Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/454

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. II. DEC. 3, '98.

these three, I need only say that there is a very good account in Macbain's 'Etymological Gaelic Dictionary,' where it is shown that, besides being combined with the simple Christian name, as, for example, in Maclan, son of John, there are such longer and more descriptive surnames as Maclnroy and Mac- Indoe, respectively son of John the Red and son of John the Black.

I pass over the Norman Fitz, which has been exhaustively treated by Prof. Skeat and Dr. Murray. A little more attention is due to the Spanish patronymic termination -ez, which has undoubtedly provoked more discussion than any other. Pott in his ' Person ennamen ' identifies it with the classical ending -icius or -itius. Prof. Knapp in his ' Spanish Grammar ' suggests a deriva- tion from the Latin ablative plural. Diez thought it was Gothic; but in a very lengthy correspondence which is printed in the Academy for 1882 Prince Bonaparte derides this view, and expresses his adherence to the old idea of Larramendi, that the -ez is from the Basque. Who shall decide when doctors disagree 1 The Prince showed that Basques do use such forms as Mariaz, Larramendiz, even Johnsonez, Newtonez, but he failed to show that they were used as patronymics ; on the contrary, the Basque patronymic is uniformly -ena. Thus, instead of Perez, Mar- tinez, the Basque surnames actually existing are Pedrorena, Marticorena. The Roumanian is the only other Romance language which has developed a patronymic, namely -escu, as, for instance, Antonescu, Zacharescu, son of Anthony, son of Zacharias. Leaving this class of languages, we come to the Hungarian, which adds the word -fi (son), or, in an older orthography, -Jfy, as, for example, Albert Palffy, Alexander Petofi, the equivalent of our Poison, Peterson. In Lithuanian these two surnames would appear as Paulat, Peterat, but this is a contracted form ; the grammatically correct ending is -atis. as in the names Spirgatis, Obricatis, and others in the German directories.

The modern Greeks still retain the classical patronymic, as one may see by looking in the ' London Directory ' at the names of the cigarette manufacturers, Economides, lonides, Sandorides, et hoc genus omne. They have also a younger termination, -opoulos, exemplified in the name of their poet Christ- opoulos.

The patronymics of the Slavonic races (-<?/', -evich, -ovich, -in, -ich} are too well known to need comment, but it is worth noting, as a curiosity, that the Little Russian or Ruthenian has an ending of its own, -enko, as in the sur-

names Nikitenko, Yefimenko, son of Nicetas, son of Euthymus. Of the other nationalities under the dominion of Russia the Georgian has two terminations, -shvili and -dze, both meaning son. "When the names become Russified," says Thielmann, " the termination -shvili is generally changed into -eff or -off. An exception is found to this rule in the case of the Bagratidze, the most distinguished family in the land, which calls itself Bagra- tion." An instance of the change above referred to is the name Ratieff, in Georgian Ratieshvili ; while as to Bagration, I do not know its origin, but it reminds one of the Armenian patronymics with their mono- tonous ending -ian, examples of which are common among the Armenian residents in London, Hagopian (Jacobson), Krikorian (son of Gregory), Findjandjian (son of the coffee- cup maker).

The Turkish patronymic is -oglou (son) ; hence Longfellow's Kurroglou, and a beau- tiful name which decorated a shop in Oxford Street a few years ago, Kezapcioglou. The Persian equivalent of -oglou is -zada (hence Sheikhzada, Pashazada), from which I have no doubt are derived the Gentile names of the Afghan clans with their ending in -zai, Yusufzai, Muhammadzai, Hassanzai.

JAMES PLATT, Jun.

WILLIAM DE WELDE : EARLY PEDIGREES. William de Welde was Sheriff of London in 1353-4, and Alderman of Coleman Street Ward. His will, enrolled in the Hustings Court in 1372, names only his wife Margaret and his son Simon. According to a some- what mythological account of the Weld family that has been accepted by Burke, this sheriff was ninth in descent from " Edric the Wild," and afterwards settled at Eaton in Cheshire, where he married Anne, daughter of Nicholas Wettenhall of Cheshire, by whom he was father of three sons (neither of whom is named Simon), who were ancestors of all after Welds, whether of Eaton, Cheshire, Lul worth, Dorset, or elsewhere. The Hustings will not only fails to confirm, but is at clear variance with, this statement. William de Welde lived and died in London, and directs his body to be buried in the church of St. Margaret, Lothbury, while his son Simon looks suspiciously like his only son.

It is seldom that testamentary evidence can be obtained to illustrate the fourteenth- century descent of an ancient family, and it is, to say the least, unfortunate that in more than one instance where by means of these most valuable Hustings wills this has been found, the usually accepted origin is shown