Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/388

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��Origin and Meaning of Prober Names.

��quoted, — as Hannah, gracious; Je- mima, handsome as the day; Dinah, judgment; Sarali, princess ; and Zip- porali, beauty.

When a Roman father had but one daughter, she received a name derived from the gens, as TulHa, the daughter of Cicero ; Julia, the daughter of Csesar. If there were two daugliters in one family, they were distinguished as Major and Minor, as Cornelia Ma- jor, Cornelia Minor. If there were more than two, the ordinal numbers were used, — as Secunda, Tertia, Quarta, Quinta, sometimes softened into Tertilla, Quartilla, Qiiintilla. Some wicked wit has affirmed that Lord John Russell, owing to his ac- curate business habits, sometimes, in fits of abstraction, alludes to his chil- dren as Schedule A, Schedule B, and so on.

Geoffrey, of Monmouth, tells us how a beautiful woman, with a sweet name, conquered the heart of a k'ing, and perpetuated the fact in a word still in use in English. Rowen or Rowena, the daughter of Hengist, welcomed the British Vortigem with the salutation, " Lauerd King, wacht heil," Lo'd King^ ivait my hailing draught. By the aid of an interpeter, he replied, " Drinc heil," Drink hail to me. The wacht heil of Rowena is changed into " ivassail," and the '■'• toassail cup" is sometimes used at festivals in England, and possibly the kiss with which the fair princess greeted the deluded king may be equally popular.

Many an inquisitive student has pondered with wonder upon the let- tering on the backs of old college text books in Latin. They were all labelled "in usum Delpini," for the

��use of the dolphin. These editions of the Roman classics were prepared, in accordance with the wishes of Louis XIV, by learned scholars for the use of the heir apparent, who is styled the " Daupin " or dolphin. Mr. Lower informs us why that august personage is so named. It seems that many English and French sur- names have been derived from the devices which decorated the banners and shields of knights in the days of chivalry. The armorial ensign is metonymically put for the bearer of it. One of the early Troubadours was called the knight of the dolphin because he bore that emblem on his shield. His estate was called Dau- pline. In the person of one of his successors the name Dauphin, Latin Delphinus, became the title to sov- ereign dignity. Many other illustri- ous families derive their i)edigree from beasts, birds, fishes, and even angels and saints, in the same vvay. The armorial bearings of noble knights were often copied on the signs of inns, or emblems were devised in imi- tation of heraldic signs. So "• mine host" w^ould naturally be distin- guished from other landlords by his sign ; thus -John at the lion, bull, or angel, easily became John Lion, John Bull, or John Angel. In this way, the man and all his posterity became brutes or divinities by virtue of the chosen symbol of his vocation. In the days of Edward IV, a citizen in Cheapside was executed as a traitor for saving he would fmake his son heir to the crown, though he only meant his own inu, whose sign was a crown. The best authorities affirm that all the "Smiths" derive their surname from their trade.

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