Surnames as a Science. Ferguson Robert

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СКАЧАТЬ of the Germans. And the conclusion at which some of them at least seem to have arrived, and which perhaps has been stated the most distinctly by Stark, is that the compound names are the older of the two. And the principal ground upon which this conclusion is based seems to be this, that in a very great number of cases we find that a simple name was used as a contraction of a compound name, just as we use Will for William, and Ben for Benjamin. Stark, in particular, has gone into the subject with German thoroughness, and produced a most complete list of instances of such contractions, such as Freddo for Fredibert, Wulf for Wulfric, Benno for Bernhard; and among the Anglo-Saxons, Eada for Edwine, and Siga for Siwerd, &c., from which he seems to arrive at the general conclusion that simple names are in all cases contractions of compound names.

      Nevertheless, I must say that it seems to me that to assume the compound to be older than the simple looks very much like something that is contrary to first principles, and indeed the very fact that simple names are so often used in place of compounds appears to me to show that they are more natural to men, and that men would generally adopt them if they could. I cannot but think then, going back to the far remote origin of Teutonic names, that the vocabulary of single words must have been exhausted before men began to take to the use of compounds. When this period arrived, and when the confusion arising from so many men being called by the same name could no longer be endured, some other course required to be adopted. And the course that was adopted was – I put this forward only as a theory – when the range of single names was exhausted, to put two names together. The number of changes that could be thus introduced was sufficient for all purposes, and there is, as I believe, no established case of a Teutonic name being formed of more than two words. From this point of view Teutonic names would not be translatable, or formed with any view to a meaning, and this is, as it seems to me, what was in fact the case, as a general rule, though I should be very far from laying it down as a universal principle. If names were formed with a view to a meaning, it does not seem very probable that we should have a name compounded with two words, both of which signify war; still less with two words, one of which signifies peace and the other war. "Bold in war" might have a meaning, but "bold in peace," if it means anything, seems satirical. In point of fact, there was a certain set of words on which the changes were rung in forming names without any apparent reference either to meaning or congruity. Thus we find that the early Frankish converts in the time of Charlemagne, the staple of whose names was German derived from their heathen ancestors, adopted not a few words of Christian import from the Latin or the Hebrew, and mixed them up with the old words to which they had been accustomed in their names. Thus a woman called Electa, no doubt meaning "elect," calls her son Electardus (hard, fortis); thus from pasc (passover) is formed Pascoin (wine, friend); from the name of Christ himself is formed Cristengaudus (gaud, Goth.) Now these are three of the common endings of German names, but no one can suppose that any sense was intended to be made out of them here, or that they were given for any other reason than that they were the sort of words out of which men had been accustomed to form their names. Indeed, the idea present to the minds of the parents seems to have been in many cases to connect the names of their children with their own, rather than anything else, by retaining the first word of the compound and varying the second. Thus a man called Girveus and his wife Ermengildis give their children the names of Giroardus, Girfridis, Gertrudis, Ermena, and Ermengardis, three of the names connecting with that of the father, and two with that of the mother. In the case of a man called Ratgaudus and his wife Deodata, the names of four of the children are Ratharius, Ratgarius, Ratrudis, and Deodatus, the names of two other children being different. Many other instances might be given of this sort of yearning for some kind of a connecting-link in the names of a family. Now the people by whom these names were given were common peasants and serfs, so that the case was not one like that of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Northumbria, among whose names the prefix os, signifying "semi-deus," and expressive of a claim to a divine lineage, was of such frequent recurrence. It may be a question then whether, while the former word of the compound connected with the father or the mother, the latter part did not sometimes connect with some other relative whose name it was desired to commemorate, giving the effect that is now frequently expressed by a Christian name and a surname. Again, when we look at the remote origin of these names, when we find in the opening century of our era, and who can tell for how many centuries before, precisely the same names that have been current in all these centuries since, we can hardly doubt that some of these names, derived from words that had long died out from the language, must have been used even in ancient times without any more thought of their meaning than parents have now when they call a child Henry or John. I desire, however, to put forward the above theory as to the origin of compound names rather with a view of raising the question than of expressing a definite conclusion.

      The vowel ending in a, i, or o, to which I have referred as in general use in the case of simple names was not used in the case of compounds, unless indeed it happened to be an original part of the second word as in Frithubodo, from bodo, messenger. Only in the case of women, to mark the sex, the ending in a was given. And in the case of some names, such as Gertrud, in which the second part is a word that could only be given to a woman, as no vowel-ending was required, so none was given.

      I now proceed to give a list of the principal compounds occurring in English names, with the ancient forms corresponding. I have been obliged, as a matter of necessity, to compare our names more frequently with Old German than with Anglo-Saxon equivalents, on account of the former having been collected and collated – a work which it remains for some one of our well qualified Anglo-Saxon scholars to do with regard to the latter.

      The meanings which I have assigned for these names are such as have been most generally adopted by the German writers who have made a special study of the subject. But it must be borne in mind that this study is one in which there is no context by which conclusions can be verified, and that in the vast majority of cases we have nothing more to go upon than a reasonable presumption.

Adal, athel, ethel, "noble."

      (Hard, fortis), Old Germ. Adalhard – Ang. – Sax. Ethelhard – Eng. Adlard. (Helm), O.G. Adalhelm – Eng. Adlam. (Hari, warrior), A.S. Ethilheri – Eng. Edlery. (Stan, stone), A.S. Æthelstan – Eng. Ethelston.

Ag, ac, ec, "point, edge."

      (Hard, fortis), O.G. Agihard – Eng. Haggard. (Hari, warrior), O.G. Agiher, Egiher – Eng. Agar, Eager. (Leof dear), O.N. Eylifr – Eng. Ayliffe. (Man, vir), O.G. Egiman – A.S. Æcemann – Eng. Hayman, Aikman. (Mund, protection), A.S. Agemund – Eng. Hammond. (Ward), O.G. Eguard – A.S. Hayward – Eng. Hayward.

Agil, Ail, of uncertain meaning, but perhaps formed on the previous stem Ag

      (Gar, spear), O.G. Egilger, Ailger – Eng. Ailger. (Hard, fortis), O.G. Agilard, Ailard – Eng. Aylard. (Man), O.G. Aigliman – Eng. Ailman. (Mar, famous), O.G. Agilmar, Ailemar – Eng. Aylmer. (Ward, guardian), O.G. Agilward, Ailward – Eng. Aylward. (Wine, friend), A.S. Aegelwine – Eng. Aylwin.

Alb, Alf, signifying "elf."

      (Hard, fortis), O.G. Alfhard – Eng. Alvert. (Hari, warrior), A.S. Ælfhere – O.G. Alfheri, Albheri – Eng. Alvary, Albery, Aubrey. (Rad, red, counsel), O.G. Alberat – A.S. Alfred – Eng. Alfred. (Run, mystery), O.G. Albrun10– Eng. Auberon.

Ald, signifying "old."

      (Bert, famous), O.G. Aldebert – Eng. Aldebert. (Hari, warrior), A.S. Aldheri – Eng. Alder, Audrey. (Gar, spear), A.S. Eldecar (Moneyer of Edmund) – Eng. Oldacre (?). (Rad, red, counsel), O.G. Aldrad – Eng. Aldred, Eldred. (Rit, ride), O.G. Aldarit – Eng. Aldritt. (Ric, rule), O.G. Alderich, Olderich, Altrih – Eng. Aldrich, Oldridge, Altree. (Man, vir), A.S. Ealdmann – Eng. Altman.

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