an affix used by the Teutonic races, as a patronymic, in the same sense as _Mac_ is used in Scotland, _ap_ in Wales, and _O_ in Ireland. _Ing_ is generally affixed to the settlement of a chief, and _ingen_ to that of his descendants. _Ing_, preceding _ham_, _ton_, _dean_, _ley_, _thorp_, _worth_, etc., is generally an abbreviation of _ingen_, and denotes that the place belonged to the family of the tribe, as in Bonnington, Collington, Collingham, Islington (the home of the Bonnings, the Collings, and the Islings). In French topography _ingen_ takes the forms of _igny_, _igné_, or _inges_; and it appears, by comparing the names of many towns and villages in England and the north-west of France with those of Germany, that Teutonic tribes forming settlements in these countries transferred the names in their native land to their new homes. For the full elucidation of this subject reference may be made to Taylor’s _Words and Places_, chap. vii. and the Appendix, and to Edmund’s _Names of Places_, p. 58. Only a few examples of the use of this patronymic can be given here; thus, from the _Offings_--Oving and Ovingham, corresponding to the Ger. Offingen and the Fr. Offignes. From the _Eppings_--Epping, Ger. Eppinghofen, and Fr. Epagne. The _Bings_--Bing, Bingham, Bingley; Ger. Bingen; Fr. Buigny. The _Basings_--Eng. Basing, Basingham, Bessingby; Fr. Bazigny. From the _Raedings_--Reading, Co. Berks. The _Harlings_--Harlington. The _Billings_--Bellington. From the _Moerings_ or _Merovingians_ many French towns and villages are named; _e.g._ Morigny, Marigné, Merignac, Merrigny; in England--Merring, Merrington. We can sometimes trace these tribe names to the nature of the localities which they inhabited. Thus the _Bucings_, from which we have Boking and Buckingham, to a locality abounding in beech-trees, _boc_; the _Durotriges_, from which we have Dorset and Dorchester, are the dwellers by the water, _dur_; as well as the _Eburovices_, who gave their name to Evreux, in France. _Ing_, also, in A.S. names, sometimes means a meadow, as in Clavering, in Essex (clover meadow), A.S. _Claefer_; Mountnessing, Co. Essex (the meadow of the Mountneys, who were formerly lords of the manor); Godalming (the meadow of Godhelm). [Sidenote: INNER (Ger.),] opposed to _ausser_ (the inner and outer), as in Innerzell, Ausserzell (the inner and outer church). [Sidenote: INNIS (Gadhelic), YNYS, ENEZ (Cym.-Cel.), INSEL (Ger.), INSULA (Lat.), NESOS (Grk.),]