Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/130

 Devon Notes and Queries. 87 syllables. The first has a vowel with an ancestral sound of u similar to the German ii in iibel. This is borne out by Sulfreton for Silverton A.D. 1086. The second has an initial consonant that may have been originally /, and because of Verner's I^aw has become v. The ancestral sound of e is the same to-day as it was in Anglo-Saxon times owing to the ** enclosing " influence of r. It must also be borne in mind that the A-S. Sigel or Sygel= the sun (used also as a man's name) becomes Sil, cf, Silsden- in-Craven, Yorks., which in 1086 was Syghelsdene and in 1379 was Syglesdeyn. Sil occurs in Silchester, which Bosworth translates 5^/=best, and ceaster^ciiy^ a very doubtful deriva- tion, as here Sil is most likely Lloegrian. We also find Silton, Yorks., occurring as Seletun. The A.-S. words that might enter into the derivation of Sil are Sygel=sm Sigel = rye; suI=sl plough; sel or syl=a, hall or dwelling; syl=Si sill, ground-post, log, pillar; 5^/= good, excellent. The second syllable ver may come from wer or woTj meaning an enclosure, also a fishpond or weir (as in Wareham, Dorset) ; wer=3, man ; and fer—ai journey with perhaps an extended sense of a way, path« The dialectical pronunciation will help us ; if it be spoken as in Cornwall it will be Selver. Seeing that Silver so often occurs on the wooded banks of a stream, the probability is that it contains a reference to a stockaded weir, syl-wer, a fishpond having been formed by a damming enclosure of stakes. With this definition the adjective Little could fit in, it is often met with in conjunction with Silver. The name may mean '' the excellent enclosure." Again it may be an older Celt, a place-name, and if so, probably means " the extensive view," Syl or S»7=a view, and ver (modern f;^^r)= great, big. There is Silva Cross in S. Ives, Silver Valley in Calstcck, and Silverwell in Perranzabuloe, and Sellan Veor, all in Cornwall, the first of which is by Dr. Bannister (on grammatical grounds, erroneously) explained from Sell = a, prospect and va=a place. Site-seeing would prove this. 1 would contest the Rev. O. J. Reichel's conclusion that Silver stands for the Latin Sylva, a wood, because (a) it is unlikely that a Latin word would be adopted by simple, unlearned Saxon folk as a place-name of frequent use ; (b) the