Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/51

 9* s. in. JAN-. 21, mi NOTES AND QUERIES.

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1 articularly near Oxford, near which four J [engest place-names are mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon charters, such as Hengestesie, i ow Hinksey. Hengest was not a Saxon, but ( ither a Jute or a Frisian, and these very c arly place-names could only have been given 1 )y Jutish or Frisian settlers, such as the early s ettlers in Kent.

The charter of Ceadwalla, in tracing the boundaries of the land he gave to Abingdon Abbey, starts from Eoccenforda, i. e., a ford over one of the branches of the Isis, west of Oxford. The boundary runs from that ford along Eoccenes (now Oseney) to the Abbey ditch ; thence past several marks to Bradan mere (now Bradley) ; thence to Brom- cumbes heafpd (now Broom Hill) ; thence to Abendune, i.e., the down of the original abbey ; thence to Bacganleah (now Bagley) ; thence to Stanford (now Sandford); thence to Msegthford (the ford of the tribe, which crossed the stream at Kennington Island to a place now called Heyford) ; thence up mid- stream of the Thames above the large island " on Cearewyllan," i. e., at the mouth of the Cher- well; thence along Bacgan broc (the Backer lake of Oxford mediaeval records) to Heafods oran (the great sandhills of those records); thence up the stream past Geafling lace and Lang lace (the fork -shaped lake and the long lake, now represented by river islands of these shapes) ; thence "on by Oecenes grestun die," i. e., the ditch bounding Oseney on the west, to the Abbey ditch ; and along Eccen, i.e., the north boundary of West Oseney, again to Eoccenforda.

Any one who will follow these boundaries going up stream from Sandford will see that it is not possible the charter can refer to any other land than this near Oxford. The name Eoccenforda is, therefore, the earliest form of the name Oxford, and that name is two cen- turies older than has hitherto been supposed. The name Osney, or Oseney, appears as Oxenea in a charter as late as the thirteenth century. The ox is quite out of place in connexion with the origin of the name of the university city. It is a name derived from early colonists or new settlers.

That the name Oxnaforda was derived from a human settlement, and was so understood in early Saxon time, appears probable from similar names, such as Westerna, Wixna Lindesfarona, and Myrcna, which are known tribal Saxon names. The names Oxnahealon in Gloucestershire, Oxnafeld in Somerset Oxnadunes in Worcestershire, and Oxnaforc in Wiltshire, also occur in the Saxon charters Similarly, there are many old place-names partly composed of the word oxen, apparently

derived from eoccen, such as Oxenford in Somerset, Oxenholm in Westmoreland, and )ther examples in districts near which Jutish or Frisian settlements can be shown to have taken place.

The place-names Oxenvad and Oxby also occur in North Schleswig and Jutland, a cir- cumstance which points to the Frisian origin of similar names in England.

T. W. SHORE.

105, Ritherdoii Road, Upper Tooting, S.W.

THE ' ROXBURGHE REVELS.' On Tuesday, the 10th inst., Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge sold a curious collection of the ' Rox- burghe Revels' extracted from the Athenceum of 4, 11, 18, and 25 January, 1834. The MS. recording these 'Revels' was purchased by Mr. Dilke, " not for the sake of any libellous information it might perchance contain, but simply to afford our readers a little harmless amusement," at the sale of Mr. Joseph Hasle- wood's library. The MS., in Haslewood's handwriting, had the following title, " Rox- burghe Revels ; or, an Account of the Annual Display, Culinary and Festivous, interspersed incidentally with Matters of Moment or Merriment, also Brief Notices of the Press Proceedings by a few Lions of Literature, combined as the Roxburghe Club, founded

17 June, 1812."

The Club claimed its foundation from the sale of the library of the late John, Duke of Roxburghe, which commenced Monday,

18 May, 1812, and extended to forty-one days following, with a supplementary catalogue of three days, beginning Monday, 13 July. On Wednesday, 17 June, 'II Decamerone di Boccaccio' was to be sold,* and the Rev. T. F. Dibdin suggested that a convivial meeting should beheld at the "St. Alban's Tavern" after the sale of that day, when a resolution was passed

" that the Roxburghe Society should have an anni- versary dinner on the 17th June, and the number of members be extended and limited to thirty-one.

"It was proposed and concluded for each member of the Club to reprint a scarce piece of antient lore, to be given to the members, one copy being on vel- lum for the chairman, and only as many copies as members."

Among those present at the inaugural dinner were Lord Spencer, president, Lord Gower, Sir Egerton Brydges, Mr. Haslewood, and Mr. Dibdin.

The record of the Club includes the very interesting letter of Sir Walter Scott, dated 25 February, 1823, declaring his willingness

ford for 2,260A
 * This was purchased by the Marquis of Bland-