Surnames as a Science

CHAPTER IV.

THE MEN WHO CAME IN WITH THE SAXONS

The researches of Mr. Kemble, supplemented by those of Mr. Taylor, in connection with the early Saxon settlements in England, have an important bearing upon the subject of our existing surnames. Mr. Kemble was the first to call attention to the fact that very many of the names of places in England, as disclosed by the forms in which these names appear in ancient charters, consist of a personal name in a patronymic form. Some of these names consist simply of a nominative plural in ingas, as Æscingas, the sons or descendants of Æsc, others of a genitive plural in inga, with ton, ham, &c., appended, as in Billingatun, the town of the Billings, i. e. sons or descendants of Billa. These he takes to denote tribal or family settlements, forming the Anglo-Saxon "mark," consisting of a certain area of cultivated land, surrounded by a belt of pasture land enjoyed by all the settlers in common, the whole inclosed by the forest.

Of these names he has made two lists, the one derived from the names found in ancient charters, and so perfectly trustworthy, the other inferred from existing names of places which appear to be in the same form. The latter list is of course subject to considerable correction and deduction, inasmuch as it depends entirely upon the ancient forms in which these names would appear whether they would come under this category or not. Thus, if a name were anciently Billingaham, it would be "the home of the Billings," while if it were Billingham, it would simply be the home of an individual man called Billing. And in looking through this list, a few names will be found, which a comparison with his own index of place-names shows to be incorrectly assigned. Thus he infers Impingas from Impington in Cambridgeshire, and Tidmingas from Tidmington in Worcester, whereas it appears from his index that the ancient name of the one was Impintun, and of the other Tidelminctun, both being thus from the name of an individual and not of a tribe or family. Sempringham again in Lincolnshire, whence he derives Sempringas, I find to have been Sempingaham, and so used already for Sempingas. I also feel very great doubt about names taken from places ending in by, thorp, and toft, in Lincolnshire and the ancient Denelaga, as being Scandinavian, and given at a distinctly later period. Indeed I have a certain amount of distrust of all names taken from the North of England, in the absence, as far as I know, of any distinct proof in any one case. Northumberland would perhaps be the county to which, as containing the greatest number of such forms, any such doubt would the least strongly apply. Moreover, I do not feel at all sure that ing is not in some cases simply a form of the possessive, and that Dunningland, for instance, is not simply Dunn's land. This doubt is considerably strengthened when the name is that of a woman, as in Cyneburginctun (now Kemerton in Glouc). Cyneburg is certainly a woman's name, and as such could not, I should suppose – though the question is one for more experienced Anglo-Saxon scholars – form a patronymic, in which case Cyneburginctun can only be "Cyneburg's tun." And if it be so in one case, it may of course be so in others. Mr. Kemble's second list, then, requires to be used with a certain amount of caution, though in the main his deductions may be taken as trustworthy.

The corresponding forms in Germany have since been collected by Professor Foerstemann from ancient charters up to the eleventh century, and must all be considered therefore as trustworthy. His list contains upwards of a thousand different names, but inasmuch as many of these names are found in different parts of Germany, the total number of such names must amount to many thousands. These consist sometimes of a form in ingas, same as in England, and this obtains more particularly in Bavaria, sometimes of a form in inga, which he takes to be also a nominative plural, but most commonly of a dative plural, in ingen, as in Herlingen, "to the Harlings." This dative plural explains the origin of many existing names of places in Germany, as Göttingen, Dettingen, Tübingen, &c. A dative plural also occurs occasionally in England in the corresponding Anglo-Saxon form ingum, as in Godelmingum, now Godalming, Angemeringum, now Angmering, &c.

Meanwhile Mr. Taylor has instituted a detailed and very important comparison between the names contained in Mr. Kemble's two lists, and those of a corresponding kind in Germany, not indeed from ancient records, but from existing place-names. And he has further supplemented this by a list of similar forms disclosed by his own very interesting discovery of a Saxon area in France opposite to the shore of England, and which we can hardly doubt to be, as he considers it to be, the result of a Saxon emigration from England. He has, moreover, given some similar instances of German occupation in the north of Italy, and it can hardly be doubted that a more detailed examination would add to their number.

The question now to be considered is – what is the value of these various forms in ingas, inga, and ingen, in England and in Germany? In Anglo-Saxon and other Teutonic dialects ing is a patronymic, as in Bruning, son of Brûn. But it has also a wider sense implying any connection with a person or thing, and in certain of the names under consideration both in England and in Germany, it seems very clear that it is used simply in a geographical sense. Thus we cannot doubt that Madelungen and Lauringen, in Germany, signify, as Foerstemann suggests, the people of the Madel and of the Lauer, on which two rivers the places in question are respectively situated. Also that Salzungen signifies the people of the salt springs, in the neighbourhood of which the name is found.28 So in England it seems clear that the Leamingas found in Leamington signifies the people of the Leam, on which river the place is situated. So also the Heretuningas, the Hohtuningas, and the Suthtuningas, must mean simply the people respectively of Heretun, of Hohtun, and of Suthtun, the Beorganstedingas the people of Beorgansted, the Eoforduningas the people of Eofordun, and the Teofuntingas, the people dwelling by the two fountains. But with these and perhaps one or two other exceptions, the word contained is simply a personal name, and the question is – in what connection is it used? Does Billingas mean the descendants of the man Bill or Billa, under whose leadership the settlement was made, or does it, as Mr. Kemble seems to think, refer to some older, perhaps mythical ancestor from whom the Billings claimed a traditional descent? Now, considering the great number of these names, amounting to more than a thousand in England alone, seeing the manner in which they are dispersed, not only over different counties of England, but as the annexed table will show, over the length and breadth of Germany, it seems to me utterly impossible to consider them as anything else than the every-day names of men common to the great German family. I am quite in accord then with the view taken by Sir J. Picton (Ethnology of Wiltshire).29 "When the Saxons first invaded England, they came in tribes and families headed by their patriarchal leaders. Each tribe was called by its leader's name, with the termination ing, signifying family, and where they settled they gave their patriarchal name to the mark or central point round which they clustered." This is also the view taken by Foerstemann with regard to the German names, and I cannot doubt that Mr. Kemble, if he had had the opportunity of extending his survey over this wider area, would have come to the same conclusion. I take it then that the name contained in these forms is simply that of the leader under whose guidance these little settlements were made, and that, inasmuch as members of the same family would generally keep together, it is in most cases that of the patriarch or head of the family. Each man would no doubt have his own individual name, but as a community exercising certain rights in common, from which outsiders were excluded, they would require some distinctive appellation, and what so natural as that of their leader.

I now come to consider some points of difference between the Anglo-Saxon settlements and the German. While all the settlements in England must be taken to have been made by a Low German race, a large proportion of those in Germany must be taken to have been made by a High German people. Thus when we find Bæbingas in England represented by Papinga in Austria, Bassingas by Pasingas, and Bædingas by Patinga in Bavaria, we have the distinction between High and Low German, which might naturally be expected. So when we find Eastringas represented by Austringa in Baden, we have again a High German form to compare with a Low German. But this distinction is by no means consistently maintained throughout, and we seem to have a considerable mixture of High and Low German forms. Thus we have both Bæcgingas and Pæccingas, Dissingas and Tissingas, Gâringas and Coringas, Edingas and Odingas (representing as it seems the Anglo-Saxon ead or ed, and the High German aud or od). And even in some cases the rule seems to be reversed, and we have the High German in England, as in Eclingas against Egilinga in Bavaria, Hoppingas against Hobinga in Alsace, Ticcingas against Dichingen, &c. It would seem as if our settlements were made, at least in part, by a people who if not High German, had at any rate considerable High German affinities. To what extent the speech of the Angles which I suppose to have been the main element in the Northumbrian dialect, would answer these conditions, I would rather leave to our higher Anglo-Saxon scholars to decide. But it seems to me, so far as I may venture to give an opinion, that Lappenberg's theory, that the Saxons were accompanied by Franks, Frisians, and Lombards, would perhaps better than any other meet all the requirements of the case. Whence for instance could come such a form as Cwichelm for Wighelm, apparently a rather strongly marked Frankish form? Or Cissa (Chissa) for, as I suppose, Gisa, which would be apparently in conformity with a Frisian form? I have endeavoured to go into this subject more fully in a subsequent chapter, more particularly with regard to the Franks, and to show that there are a number of names in Anglo-Saxon times which might be of Frankish origin, and which perhaps it would be difficult to account for on any other theory. And it must be borne in mind that the earlier date now generally assigned for the first Teutonic settlements, naturally tends to give greater latitude to the inquiry as to the races by whom those settlements were made.