and ley. Bill Nye's ancestor lived atten ey (Chapter III). Dowdney
or Dudeney has been explained from the Anglo-Saxon name Duda, but it
more probably represents the very common French name Dieudonne,
corresponding to Lat. Deodatus. In the north a river island was
commonly called Holm (Scand.), also pronounced Home, Hulme, and Hume,
in compounds easily confused with -ham, e.g. Durham was once
Dun-holmr, hill island. The very common Holmes is probably in most
cases a tree-name (Chapter XII). In Chisholm the first element may
mean pebble; cf. Chesil Beach. The names Bent, whence Broadbent, and
Crook probably also belong sometimes to the river, but may have arisen
from a turn in a road or valley. But Bent was also applied to a tract
covered with bents, or rushes, and Crook is generally a nickname
(Chapter XXII). Lastly, the crossing of the unbridged stream has
given us Ford or Forth whence Stratford, Strafford (street), Stanford,
Stamford, Staniforth (stone), etc. The alternative name was Wade,
whence the compound Grimwade. The cognate wath (Scand.) has been
confused with with (Scand.), a wood, whence the name Wythe and the
compound Askwith or Asquith. Both -wath and -with have been often
replaced by -worth and -wood.

TREE NAMES

In conclusion a few words must be said about tree names, so common in
their simple form and in topographical compounds. Here, as in the
case of most of the etymons already mentioned in this chapter, the
origin of the surname may be specific as well as general, i.e. the
name Ash may come from Ash in Kent rather than from any particular
tree, the etymology remaining the same. Many of our surnames have
preserved the older forms of tree names, e.g. the lime was once the
line, hence Lines, Lynes, and earlier still the Lind, as in the
compounds Lyndhurst, Lindley, etc. The older form of Oak appears in
Acland, Acton, and variants in Ogden and Braddock, broad oak. We have
ash in Aston, Ascham. The holly was once the hollin, whence Hollins,
Hollis, Hollings; cf. Hollings-head, Holinshed. But hollin became
colloquially holm, whence generally Holmes. Homewood is for
holm-wood. The holm oak, ilex, is so called from its holly-like
leaves. For Birch we also find Birk, a northern form. Beech often
appears in compounds as Buck-; cf. buckwheat, so called because the
grains are of the shape of beech-mast. In Poppleton, Popplewell we
have the dialect popple, a poplar. Yeo sometimes repre