Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/105

 12 S. II. JULY 29, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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HENLEY, HERTS (12 S. i. 489; ii. 33). This place is no doubt Shenley, Herts. I have copied many of the inscriptions from the churchyard, and several are given in Cussans's ' History of Hertfordshire,' 1879, ' Dacorum Hundred,' pp. 309-24, with the memorials in the church. The parish is about five miles south-east of St. Albans. The village formerly lay at the foot of the hill adjoining the old church and manor house ; now the village is a mile distant on an elevated plateau, about 440 ft. above the sea-level, a mile south-east of the church. CHAS. HALL CROUCH.

204 Hermon Hill, South Woodford.

THE SIDE-SADDLE (12 S. ii. 28, 73). Perhaps EQUESTRIAN will be interested in the following reference which I have copied from Camden's ' Remaines concerning Britaine,' London, 1637, p. 196 :

" They had also about this time [King Richard II.] a kind of Gowne called a Git, a jacket without sleeves called a Haketon, a loose jacket like an Herald's Coate of Armes, called a Tabard, a short pabbardin called a Court-pie, a gorget called a Chevesail, for as yet they used no bands about their necke, a pouche called a Gipser. And Queen Anne, wife to King Richard the second, who first taught English women to ride on side sadles, when as heretofore they ridde astryde, brought in high head attire piked with homes, and long trained gownes for women."

J. H. WILKINSON.

Horsforth, Leeds.

' Through England on a Side-Saddle in the time of William and Mary, being the Diary of Celia Fiennes,' with an Introduction by the Hon. Mrs. Griffiths, London, Field & Tuer, the Leadenhall Press, 1888.

HAROLD MALET, Col. Racketts, Hythe, Southampton.

liotrs on IBoohs,

The Place-Names of Durham. By the Rev. Charles E. Jackson, M.A. (Allen & Unwin, 5. net.)

IN his careful and exhaustive work Mr. Jackson has not only produced a valuable local dictionary, but made an appreciable contribution to the study of English philology. He adopts the right method of investigation by pushing as closely as he is able towards origins, and when he finds a definite conclusion impossible he frankly gives the reasons for the imperfection of his survey. In tracing derived words to their sources the inductive method should be rigidly observed, and the utmost care should be taken not to leave a stage that has been definitely reached before the track leading to the next in order has been clearly located. Mr. J.tckson must be credited with dexterously working in accordance with this safe principle of

investigation. In many instances he does not profess to say the final word ; in some it may be that further research will supplement, and per- haps complete, his somewhat speculative dis- cussion ; but he is invariably explicit in his deliverance, and thoroughly trustworthy as far as- he goes.

In his preface Mr. Jackson explains that he- had to contend with two initial difficulties. In the first place, there is no Domesday Survey of the county of Durham ; and, secondly, the status of the county being a kind of imperium in imperio, there is a lack of carefully preserved documents. The names, however, are largely of native origin, derived both from remote owners and from conspicuous physical features, and it is possible to trace the bulk of them back through a local literature of centuries. Having specified these facts, and emphasized their importance by apt illustrations, Mr. Jackson gives some useful hints on the distinctive characteristics of Anglo- Saxon, and carefully elucidates a group of " common terminals." These important termina- tions are particularly apt to be ignored by the- hasty philologist given to guess-work, whose- conclusions are consequently prone to be ludicrous- and misleading. In reference to such haphazard, inquiry, Mr. Jackson appositely takes the name Surtees, and shows that while jaunty exposition gives its meaning as " Sir, or Lord, of the Tees- dale," it really points back to " Ricardus de super Teysam." Thus he is fully justified in insisting on the intimate significance of terminals. It is essential to discriminate, for example, between the influence of similar but really distinct Anglo-Saxon pairs, such as beorh and burh, denn and demi, icich and. wick, and to recognize that under the forms frith and gate there are respectively two sources of modern words, while there are at least five separate meanings of the terminal ing. What is further said of the endings hale, ham, hope, ley, ion, and others similarly implies the recognition of sound elementary principles, and is all scholarly and valuable.

A few examples of Mr. Jackson's presentment of his material will be sufficient to illustrate his method and the thoroughness of his handling. His arrangement of the names hi alphabetical order is praiseworthy as facilitating reference, and; his careful statement of geographical position in. the majority of cases is also satisfactory. He has a long list of authorities, of which he constantly makes ample and decisive use. Taking, for- instance, the county name itself, he traces it, with' the help of records, up through four stages to- Dunhelm ; finds that the original terminal was holmr = holme, "an island, or a stretch of flat I; ' nd by a river liable to be flooded " ; and con- cludes that the place-name was primarily " Dun's holme." A clerical error of the twelfth century , he explains, established the form in use to the present day. The discussion of " Deorham " that follows is at once relevant and convincing. Jarrow, which rests on ancient Gintim, prompts a suggestive discussion, which culminates in the safe conclusion that the modern meaning is " weir- hill " and the earlier one " weir-settlement.'* Follonsby, which may be " Fullan's dwelling," is a curious example of the fact that in ancient times no less than in our own days there was a prevalent tendency to abbreviate names. The explanation of Ferryhill as " Par's road " typically illustrates Mr. Jackson's theory regarding the primary