sses
more than Mullins, of which it is merely the dim., Fr. moulins, mills.
The Yorkshire name Tankard is identical with Tancred. Stiggins goes
back to the illustrious Anglo-Saxon name Stigand, as Wiggins does to
wigand, a champion. Cadman represents Caedmon, the name of the
poet-monk of Whitby. Segar is an imitative form of the Anglo-Sax.
Saegaer, of which the normal modern representative is Sayers. Giblett
is not a name one would covet, but it stands in the same relationship
to Gilbert as Hamlet does to Hamo.

A small difference in spelling makes a great difference in the look of
a name. The aristocratic Coke is an archaic spelling of Cook, the
still more lordly Herries sometimes disguises Harris, while the modern
Brassey is the same as de Bracy in Ivanhoe. The rather grisly
Nightgall is a variant of Nightingale. The accidental retention of
particles and articles is also effective, e.g. Delmar, Delamere,
Delapole, impress more than Mears and Pool, and Larpent (Fr.
I'arpent), Lemaitre, and Lestrange more than Acres, Masters, and
Strange. There are few names of less heroic sound than Spark and
Codlin, yet the former is sometimes a contraction of the picturesque
Sparrow-hawk, used as a personal name by the Anglo-Saxons, while the
latter can be traced back via the earlier forms Quodling (still
found), Querdling, Querdelyoun to Coeur de Lion.

CHAPTER II. A MEDIEVAL ROLL

"Quelque diversite d'herbes qu'il y alt, tout s'enveloppe sous le nom
de salade; de mesme, sous la consideration des noms, je m'en voys
faire icy une galimafree de divers articles." (Montaigne, Essais, i.
46.)

Just as, in studying a new language, the linguist finds it most
helpful to take a simple text and hammer out in detail every word and
grammatical form it contains, so the student of name-lore cannot do
better than tackle a medieval roll and try to connect every name in it
with those of the present day. I give here two lists of names from
the Hundred Rolls of 1273. The first contains the names of London and
Middlesex jurymen, most of them, especially the Londoners, men of
substance and position. The second is a list of cottagers resident in
the village of Steeple Claydon in Bucks. Even a cursory perusal of
these lists should Suffice to dispel all recollection of the nightmare
"philology" which has been so much employed to obscure what is
perfectly simple and obvious; while a very slight knowledge of Latin
and French is all t