The greater number of the words to be dealt with under this heading
enter into the composition of specific place-names. A considerable
number of surnames are derived from the names of religious buildings,
usually from proximity rather than actual habitation. Such names are
naturally of Greco-Latin origin, and were either introduced directly
into Anglo-Saxon by the missionaries, or were adopted later in a
French form after the Conquest. It has already been noted (Chapter I)
that Abbey is not always what it seems; but in some cases it is local,
from Fr, abbaye, of which the Provencal form Abadie was introduced by
the Huguenots. We find much earlier Abdy, taken straight from the
Greco-Lat. abbatia. The famous name Chantrey is for chantry, Armitage
was once the regular pronunciation of Hermitage, and Chappell a common
spelling of Chapel--
"Also if you finde not the word you seeke for presently after one sort
of spelling, condemne me not forthwith, but consider how it is used to
be spelled, whether with double or single letters, as Chappell, or
Chapell" (Holyoak, Latin Dict., 1612).
We have also the Norman form Capel, but this may be a nickname from
Mid. Eng. capel, nag--
"Why nadstow (hast thou not) pit the capul in the lathe (barn)?" (A,
4088.)
A Galilee was a chapel or porch devoted to special purposes--
"Those they pursued had taken refuge in the galilee of the church"
(Fair Maid of Perth, ch. ix.).
The tomb of the Venerable Bede is in the Galilee of Durham Cathedral.
I had a schoolfellow with this uncommon name, now generally perverted
to Galley. In a play now running (Feb. 1913) in London, there is a
character named Sanctuary, a name found also in Crockford and the
London Directory.
I have only once come across the contracted form Sentry [Footnote: On
the development in meaning of this word, first occurring in the phrase
"to take sentrie," i.e. refuge, see my Romance of Words, ch. vii.]
(Daily Telegraph, Dec. 26, 1912), and then under circumstances which
might make quotation actionable. Purvis is Mid. Eng. parvis, a porch,
Greco-Lat. paradises. It may be the same as Provis, the name selected
by Mr. Magwitch on his return from the Antipodes (Great Expectations,
ch. xl.), unless this is for Provost. Porch and Portch both occur as
surnames, but Porcher is Fr. porcher, a swineherd, and Portal is a
Huguenot name. Churcher and Kirker, Churchman and Kirkman, are
usually local; cf. Bridges and Bridgman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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