Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/136

 110 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* S.VL A™. 11,1900. the etymology of John of the Dark Ages, is a sorry spectacle. In quoting this charter of 956 he refers to the "conclusive evidence" derived from it. MR. STEVENSON either believes this charter of Eiidwy, A.D. 955-6, to be a forgery, or to be genuine. If he believes it to be spurious why did he quote it against me as "con- clusive evidence" (9th S. iv. 382)? If he believes it to be genuine why did he de- nounce it (9th S. v. 519) ? Let it be noted also that he denounced it only after I had shown how, in conjunction with the Ken- nington charter of the same date, it com- pletely demolished his own argument, by showing that the boundaries ran northwards, and by proving, independently of Cead walla's boundaries, that there was a place called occenes gasrstun close to the west ford of Oxford (9th S. v. 252). It is an immaterial part of my argument what the word " occenes " or " epccen " may mean. The main point is, that this name was applied to a place close to the west ford of Oxford. The occurrence of the mediaeval names Oxeneford and Osoney, both apparently de- rived from the word "occenes " or "eoccenes," admits of an explanation. Oxenea as an alternative name for Oseney survived, and was in actual use in the thirteenth century, as shown by a MS. of that date existing in the Bodleian Library,* and Oseney Mill is marked Oxny Mill on an old Ordnance map.t In the face of these facts MR. STEVENSON considers the double derivation impossible. Apparently he knows little of the influence or Norman-French on Anglo-Saxon words. Oseney was a Norman-French abbey, estab- lished by a Norman-French founder D'Oily, or De Olleyo, inhabited at first by Norman- French canons, whose founder, his family, and ecclesiastics spoke that variety of old French known as Norman-French. All these cer- tainly in talking among themselves would pronounce the word written Oxeneas Ossene,t so that apparently the name Oseney, first mentioned in Norman time, arose through Norman-French influence. That the later Anglo-Saxon people of Ox- ford did not all believe in the ox theory for the origin of the name of their borough is clear from the names placed by tni liters on Saxon coins struck at Oxford. The following varia- tions occur among others : Oxne, Edward, 972 ; Oxcen, Oxsen, Edmund, 1016 ; Ocxene, t Ibitl. t F. Genin, ' Des Variations du Laugue Fran- cais depuia le Xlle Siecle,' pp. 72-3. Oxsen, Cnut; Ocxenf, Harthacnut; Ocxe, Ocxen, Oxene, Ocx, Ocxe, Edward the Con- fessor. If the ox idea had been generally associated with the name, why should these variations have survived ? The supposition of careless spelling will not satisfactorily explain them. We have now arrived at this stage in the discussion. I have shown that the part of the charter of Cead walla which has been preserved contains internal evidence of its genuine character (9th S. iv. 480-1), and this, supported by other evidence, MR. STEVENSON has not attempted to refute. At the end of his boundaries Cead walla adds : — " Athelingawudu Colmanora, and Geatescumbe belong to these twenty bides, which I myself now rode, now rowed, and widely divided off for myself, my predecessors, and those that shall come after me, for an eternal separation, before God and the world." Colmanora and Geatescumbe here mentioned are Cumnor and Yatscombe, which lie not close to Abingdon, but west of Oxford. I have shown that the natural features described in Cead walla's bounds can be identified (9th S. iii. 44, 389-90 ; iv. 130-3) by those existing at the present time close, to Oxford, and that it is only by rounding the two river islands, one in the CherwelT and the other in Geafling lace higher up in the Thames on the west of Oxford, that the reversal of the current in the streams men- tioned in the boundaries can be explained (9th S. iv. 130-3). I have explained that the boundary line on which these names occur is the same very ancient boundary line between the land of the abbey of Abingdon and the Liberty of Oxford, which has teen recognized as such from a time beyond the memory of man, while the boundary line near Abingdon which MR. STEVENSON alludes to as being connected with the same names, is in an embryonic condition in his own imagination, not yet developed, and neither he nor any one else can develope or define it. I have pointed out that there never was but one river Cherwell; and that when a boundary line is traced up the Thames past the mouth of the Cherwell to some termina- tion higher up the river, I have shown that it can only go to the west ford of Oxford, as in Cead walla's grant, or to some place close to it, as in Eadwy's grant. I have shown that the charter of Eadwy, 955-6, which MR. STEVENSON so confidently quoteu against me (9th S. iv. 382), proves, in conjunction with another charter of the same date, that a place called Occenes gcerstun
 * J. Parker, ' Early History of Oxford,' 359.