, is sometimes from Muriel.]; and Burnell, Burnett, dims. of brun, brown. Chaucer speaks of--

"Daun Burnet the a.s.se" (B, 4502);

[Footnote: Lat. dominus; the masculine form of dame in Old French.]

"Daun Russel the fox" (B, 4524.)

But both Burnell and Burnett may also be local from places ending in -hill and -head (), and Burnett is sometimes for Burnard. The same applies to Burrell, usually taken to be from Mid. Eng. borel, a rough material, Old Fr. burel (bureau), also used metaphorically in the sense of plain, uneducated

"And moore we seen of Cristes secree thynges Than burel folk, al though they weren kynges."