Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/99

 9 th S. II. JULY 30, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

91

spoken of ches as a word, or as belonging to any language.

Ches is a part of the word chesel or chisel, and is found in names of places in different parts of the country, indicating the presence of gravel, shingle, sand (or a conglomerate of these), at or near the place.

In the year 1881 1 contributed to ' N. & Q.' a reply headed ' Chiswick, Cheshunt, Chishall, and other similar Place-names ' (6 th S. iv. 430), and beginning as follows :

" The origin of chis or ches, in these and other place-names, is unquestionably the archaic word chisel or chesel. Stratmann ( ' Diet. O. Eng. Lang.,' third edition, Krefeld, 1878) gives, ' Chisel, A.-S. cisel, ceosel ; O. Dutch kesel ; O. H. Germ, chisili (calculus), sabulum.' Comparing this with what is given by other authorities, such as Halliwell and Prof. Skeat, we have chisel, chesel, chizzell, Iciesell, ceosel, signifying gravel, sand, shingle, and some- times coarse bran or the husks of grain."

Perhaps I may be allowed to give one or two further extracts from my note on the name Chiswick, published nearly twenty years ago. In this note I compare with Chiswick, Chislet in Kent, where the river Stour in former times spread jtself out more widely than at present ; the Chesil Bank, a range of shingle joining the Isle of Portland to the mainland ; Great and Little Chishall, Cheshunt, Chisselborough, and other names of places. The following remarks are made on these four last-named and other places :

"On the borders of Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Herts there is an important earthwork, where once the boundaries of tribes or early kingdoms met in that part of the country. A friend of mine visited the place this autumn by my request. There is a fosse and vallum, along which he walked for a mile. This is where Great and Little Chishall occupy the border country at the north-western corner of Essex. An earthwork line, I believe, proceeded hence southwards, and it was this which, when Clutter- buck wrote ('Hertf.,' xvi.), was to be seen 'for a hundred yards in a field called Kilsmore' ac Ches- hunt. Now I do not entertain any doubt that these places are so called from the chisel of which the works were composed ; and Cheshunt or Cheselhunt compares with Chiswick or Chiselwick. A strong confirmation of this view is found in Collinson's ' History of Somerset ' under ' Chisselborough ' (Hundr. Houndsb., vol. ii. p. 330, Chisselborough): 'This manor is called in Domesday Book Ceplse- berge : Alured holds Ceolseberge ' ; whence it is clear that our word chisel or chesel enters into that place-name.

"Again it is stated by Prof. Skeat that Chisel- hurst is the gravel-hurst. Moreover, Chiselbury Camp is found on the ancient trackway over the hills between Salisbury and Shaftesbury ; such, at least, was the case in Hoare's time. Hoare's ' Wilt- shire ' gives us also Chisenbury in the hundred of Elstub and Everley, and describes very important earthworks there as carried across the valley in which the Grove family mansion was situated. Of Chiselhampton, in the county of Oxford, I find it

stated, 'The river Thame runs through' it. Addi- tional examples to the same effect might easily be brought forward."

With regard to the above instances, the derivation is tested in many cases by what amounts to local inquiry.

Since writing the aoove I have visited Chesham in order to ascertain by local in- quiry whether gravel is to be found there or not. I have forwarded the result, show- ing that it is, for publication (with the permission of the Editor) in 'N. & Q.' I will ask your readers to observe that the wording of my article (9 th S. i. 396) was neces- sarily brief and condensed in that part of it which relates to ches in Cheswick or Chis- wick. S. ARNOTT.

Baling.

The distinction between ham (i. e., ham) and ham is interesting and new to me. Ham is doubtless Mod. Eng. home and Germ. heim. Has ham no connexion with it 1 What con- nexions has it 1 ? I thought -tun, now -ton, meant an enclosure, as a store of corn defended by a hedge. Had our forbears two words for an enclosure ? Both local inquiries and historical inquiries are needed to advance our real knowledge of place-names ; but I venture to submit that there is a third method, more available to many, viz., a classi- fication of existing names. An index to our Ordnance map is much wanted, and ought, I think, to be made by the Government ; fail- ing them, a public subscription to get it done would afford routine work, requiring little but diligence and accuracy, that might also fur- nish needed food to a considerable number of poor litterateurs. T. WILSON.

PORTRAIT OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE (9 th S. i. 407). Perhaps it may be worth noting that there is a full-length portrait of Queen Char- lotte in oils in the dining-hall of Queen's College, Oxford, but whether this has been engraved, or whether it is that of which your correspondent is in quest, I cannot say. Queen Charlotte is commemorated to this day in a "Thanksgiving for the, Founder and Bene- factors of this College," i.e., Queen's.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

There are two fine portraits of the king and queen in the Council Chamber at Abing- don. E. E. THOYTS.

"MODESTEST" (9 fch S. i. 488). In the com- parison of adjectives, those of one syllable are usually compared by adding to the positive er and est, and those of more than one syllable by prefixing more and most.