Surnames as a Science. Ferguson Robert
is not an unfrequent thing to find the same name variously with and without a vowel-ending, of which some instances may be noted in Chapter V.) Thus we have Abbe, Abba, and Abbey, we have Bell, Belly, and Bellow, we have Earl and Early, we have Dand, Dandy, and Dando, we have Brand and Brandy, we have Todd and Toddy, we have Dane and Dana, we have Marr, Marry, and Marrow. These are all ancient names, variously with and without the vowel-ending, and it will be readily seen how apt the addition is to disguise the name, and to give it the appearance of something else.
The question now to consider is – What is the value and meaning of this vowel-ending, which was only given to simple names and never to compounds? It might be, in some cases, used simply as a sort of euphonic rounding-off of a name which might seem meagre and insignificant without something of the sort. We ourselves appear to use s in the same manner in the case of some very short names, such as Wills and Epps, in which the final s may perform the same service that was rendered by the vowel-ending. But there is also another principle which I think obtains, and which, indeed, may be the guiding principle in such cases. In Anglo-Saxon (and the same principle applied to other Teutonic dialects), the addition of a to a word implied connection with it. Thus, from scip, a ship, is formed scipa, one connected with a ship, a sailor. Now, going back to the remote origin of names, there were many cases in which a man took a name from an abstraction, such as war, peace, glory, victory, or from a weapon, as the sword or the spear, and it is obvious that in such cases he required something to connect his name with it, and this is, as it seems to me, what was effected by the ending in question. And the principle is still a living one among us, and we form names daily in accordance with it, though we no longer use the ending in a, which has been superseded by that in i.8 A connection with anything whatever is expressed by this ending, as when a stupid person is called "Duncey," one with a remarkable nose "Nosey," or one with a halting gait "Stumpy." The French seem to have retained their old ending, and, when they form names of this sort, to do it with the ending in o (eau) which appears to be in accordance with the genius of their language, as that in i (ey) is with that of ours.
Of these three endings, that in a is the one which was in use among the Goths, in such names as Cniva, Totila, Ulfila. And the same was also the case among the Saxons, a branch of the same Low German stock, in such names as Anna, Ella, Penda, Dodda. The ending in i was also common among the Old Saxons, and, if we may judge by the Liber Vitæ of Durham (which might naturally be supposed to contain a large proportion of Northern names), was also prevalent in the ancient Northumbria. We have in that record the names Alli, Arni, Bynni, Betti, Cyni, Diori, Elsi, Paelli, Tidi, Tilli, Terri, all of which are found in our present names Alley, Arney, Binney, Betty, Kinney, Deary, Elsey, Paley, Tidy, Tilley, Terry. The ending in o was that which was in favour among the Franks and the High Germans generally, the oldest instance on record being probably that of Cotiso, p. 20. This is the usual ending in French names (so far as they are of Old Frankish origin, and come under this head), the form being generally eau, as in Baudeau, Godeau, Fredeau, representing the ancient names Baldo, Godo, Fredo. Hence our names ending in o may be taken to be, to some extent, names of Old Frankish origin come to us through the Normans. But the number of such names is larger than could reasonably be accounted for in such a way, and in point of fact, we meet occasionally with such names at a much earlier period. The Frisians certainly seem to have had names in this form, and it is a question whether such names may not be partly due to them. It must be observed, then, that names with these three various endings represent the stem just the same as those that are without it.
This ending runs through the whole range of Teutonic names, and is common in English surnames. Hence we have Doran, Lingen, Bolden, Hannen, Farren, the names on which they are formed being represented in Dore, Ling, Bold, Hann, Farre. As to the value and meaning of this ending, we have nothing more to guide us than its parallel use in the languages most nearly concerned, where it is what may be called formative. That is to say, it is a form of speech which is used to form the endings of words, not adding anything to the meaning, but forming a kind of euphonic rounding-off of the word. Thus from A.S. wearda is formed warden, from geard (inclosure) is formed garden, from Brytta is formed Briton, from mægd, maid, is formed maiden. Cf. also the old word ratten for rat, still used in provincial speech. In many cases in Teutonic names we have words thus formed, and also the simpler forms on which they have been founded, e. g. we have bero, bear, and also berin, we have aro, eagle, and also arin (=A.S. earn), both forming the stems on which a number of other names have been built. I take the ending in en, then, to be most probably a kind of phonetic accretion, adding nothing to the sense, but sometimes representing a secondary word, and starting a stem on its own account.
This is the Anglo-Saxon and ancient German patronymic, as in Browning, "son of Brown," Dunning, "son of Dunn," Winning, "son of Winn." It must have been superseded during, or very soon after, Anglo-Saxon times, by the patronymic in son, inasmuch as no names of Scriptural origin appear to be formed with it. Hence we have such names as Bulling, Burning, Canning, Gambling, Halling, Harding, Hopping, Loving, Manning, Swearing, Telling, Walking, Willing, some of which have been popularly supposed to be from the present participle. All of the above except two, Swearing and Gambling, are found in the list of early Saxon settlers, and of these two (which are found in after Anglo-Saxon times) Swearing, which corresponds with an Old German Suaring, finds its stem in an Anglo-Saxon name Sweor, signifying important, honourable; and Gambling (properly Gamling) is the patronymic of an A.S. and O.N. name, Gamol, signifying "old," probably in the honorific sense of old descent. From this origin, I take it, are also our names Farthing and Shilling, the former from the stem fard, or farth, signifying "travel," found in several ancient names, and which I rather take to be the same as ford, found in the Fordingas among the early settlers. And Shilling, which corresponds with a present German Schilling, is probably the same as the Scilling in the "Traveller's Song," a supposed contraction of Scilding, from A.S. scyld, shield, in which case our name Shield would be the parent of Shilling. I have referred at the beginning of this book to the curious-looking name Winfarthing (quoted from Lower) as perhaps a corruption of an A.S. Winfrithing, though it is a case in which I do not feel much certainty, finding one or two other such names as Turnpenny, which may have been sobriquets.
This ending in Teutonic names may be taken, as a general rule, to be a diminutive, though in a few cases it may be more probably, like that in en, formative. Thus in the list of early A.S. settlers we have Bryd(ingas) and we have Brydl(ingas), representing the words bride and bridle. Now, as German writers have taken the word brid in ancient names to mean "bridle," comparing it with French bride, it would seem probable that, in the above A.S. name, Brydl is not a diminutive, but the extended word "bridle." However, as a general rule, it may be presumed to be a diminutive, and in such sense I take the following, premising that this, as well as all other diminutives, except kin, lin, and et, is subject to a vowel-ending just the same as simple forms. We have Bable, corresponding with an A.S. Babel, and an O.G. Babilo; Ansell and Anslow (Ansilo), corresponding with an O.G. Ansila; Mundell and Mundella, with a Gothic Mundila;9 Costall, Costello, and Costly, with an O.G. Costila. Costly is properly Costili, with the ending in i, as also Brightly is Brightili, and some other names with an adverbial look may be similarly explained.
This ending, with rare exceptions, may also be taken to be a diminutive. The oldest instance on record is stated by Stark as that of the Vandal general Stilicho
How or when this change took place is a question that awaits solving, but I observe that, in 1265, the Countess of Montford, giving names (or sobriquets) to her servants, calls one of her messengers Treubodi (trusty messenger), and not Treuboda, as the Anglo-Saxon form would have been.