Page:The New Forest - its history and its scenery.djvu/181

Rh prior to Caesar's invasion—centuries before the main wave burst over the country. We must, too, carefully bear in mind that in Wessex, more than in any other part, the conquerors and conquered were blended together. They mixed, however, everywhere far more than is commonly allowed. Our language bears testimony to the general fact. The many Keltic household words in daily use are the best evidence.

Here in the New Forest I may mention that the form "plock" is used instead of the common block (bloc), and that we have, as, perhaps, throughout the West of England, "hob," in the sense of potato-hob — a place where potatoes are covered over, instead of "hog" (hwg), noticed by Mr. Davies in his list of Keltic words in Lancashire. Further, we find the terms "more" (maur), for a root, "mulloch," for dirt, and "bowerstone," for a boundary-stone. Here, too, as in other places, the Britons have left the traces of their rule on the broader natural features of the country—on the rivers, as the Exe (y [g] wysg, the current), and Avon (Afon, the river), and Avon Water, near Setthorns, and Boldre (y Byldwr, the full stream), and Stour ([G]wys-dwr, the deep water), and in the district itself, in the now almost forgotten name of Ytene. We find their influence, too, perhaps, in such local names of villages 163