In connection with the subject of the antiquity of Teutonic names
generally, and of English names as derived from them, I shall have, in a
subsequent chapter, to refer to the names of original settlers in
England as deduced by Kemble from ancient charters, and compare them
with names of a similar kind found in Germany. The coincidence that will
be found in these names at that early period, from England and Friesland
in the north to Bavaria in the south, will, I think, be a very strong
argument to show that these names could not have originated within the
Teutonic area itself, and so dispersed themselves over it in its length
and breadth, but that they must have been brought with them by the
Teutonic invaders from their earlier homes.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] From the old Saxon fragment called the "Traveller's Song." Hnaf is
no doubt from the Ang.-Sax. _cnafa_, _cnapa_, son, boy, the Anglo-Saxons
often representing _c_ by a (no doubt aspirated) _h_.
[2] Stark also adduces an instance in the eleventh century of Buggo as a
contraction of Burchard.
[3] So at least Foerstemann seems to think, observing that we can
scarcely derive it from Maur, Æthiops, English "Moor." Nevertheless,
seeing the long struggle between the Teutons and the Moors in Spain, it
seems to me that such a derivation would be quite in accordance with
Teutonic practice. See some remarks on the general subject at the end of
Chapter IV.
[4] So that we may take it that Virgilius, as the name of a Scot who
became bishop of Salzburg in the time of Boniface, was his own genuine
Celtic name, and not derived from that of the Roman poet.
[5] This name, that of a prince of the Batavi, is considered by the
Germans to be properly Hariovalda, from _har_, army, and hence is
another instance of an initial _h_ being represented among the Romans by
a _c_. The name is the same as the Anglo-Saxon Harald, and as our
present name _Harold_.
[6] For this explanation of _vertragus_ I am indebted to Gluck.
[7] There was an English admiral of this name, though I do not know of
it at present.
CHAPTER II.
CLUE TO SOME OF THE ANCIENT FORMS REPRESENTED IN ENGLISH NAMES.
So long as our surnames are treated as if each name were something
standing apart by itself, very little progress can be made in their
elucidation; it is by collation and comparison that, in this as in any
other science, definite results are to be obtained. And a moderate
amount of attention to the forms in which these names appear, and to the
various endings prevalent among them, will enable many names, otherwise
unrecognisable, to be brought within the pale of classification and of
possible explanation. I am of course referring to that portion of our
surnames--a much larger one according to my judgment than is generally
acknowledged--which dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, and so forms a part
of the general system by which Teutonic names are governed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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