Of the names apparently of an opposite character, Badman, corresponding
with a Badumon in the _Liber Vitæ_, is a compound of _bad_, war. Goddam
stands for Godhelm as William for Willihelm. Swears and Swearing are
explained, p. 160. Scamp corresponds with an O.G. Scemphio, derived by
Foerstemann from O.H.G. _scimph_, jocus. This may possibly be the older
sense of the word, and Scamp may have been nothing worse than a wag.
Pagan, with its contracted form Paine, I have referred to p. 118. Bigot,
along with Pigot, Pickett, and probably Beckett, and a Pigota and
Picotus in the _Liber Vitæ_, may be the same as an A.S. Picced, p. 101,
which I take to represent the form Pichad or Bighad, from the stem
_big_, with _had_, war. There is, however, another explanation suggested
by our name Bidgood. This name, for which the ancient equivalent has not
turned up, seems to be from _bad_, war, and might have been Bidgod (for
_god_ and _good_ constantly interchange), which would readily contract
into Bigod or Bigot.
_Names apparently from Nationalities._
While we have a number of names derived from nations or races in
accordance with the Teutonic system, there are some others which might
seem more obviously than most others to be from such an origin, and yet
which must I think be referred to some other source. Three of these,
England, Scotland, and Ireland, I have already referred to at p. 9.
ENGLISH, INGLIS, ROMAN, NORMAN, GENESE, TURK, SPAIN.
English I take to be a phonetic corruption of Inglis, which seems to be
the same as an Ingliseus in the _Pol. Irm._, and which I rather suppose
to be a transposition of an Anglo-Saxon Ingils, for Ingisil, from the
stem _ing_, p. 56. Roman, I doubt not, is contracted from Rodman, p. 61,
as Robert is from Rodbert, and Roland from Rodland. I introduce Norman
here as not being, in my view, from "Norman" as we generally understand
the term, but as representing more probably the word in its original
sense of "Northman." Nordman was a Scandinavian name, and hence it is I
think that we have the name, which seems to occur more especially in
Scotland and the Danish districts of England. Genese I take to be most
probably from the old Frankish name Genesius, perhaps from a stem _gan_,
p. 52, with the ending in _es_, p. 33. Turk corresponds with an A.S.
Turca, p. 111, which again is probably the same as a Gothic Turicus of
the fifth century, a diminutive from the stem _dur_ or _tur_ found among
the early settlers, and of uncertain meaning. Spain I take to be from
the A.S. _spanan_, allicere, found in some ancient names, and from which
I take to be our name Spenlove, (_leof_, dear) with the corruption,
Spendlove. The name Spegen, corresponding with our Spain, occurs in the
_Liber Vitæ_ more than once--Is its aspirated form due to the
Northumbrian dialect?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account