Malachite:

Anglo-Saxon word

English

babbler

To babble, babbler

To speak confusedly and without sense

To speak like those at Babel

Angle-land (meaning the narrowness of the nook of land which Anglo-Saxons inhabited on the shores of the Baltic Sea)

Ang- or eng- signified a narrow strip

England (the Saxon king Egbert caused Britain to be called England and his subjects to be called Englishmen)

Wandel –

To wander, being an unsettled wandering tribe

Vandal

Gaul, Gaulish

Wales, Welsh (G changed into W)

Saxon words relating to animals and food:

Interesting fact!

Almost all words relating to agriculture and to handicraft trades, as well as the names of cattle in the field, are Saxon, while words relating to skilled warfare, as well as the names of animals when cooked and served at table, are of Norman-French origin.

Saxon words: tillage (from Saxon earth-tylth), ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing, winnowing, mowing, harvest, meadow, field, grass, hay and many others.

Animals that are used for food are, when killed and cooked for table, called by their Norman-French names. This arouse from the circumstance of the Saxons rearing the live stock, while the Normans cooked and ate the animal food.

Examples:

Saxon word

Norman-French word

Cow

Beef

Sheep

Mutton

Calf

Veal

Deer

Venison

Pig, hog, swine

Pork

Fowl, duck, chicken

Poultry

Exceptions having no Norman names:

Beech-tree (on the fruit of which pigs were fed to harden the flesh)

Buche or boc

Bucen or becen

Beechen (of or belonging to the beech)

Bacon

Buckingham

Bakony (extensive forest in Hungary)

Hence came the phrase – to save one’s bacon – meaning to save one’s self from being hurt (borrowed from the care that the oppressed Saxons took to preserve their most valuable food from the marauding Norman soldiers).

Of this we have an amusing illustration by Walter Scott: -

“Swine is good Saxon…and pork, I think, is good Norman-French; and so when the brute lives and is in charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes a Norman, and is called pork, when she is carries to the castle hall to feast among the nobles… Alderman Ox continues to hold his Saxon epithet while under the charge of serfs and bondsmen, but becomes beef, a fiery French gallant, when he arrives before the worshipful jaws that are destined to consume hum. Calf is Saxon when he requires tendance and takes a Norman name when he becomes a matter of enjoyment”.

Saxon words relating to days of the week and months:

It is a curious fact that all the Saxon names of the days of the week are continued to be used in the English language, while, on the other hand, none of the months have retained their Saxon derivations, but are all of them called by names taken from Latin.

Sun

Sunday

Sunday

Moon

Moon-day

Monday

Tuesco (one of the founders of Saxon race)

Tuesco’s day

Tuesday

Woden (Saxon god of war)

Woden’s day

Wednesday

Thor (Jupiter)

Thor’s day

(Also Thun-res-deag in some old Saxon manuscripts)

Thursday

Friga (goddess – the giver of peace and plenty)

Friga’s day

Friday

Seater (one of the Saxon chief idols)

Seater’s day

Not from the Roman Saturn!

Saturday

From the Saxon names for the twelve months of the year we retain only two words:

Length month

Lent-monat (the month corresponding to our March)

Lent, Lenten

Ost (the Teutonic for east, signifying “angry”)

Oster-monat (the month corresponding to our April, during which the easterly winds prevailed), Ostern

Easter

Saxon words relating to time:

Almonaght (a carved stick, all-moon-heed, by which Saxons took heed (regard) of every moon of the year)

Almanac

Sdnnight

Seven nights

Fortnight (Forienygt)

Fortnight

Twa-night

Two night (or every second day)

Saxon words relating to manufacture and weapons of war:

Words referring to handicraft trades are almost all Saxon: builder, stone-cutter, brick-layer, cart-wright, smith, shoemaker, etc.

Smiteth (beats)

Smith, gold-smith, silver-smith, black-smith, etc.

The weapons of war which were in use before the Norman conquest are called by words of Saxon origin: sword, shield, spear, bow, arrow. But every term relating to military science and to the army generally is of Latin or French derivation: siege, maneuvers, tactics, assault, battalion, bombardment and so forth.

The words of Saxon origin prevail amongst seamen: ship, boat, stern, mast, sails, ropes, ladder, hull, dock, boatswain, starboard, aft, rigg, etc.

Scip

Ship, skipper

Scip-crcsft

Ship-craft

Yeard

Yerde (meaning any pole or rod)

Yard:

-measure of three feet

- enclosed piece of ground

Aft

• ship’s aft

• after

Taut

Tight (rope)

Taut (rope)

Sailors rig the masts, swab (wash) the decks, tug vessels, they call the progress of the ship its way, and this they reckon by knots, they stow away their goods, they row with oars, the trim the ship, they wan the yards, they speak of so many hands on board, they give a firm pull, a strong pull and a pull altogether – all Saxon words.

Saxon words relating to parts of the body

All the parts of the human body are called by Saxon names and are usually designated by words of one syllable.

Body

From bode or abode – past participle of the Saxon verb bidan – to abide. It was applied to the human body as being the abode of the soul.

The Anglo-Saxons also called the body the sawol-hus – the house of the soul.

Chaucer describes death: “His spirit changed house”.

Head

From heved, or raised up, above all the members.

Eye

From a Teutonic word augyan – to point out.

Nose

From ness – prominent

Skull

Shoulder

From scylan – to divide. Shoulder (originally shoulde) – where the arm separates from the body. Skull consists of several distinct pieces of bone.

Mouth

From matganto – to eat.

Jaw

Is that with which a man chaws or chews.

Ear

Derived from the verb eren – to take, to receive.

Tooth

Is that which tuggeth or toweth, as we say a steam-tug takes a vessel in tow.

Tongue

From fmngan – to speak

Hand

From hentan – to take.

Neck

Knee

From nicken – to bend.

Finger

From fingan – to take; from whence comes the “fang” – the talons or tusks of an animal, by which it takes its prey.

Foot

Anciently – fet, from fettian – to carry.

Leg

From leggan – to place or support

Thigh

Thick part of the leg

Shin

The skinned bone; the word skin is derived from skinnan – to shine.

Blood

Past participle of the verb to bleed derived from the colour bledan – to blush or to grow red.

Liver

Essential to life

Lungs

From lungan – to draw (the breath)

Wrist

The joint with which we wrest or pull off anything

Nail

From nceglian – to fasten (nails which a carpenter uses are of the same origin)

Ankle

The bone by which the foot is nankyd or hanged to the leg

Throat

From throwan – to throw

Breath

From Seand oreth – spirit

Arm

From eren – to take

Saxon words relating to animals and birds

Horse

From the Saxon word hyrsian signifying to obey

Dog

In northern dialects means not any dog, but a large hunting dog so called from tacken – to take or to catch

Cow

From the Anglo-Saxon ceowan – to ruminate or chew the cud

Cat

From the verb ge-wachen – to watch

Stag

From stigan – to stick or from steige – to raise up (from his raised and lofty head)

Wolf

Either from his yell or yelp, or from the Gothic wilwan - to ravage

Swine

Plural for sow, contracted from sowen, like kine from cowen

Birds

From the breadth of their wings; the word was anciently written bridd and is derived from brcedan – to broaden

Sparrow

From spyrrian – to search

Nightingale

Night+galen – to sing

Hawk

In Saxon was called havoc. Havoc is a Teutonic word signifying devastation.

Raven

From reafian – to tear away

Crow

Cock

Owl

Owe their names to their hoarse voices, “shrill clarion” and melancholy howl.

Swan

From swimman – to swim

Snail

Diminutive of “snake” from snican – to creep (hence the term sneaking)

Worm

From werpan – to move in curved lines (from which we have warp)

Bat

With its wings expanded it resembles a boat; the boat itself is so called from being a vessel forced along the water by beating of oars, from the past participle beot – beaten.

Lobster

Called by Chaucer the loppe from the verb to leap

The flea whose leaping powers are well-known was also called loppe in Anglo-Saxon

The words relating to the elements and winds

Three of the four elements – earth, fire and water – are of Saxon origin. As also the four winds – the “north” derived from an old verb, signifying to dry up and bind, as frost does; the “south” so called from a verb which signified to make warm, to boil, from which we have the word seethe; the “east” signifying stormy; and the “west” being the past participle ofwwtan, to wet; this being the rainy, as the others are the dry, warm and stormy points of the compass.

Interesting fact!

The Saxons, like most of the northern nations were hard drinkers. They were not less remarkable for their hospitality than for their love of strong drink and didn’t like to see their guests, any more than themselves, leave a drop in the bottom of their very capacious tankards. Hence they called it a “carouse” when they drank all out: the word gar signifying “all” and ous meaning “out”; hence the g being changed to c, to “carouse” (anciently garousz) was to drink all out. This “carousing” tending to frequent quarrels, and many other evils, the Saxon king Edgar enacted a law, which he strictly enforced, ordering that certain marks should be made in their drinking cups at a particular height, above which they were forbidden to fill them under a heavy penalty.

“The Queen caroutes to thy fortune, Hamlet.” – Shakespeare.

It will be found that for the most part the nouns substantive and the verbs in the English language (including simple adjectives, such as great, small, young, old, good, bad…) are Saxon, while the derivatives and compound words, and generally the adjectives and adverbs, are of foreign origin, introduced either through the Norman-French or directly from the Latin or Greek.

Examples:

Saxon origin

Foreign origin

Woman

Feminine

House

Domestic

Heart

Cordial

Earth

Terrestrial

Heaven

Celestial

God

Divine

Sea

Maritime

King and Queen

Royal and regal

Youth

Juvenile

Horse

Equestrian

Ship

Naval

Sailor

Mariner

Father

Paternal

Mother

Maternal

Brother

Fraternal

Boy

Puerile

Dog

Canine

Life

Vitality

Death

Mortality

Sleep

Dormitory

Book

Library

Happy

Felicity

Strong

Fortified

Weak

Debility

Anger

Irascible

Speech

Sermon

Read

Lecture

Speak

Oratorical

Light

Illumination

Old

Senility

Heavy

Ponderous

Foot

Pedestrian

Love

Amiable

Sun

Solar

Moon

Lunar

Health

Salubrious

Holy

Sanctified

Star

Astronomy

Bad

Malignity

Year

Annual

Original meaning of Saxon words now in use

Saxon word in modern English

Explanation (derivation, original meaning)

God

Good Being

Devil

The Evil one

Heavens

Heaved up above us

Fare

Originally - passage, hence the word “farewell”

Gossip

God-sib

Spiritual relationship between the sponsors of the same child: sib meaning of kin together, to which is prefixed the name of God. The gossips, especially the two godmothers of a girl, were accustomed to meet at the house of their godchild and have a little chat together. All trivial talking came to be called gossiping.

Shakespeare makes the King address the god-mothers of the princess Elizabeth, as his joint sponsors of the royal infant – “My noble gossips.” – King Henry VIII, Act V.

Uncouth

Quoth - to make known

Strange or unknown

Bolt

Formerly spelt “boult” – an arrow,

bolt-upright - meaning as straight as an arrow, and a hungry boor “bolts” his food, swallowing it straight down without chewing so that it is shot down into his stomach.

Chaucer has “to shoot a featherless boult” as a proverb meaning to labour in vain.

Shire

Share

Shear

sharp

Sheriff

From scearan – to divide, to cut off

The term by which the counties of England are described: Yorkshire, Lancashire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, etc.

Shire-reeve like “borough-reeve” from Saxon reeve – steward.

Unwilling

Nyllan or nillan was an Anglo-Saxon word signifying not to wish. Willan and nillan corresponded to the Latin volo and nolo.

“Will he, nill he” meant whether he likes it or not.

Naughty

Formerly nahtiness meant naught (nothing) ness as describing the absence of anything good. A naughty person was one who was good for nothing.

Nevertheless

Was formerly nath-less, that is na (or not) the less.

Dear

Deore – daughter

Ghost

Gast – spirit; hence “aghast”

Yeoman

From

Geeman – common (the g being frequently changed to y)

OR:

Yew-men – the men who carried bows made of yew tree.

Yoke

Gealewe – yellow

Worry

Worrigen – to destroy or make war against; thus a dog is said to worry sheep

The word is now used in a more extensive sense.

Blaze

Originally - to divulge

Corresponds to flame, which divulges the existence of the fire referring rather to the light than to the heat.

Stark

Bare or exposed, as “stark mad” – openly and manifestly deranged

Bark

Originally – to bay.

“I’d rather be a dog and bay the moon than such a Roman” (Shakespeare).

A stag is said to be “at bay” when the hunted animal makes his last stand at the baying or barking of the dogs.

Boundary

Neighbour

Originally – bourn.

Shakespeare calls the cliffs of Dover “the chalky bourn” or boundary of England.

The man who is nigh or next to our bourn or boundary.

Fleet street

Fleet prison

Fleot or Flete – a creek or inlet of water.

Such a creek having formerly been in the locality.

Gate

Gait

Gate, Gait – a way.

Hence the obsolete word algates - “always” (in all ways, under all circumstances)

Bootless (unprofitable)

Boot or bote was to help or compensate.

Anciently meant unpardonable, for which no boot or compensation would be accepted.

To egg

Egging

Eggian – to incite.

(Chaucer has the noun eggement)

Egg (of a bird)

Originally spelt eg.

Imp

Another name for a child usually applied to denote scions of royal or noble houses: “a lad of life, an imp of fame” (Shakespeare);

Originally, imp signified a shoot or twig of a tree.

The word has come to be used only in bad sense to describe the child of the devil.

Gospel

Spell

Good-spell – a Saxon for good news (lath-spell – bad news;

Spell – a story, a tale

Stalk (the upright part of plants, which supports the fruit or blossom)

Formerly applied to the upright pieces of a ladder from the Saxon verb stalken – to stalk or step slowly.

Reckon (count up with care)

Reckless (careless)

Reck signified care

Twilight

Twin-light signified two lights, describing the dubious light between day and night.

Rather

A comparative of rath – soon.

Sere (dry)

Sear – to burn.

“the sere and yellow leaf”

June was Sere-monath – the hot and dry month.

Tackle

The same meaning as French word harness, the original signification – armour, especially bows and arrows.

Tackling to any business meant preparing for it, as a man would buckle on his armour.

1. Hatch (chickens)

2. Hatch (on a ship)

To hack

1. Hegeti – to sit on eggs

2. Hacken – to cut in two – signifies part of a door thus divided.

Pond

Pound

Pyndan – to shut up.

A pond is a piece of water shut up in a small space.

A pound is a place, in which cattle are confined or shut up.

Tomorrow

Originally: To-morning (as in to-day, to-night)

Herd

Shepherd

Hurdle

From hydran – to guard

Coward

From crave – to beg; was applied to one who begged his life

Strand

Stranded

Stronde – sea-shore

Roof

Originally – reef - a coat or garment

Hence comes the word “roof”

Foster (foster father, foster family, etc.)

Originally: foodster – the provider of food, the feeder

Swain

Boatswain

Suinc or swine – labour

Want

Wane

Wan

From wana - a defect.

We still speak of the “wane” of the moon as it becomes less and seems to want part of its rotundity

Beam

Beam of timber

From beame – another name for a tree

Bell

Bull

Bellow

Bellows

From belle – to roar (not to be confused with the French word of similar orthography). Chaucer describes the wind as it belleth or belloweth, that is, roars.

From the roaring of the wind issuing from the blacksmith’s instrument.

Nigh, near, next

High, higher, highest

Originally negh, negher and neghest are degrees of comparison, like

Hegh, higher and highest (or hext)

Instead

From the Anglo-Saxon in sted – in place

Deal

Dale

Dcelan – to divide

To “deal” in any commodity means to divide the goods by retail;

To “deal” with any person means that we go to him to deal out to us;

To “deal” with people after their desert means to divide or measure according to their deserving;

A pack of cards are “dealt” out when divided amongst the players;

“Deal” also means share – “a great deal”.

Also derived from dcelan – to divide.

A valley dividing two hills.

Hell

Hull

Heal

Heal – to cover

Unseen place

Part of a ship covered by water

A sore is healed when well covered over

Earth

Hearth

From erean – to plough (whence comes “arable”)

Erean was worshipped as a goddess and in honour of her they called the fire-side, around which the family assembled the “hearth”

(as the Romans called their homes lares from their household gods).

Man

Woman

Wife

From: wetyp-man and wif-man, meaning weapon man and woof man in allusion to the weapons of war used by man and woof or web on which women were employed.

Husband

Housewife

Huse-band (who keeps house together)

Huswife

Step-father

From sted-father (sted – place; in place of)

Friend

From frian – to love

Spade

To spit

From spetan – to throw out.

A portion of clay thrown up by the spade is called “a spit”.

Righteousness

Originally rightwiseness or the act of walking in the right ways

Wrong

Past participle of “wring” (wrung from the right course or position)

Ought

Past participle of the verb to owe

Guilt

Beguiled

From the past tense of the verb “to guile” – to act under the instigation or guile of the devil.

Field

A piece of land where the trees had been felled as opposed to woods or unclear land

If

An

Gif (give)

Anan (grant)

Unless

Adjectives ending with less

Anlesan – to dismiss

Unless – imperative of anlesan. From the imperative of this verb came such adjectives as hopeless, doubtless, restless, etc., that is dismiss hope, doubt, rest, etc.

From

Frumman – the beginning.

Ex. “figs came from Turkey”, i.e. “figs came – the beginning Turkey”.

Till

A word compounded of to and while (English peasantry as well as some ancient authors used while for till: “I will stay while evening”)

Between

Betwixt

Compound of the imperative be and twegan and twas, meaning twain or two.

In Chaucer we find betwyxt.

Beyond

Be + geond (the participle of the Saxon verb gan or gonean - to go)

Among

Formerly spelled emong, derived from the verb gemangan – to mingle or to mix.

Lad

A boy or youth being under the leading or guidance of parents and tutors;

Feminine – laddess, which has been contracted to lass

Knot

Knit

From Saxon cnyttan – to knit.

A hard knot is a complicated knitting together of the cord;

“Knotty point” means an intricate question;

A “knot” in a piece of timber is the place where the fibres are tightly knit together;

“topknot” – a bundle of locks of hair knit or tied together at the top of the head.

Bequeath

From Saxon quith – a will, that which a man quoth or made known as his wish or will

Fee

Derived from feoh – money

Coward

Derived from cowered – bowed down, crouching or stooping through fear. Formerly used as a verb – to cowre, of which coward is the past participle.

Inn

From ancient ingeat – a house of common in-going

Cheap

From chepe – the Saxon word for a market. Chaucer uses chap-manhade fro a profession or business of a merchant.

Ceap-scip, i.e. cheap-ship, meant a merchant vessel.

Uncheap was a Saxon word for “gratuitous” – without a price.

Good cheap and bad cheap were modes of expression used to denote good bargain and bad bargain.

The name of the street “Cheap-side” in London denotes the site of an ancient market place. Similar to this is “Chepstow” – the place of a market.

Gentleman

From the union of two words, French and Saxon:

The Saxons called a gentleman by birth – an ethel-boren-man (nobly-born man).

A peasant they described as ceorl-boren-man, or “churl”.

Steady

Steadfast

Stood

From sted or stead signifying “a place”. The word is used in composition as “bed-stead”, the place of a bed, and “home-sted”, the place of one’s home.

Folk-stede was an Anglo-Saxon word for a village.

Wrench

Derived from wringan – to wring, twist or torture. It is found used as a noun by old writers, equivalent to fraud or other wrong.

Acre

Originally meant a field or enclosed place. In early Saxon times the churchyard was called “God’s acre” as being the piece of ground in which the bodies of Christians were buried. A field labourer was called acre-man, and a land-tax was acre-shot.

Idle

Ail

Ill

From adl – pain or sickness.

An “addled” egg means one that is diseased or bad.

Better

Abet

From abettian – to make better

Abroad

From abrcedan – to broaden, to extend

Anxious

Was formerly angsome from ange – trouble

Ale

From celan – to burn or inflame

Broth

From briwan – to cook or boil, hence to brew

Blind

Means stopped-up. The past participle of blinnan – to stop. This explains the meaning of “blind windows” and “window blinds”.

Bit (of a bridle)

Derived from bcetan – to restrain

Beware

War

From bewearan – to defend

Know

Canny

Cunning

From ccennan – to know (from which comes the old word ken)

The word cunning was not originally used in a bad sense:

“I held it ever,

Virtue and cunning were endowments greater

Than nobleness and riches.” (Shakespeare)

Cap

From cappe – the top of anything

Clap

Clapping

From clappan – to leap or move hastily

(Chaucer applies the word to noisy and quick talking)

Craft

Crafty

Handicraft

etc.

From crceft which was in very general use in composition: smith-crceft – the art of blacksmith, metre-crceft – the art of poetry, sang-crceft – the art of singing, scip-crceft – for navigation, stcef-crceft – the science of letters (stcef – a letter), stcef-crceftiga – philologist, iceee-crceft – the science of medicine.

Creep

Creeper

Cripple (formerly creeple)

From creopere – a serpent, creopan – to crawl or creep.

Crop

Anglo-Saxon croppe originally meant the top of trees; and an old phrase croppe and rote meaning the top and bottom signifying perfection. Chaucer has croppe and rote of beautie and croppe and rote of guile, I know croppe and rote, hence probably the phrase to know by rote (perfectly well).

Queen bee

Hen

From cwene which described the female in general. Hence the queen-bee was so called not as ruling over a hive but merely to specify the female bee.

From cwen-fugel or female fowl.

Dawn

From dceg – a day; daggian – to become day

Dam

From dumbian – to obstruct (distinct from Latin- derived “damn” – to condemn)

Dusk

From dwcescan – to darken

Deep

Dip

From dyppa – deep, hence to “dip” was to plunge into the deep

Fare

The high-road used to be called by the Saxons the folk-fare

Furlong

A furlong is a unit of length that is equal to 220 yards or 201.2 metres. Derived from furrow-long – the length of a furrow in a ploughed field.

Farthing (fourth part of a penny)

From fourthling – the fourth part of any sum or measure

Faith

Third person singular of the verb fcegan – to engage or promise, formerly written fcegth or faieth

Sad

In its original sense meant sober or grave (without necessarily implying sorrow). It meant set, settled or steady from settan or scetan.

Brown

From the verb to brin – to burn

Green

May be traced to growan – to grow, this being the colour of growing crops

Blue

From bleowan – to blow

Dim

From dimnian – to obscure

Anglo-Saxon prefixes and affixes

Prefix

Meaning

Examples

a

at, to ,on

Afield, afoot, aboard

be

verb to be

Befriend (be a friend to)

en

em

To make

Enable, empower, embark

fore

before

foretell

mis

not, wrong (from mis – a defect)

misfortune, misconduct

out

beyond, superiority

outlive, outrun

of or off

out of, from

offspring

over

above, beyond

oversee, overflow

with

from, against

withdraw, withstand

un

In numerous instances, especially in words of Latin origin un has given place to in.

not

unable

injustice (but unjust)

Saxon prefix imb has given place to the Latin circum–

round about

embed, embosom

under

below, beneath

undervalue, underwriter

Alder

Preeminence

alderman, Alderford, Alderton, etc.

Affix

Meaning

Example

en

to make or made of

blacken, wooden

ful

full

hopeful

head or hood

state, degree

godhead, manhood

ish

belonging to

boyish

kin

diminutive

lambkin

less

privation

hopeless, careless

like, ly

likeness

godlike, godly

ness

prominent character or quality

Goodness, greatness

ess

feminine termination

Lioness

rick, wick

rule or authority

Bishopric, bailiwick

ship

Office, state, condition

Lordship, friendship

The term “ship-shape” means shaped in proper form and order

some

some of or in some degree

quarrelsome

ward

turned to or in the direction of

homeward, backward

Awkward means wrong-ward; Shakespeare has “awkward” for adverse winds.

y

Having or abounding in

Stony, wealthy, healthy

Titles of honour, office and dignity of Saxon origin

King

Cynig, from cun or cyn – valiant; ing – a particle signifying the endowment of the quality

Queen

Cuningina

Earl

From ear – honour, ethel or el – noble or worthy

Countess

From wife of the Norman count, from which we have the “viscount” or vice-count.

Lord

Originally from laford or leaford, the afforder or provider of bread for his household, V-leaf or laf being another word for bread (from which we have loaf)

Sat at the foot of the table near the servants to give orders for providing food.

Lady

Contraction of leafdian – the dispenser of bread.

The lord as head of the family provided the bread which was dealt out by the lady of the house.

Steward

Sted-ward – the keeper of the place.

The office of Stedward by contraction “steward” gave a name to the royal race of Stuart

Mayor

Usually attributed to Norman origin. But it appears more probable that it’s derived from a Saxon word Meer – signifying power or authority with dignity, which in its turn is derived from the old verb maye – to be able. Mayer – man of might who may use authority within his jurisdiction.

Bailiff, Baillie

Of the same origin as the word bail – protection.

The “Baillie” is an officer well known in Scotland who is the keeper or protector of the peace within his bailiwick.

The bailiff takes men under his safe keeping.

Alderman

“of all the men chief”, he being the first in the council after the mayor.

Alder – the chief or first of all. Aldermary Church meant the church dedicated to St.Mary, the first or chief of all women. Aldergate in London was doubtless at one time the principal of all the gates.

Knight

From Saxon cnyht – a servant or follower; a title of honour anciently applied to the king’s body guard.

Constable

From Cyning’s stable. The Lord High Constable is an ancient officer of the Crown, first created by William the Conqueror.

Derivation of Saxon proper names

Albert

Nobly and well advised, or one who gives good advice

Edmond

The mouth of truth

Edward and Edgar

The keeper of his word

Gertrude

All truth

Leonard

Lion’s heart

Bernard

Bear’s heart

Richard

Rich heart

Everard

Boar’s heart

Lambert

Lamb’s heart

Manhard

Man’s heart or a man of heart

Gerard

All heart

Walter

Originally was the title of an officer who had a charge or command in a forest (wait or wold – forest)

Winfred

The one who wins peace

Wilfred

The one who wills peace

Segismund

The mouth of victory

Rosamond

Rose mouth

Roger (originally Rogard)

The keeper of rest or peace

Raymond

Rein-mund meaning pure mouth

Mathilde (now Matilda)

Mead healt – a maiden champion

Harold

From here-healt – champion of the army

Hugh (with some nations Hugo)

Originally Heughe – joy or gladness

Hubert

Joyful heart

Humphrey

Anciently Humfrid – home peace

Henry

A possessor of wealth

Geoffrey

Good peace

Alfred

All peace

Frederic

Rich in peace and friendship

Dunstan

Stability or constancy

Dun – hill, stane - stone

Leopold

Originally Leofhold – keeper of peace or amity

Randolph

Originally Reindulphe – pure help or sincere assistance

Surnames were gradually introduced for distinction of families and at first began by calling the son after the father’s name with the addition of the word to signify son or of. All names ending with “son” are of Saxon or English origin, as Johnson, Jackson, Adamson, Thompson, Richardson, etc. In many cases the word is contracted by dropping the two final letters: thus we have Adams. Peters, Roberts, Williams, etc.

In process of time the place of residence came to be added to the name of the proprietor, and to this circumstance we may trace such names as Wood, Hill, Field, Green, Brook, Ford, Moore, Meadows, Mills, Bridge and Church. Some families settled near a cliff by the sea-side and took such names as Radcliffe, Clifford (ford under a cliff). See also:

Combe

Slope on the side of a hill

Cote

A small house

Croft

Small plot of ground

Dale and Den

Valley

Ey

A river

Ham

Home, place of shelter

Oke

Oak-tree

Ley

Uncultivated ground

Port

A Saxon word signifying a walled town

Shaw

Shade of trees

Thorp

Village

Wye

A place of refuge or retreat

Dun

A hill