AG NOTES AND QUERIES:43 Jl. - De, A Medium of Entercommunication FOR LITERARY MEN, GENERAL READERS, ETC. "When found, make a note of."-CAPTAIN CUTTLE. SEVENTH SERIES.-VOLUME FOURTH. JULY-DECEMBER 1887. LONDON: PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE, 22, TOOK'S COURT, CHANCERY LANE, E.C. BY JOHN C. FRANCIS, LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1887. CONTENT S.—N° 79. NOTES:-Records of Celtic Occupation, 1- Fame's Memoriall,' 8-Ale-Tasters, 4-Cure for Whooping Cough-Chalcedony-Bibliography of School Magazines, 6-A Century Old-Price of Tobacco-St. Erkenwald-"Woman' or "Female"-Bouter, 6. " fetched, and impossible etymologies. His vagaries are bad enough when restricted to "Anglo-Saxon" etymologies, but when he embarks on the quest for "Celtic" traces, he seems to divest himself of the last rag of common sense. Forthwith everything assumes a Celtic tinge, and traces of Celtic occupation are found in every field. It is QUERIES:- Ranting, Roaring Willie'-Horton-Source of a question whether these frantic endeavours to Quotation Wanted-Bolognian Enigma-Feast of St. George -Jubilee of George III.-Marson of Holborn-Creature prove that we English are not ourselves, but someDrink, 7-West-Lee, King of the Gipsies-Society of body else, as Mr. Freeman puts it, arise from Friendly Brothers-La Russie Juive'-Scotland and Liberala natural love of paradox, or from an indiscrimiism-Mackenzie's Manuscript-Pre-Existence-MatemansSiege of Bolton-Westminster Abbey Tenor Bell, 8-Clai-nate attachment to the principle nullius addictus borne, of Westmoreland-Galileo-Extirp-Stocks and the jurare in verba magistri. The consideration that Pillory-Irish Privy Council Records-Reprint of the First Folio-Orestes Brownson-John Frost-Cargo-Country not one in a hundred of these "Celtic" claims is Box,' 9-King's End Car-Authors Wanted, 10. ever substantiated does not seem to discourage REPLIES:-Religious Orders, 10-Bunhill Fields, 11-"De- their manufacture. The fact that the people who fence, not Defiance," 12-Plea for the Midsummer Fairies' dabble in these so-called "Celtic" etymologies -Goldwyer, 18-Jacob the Apostle-Earthquakes-Sir T. almost invariably choose Teutonic words to work Erpingham, 14-Brougham-Precedence in Church-Huguenot Families-Owner of Coat of Arms-Orpen-Yam-Anti- upon, disposes one to believe that there are no gugler-Jordeloo-Bluestockingism-Pycroft's 'Oxford Me- Celtic elements in English local names. If there moirs,' 15-"Another guess"- Wordsworth-Nocturnal Noises-Sitwell, 16-Baroness Bellasis-To Rally-Nom be, it is singular that they should so successfully de plume"-Arabella Churchill-Arms of Sir Francis Drake, elude the grasp of the army of "Celtic" etymo17-First Principles of Philology-A Pair of Kidderminster logists who so persistently dig for them. Swanns-Motto of Waterton Family-Scarlett: Anglin, 18 -Eddystone-Hampshire Plant-Names, 19. NOTES ON BOOKS:-Lumby's 'Ranulphi Higden Polychronicon, Vol. IX.-Burrows's Family of Brocas of Beaurepaire'-Benham's 'Dictionary of Religion '—Brand's • London Life seen with German Eyes.' Notices to Correspondents, &c. Notes. RECORDS OF CELTIC OCCUPATION IN LOCAL NAMES. I am sorry to see that MR. ADDY (7th S. iii. 421) is infected with the craze for discovering traces of Celtic occupation in English local names. MR. ADDY comes to the astounding conclusion that there existed, side by side with the English and Danish villages, settlements inhabited exclusively by Celts, who kept themselves entirely distinct from the Teutonic invaders. This is as difficult to believe as Mr. Coote's conception that the AngloSaxons were simply a foreign standing army living entirely separate from the, of course, purely Celtic population, who would have been, apparently, still drawn up in line resting on their weapons had not the Normans annihilated them at Hastings. Some of MR. ADDY's evidence is derived from field-names. Of late years a great deal of nonsense has been written about what we can learn from the study of field-names. This study is not without its value; but I must protest against the notion that we are to revise our early history by the light it yields. Before we can derive any lessons from these names they will have to be studied in accordance with, and not in direct contravention to, the laws of philology. This latter method is in great favour with the ordinary local etymologist, who has usually an intense passion for picturesque, far MR. ADDY's offences are not so grave as those of the average "Celtic" advocate. He wisely lets Welsh alone. But it is, nevertheless, a phonological offence to derive the surname Bright from the A.-S. Bryt, a Briton. This A.-S. Bryt is a very exceptional designation for a Welshman. He is mostly a Wealh; sometimes, to distinguish him from the Wealas of Cornwall and Strathclyde, he is a Bryt- Wealh. In one or two cases only is he a Bryt. No argument can be founded upon the Middle-English Brut, a Briton, for the use of this form arose from the erroneous derivation of Bryt from the Trojan Brutus, one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's inventions. The phonological evidence is even stronger than this. Any one studying MiddleEnglish must be struck with the permanence of the Teutonic guttural spirant and its distinct notation. Though it seems to have evaporated from the modern pronunciation, it was a distinct sound, not produced without an effort, in M.E. I believe there is no instance on record of this guttural spirant being forced into a word. It is in all cases original. No phonologist will, therefore, believe that it was inserted in Bryt in the cases cited by MR. ADDY, and every phonologist would hold that Bright is identical with the adjective bright. And phonology, as usual, is right. The instance of Brighton from Brighthelmston at once explains the origin of the surname Bright and its use in local names.* Bright is here a shortening of the personal name Bright-helm A.-S. Beorhthelm. There are many A.-S. names beginning with the stem Beorht=bright. It is well estab = |