Among towns we have Allenson, Alencon, Amyas, Amiens, Ainger, Angers,
Aris, Arras, Bevis, Beauvais, Bullen, Boulogne, Bloss, Blois, Bursell,
Brussels, Callis and Challis, Calais, Challen, from one of the French
towns called Chalon or Chalons, Chaworth, Cahors, Druce, Dreux, Gaunt,
Gand (Ghent), Luck, Luick (Liege), Loving, Louvain, Malins, Malines
(Mechlin), Raynes, Rennes and Rheims, Roan, Rouen, Sessions, Soissons,
Stamp, Old Fr. Estampes (ttampes), Turney, Tournay, etc. The name de
Verdun is common enough in old records for us to connect with it both
the fascinating Dolly and the illustrious Harry. [Footnote added by
scanner: Some modern readers might not realise that Weekley was
referring to Harry Vardon, a famous golfer of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth century. Dolly Varden was a character in Dickens'
"Barnaby Rudge", a pretty girl in flowered hats and skirts. Her name
was borrowed for various clothing styles, breeds of flowers, shows,
theatres and even angling fishes among other things. There seem to
have been several references to "the fascinating Dolly Varden", though
the expression does not occur in the book.] To the above may be
added, among German towns, Cullen, Cologne, and Lubbock, Luebeck, and,
from Italy, Janes, Genes (Genoa), Janaway or Janways, i.e. Genoese,
and Lombard or Lombard. Familiar names of foreign towns were often
anglicized. Thus we find Hamburg called Hamborough, Bruges Bridges,
and Tours Towers.
To the town of Angers we sometimes owe, besides Ainger, the forbidding
names Anger and Danger. In many local names of foreign origin the
preposition de has been incorporated, e.g. Dalmain, d'Allemagne,
sometimes corrupted into Dallman and Dollman, though these are also
for Doleman, from the East Anglian dole, a boundary, Dallison, d'Alenc
on, Danvers, d'Anvers, Antwerp, Devereux, d'Evreux, Daubeney, Dabney,
d'Aubigny, Disney, d'Isigny, etc. Doyle is a later form of Doyley, or
Dolley, for d'Ouilli, and Darcy and Durfey were once d'Arcy and
d'Urfe. Dew is sometimes for de Eu. Sir John de Grey, justice of
Chester, had in 1246 two Alice in Wonderland clerks named Henry de Eu
and William de Ho. A familiar example, which has been much disputed,
is the Cambridgeshire name Death, which some of its possessors prefer
to write D'Aeth or De Ath. Bardsley rejects this, without, I think,
sufficient reason. It is true that it occurs as de Dethe in the
Hundred Rolls, but this is not a serious argument, for we find also de
Daubeney (Chapter XI), the original de having already been absorbed at
the time the Rolls were compiled. This retention of the de is also
common in names derived from spots which have not become recognized
place-names; see Chapter XIV.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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