English Surnames: Their Sources and SignificationsBardsley, Charles Wareing Endell
History
English Surnames: Their Sources and Significations
Bardsley, Charles Wareing Endell
Names, English; Names, Personal -- English
Camford are on two different streams of this name. In the north a man is
still said to ‘cam his shoe’ who wears it down on one side. I have heard
the phrase often among the poorer classes of Lancashire. ‘Camoys’ or
‘Camuse,’ from the same root, was generally applied to the nasal organ.
In the description of the Miller, which I shall have occasion to quote
again shortly, Chaucer says—
A Sheffield thwitel bare he in his hose,
Round was his face, and camuse was his nose.
As, however, I find both ‘John le Camoys’ and ‘Reginald de Camoys,’ it
is only a fair presumption that in some cases it is of Norman local
origin. With one of our leading families it is undoubtedly so. The two
great clans of ‘Cameron’ and ‘Campbell,’ I may say in passing, though
treading upon Scottish soil, are said to mean severally ‘crook-nosed’
and ‘crook-mouthed.’ If this be so, we may see how firmly has this
little word imbedded itself upon our nomenclature, if not upon our more
general vocabulary. Not to mention ‘Crypling,’ ‘Handless,’ and
‘Onehand,’[469] we find ‘Blind’ significative of blindness; ‘Daffe’ and
‘Daft,’ of deafness; ‘Mutter’ and ‘Stutter,’ not to say ‘Stuttard’ and
‘Stammer,’ of lisping speech; and ‘Dumbard,’ of utter incapacity in that
respect. Such a sobriquet as ‘Mad’[470] of course explains itself. As we
might well presume, this has not come down to us. Still less pleasant in
their associations are our ‘Burls’ (‘Henry le Burle,’ A.), that is,
blotch-skinned. But complimentary allusions to the smoothness of the
hands and face were not wanting. Apart from a touch of poetry, such
names as ‘Elizabeth Lyllywhite,’ now ‘Lilywhite;’ ‘William Beauflour,’
now spelt ‘Boutflower’ and ‘Buffler;’ and ‘Faith Blanchflower,’ still
existing also, are not without a certain prettiness. Of equally clear
complexion would be the obsolete ‘William Whiteflesh’ or ‘Gilbert
Whitehand’[471] or ‘Robert Blanchmains,’ not to mention our ‘Chits’ and
‘Chittys’ (‘John le Chit,’ A., ‘Agnes Chittye,’ Z.). We still talk in
our nurseries of a ‘little chit,’ a word which, though strictly speaking
confined to no age, had early become a pet name as applied to young
children. It is with these, therefore, we must ally our ‘Slicks,’ from
‘sleek,’ ‘smooth,’[472] ‘Sam Slick’ being by no means in possession of
an imaginary name. Chaucer says of ‘Idleness,’ in his Romance—
Her flesh tender as is a chicke
With bent browes; smooth and slicke.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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