The Romance of Names Part 23

The name seems to have been applied also to the man who barked trees for the tanner.

MISSING TRADESMEN

With Barker it seems natural to mention Mewer, of which I find one representative in the London Directory. The medieval le muur had charge of the mews in which the hawks were kept while moulting (Fr.

muer, Lat. mutare). Hence the phrase "mewed up." The word seems to have been used for any kind of coop. Chaucer tells us of the Franklin--

"Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in muw" (A, 349).

I suspect that some of the Muirs (Chapter XII) spring from this important office. Similarly Clayer has been absorbed by the local Clare, Kayer, the man who made keys, by Care, and Blower, whether of horn or bellows, has paid tribute to the local Bloor, Blore.

Sewer, an attendant at table, aphetic for Old Fr. a.s.seour, a setter, is now a very rare name. As we know that sewer, a drain, became sh.o.r.e, it is probable that the surname Sh.o.r.e sometimes represents this official or servile t.i.tle. And this same name Sh.o.r.e, though not particularly common, and susceptible of a simple local origin, labours under grave suspicion of having also enriched itself at the expense of the medieval le suur, the shoemaker, Lat. sutor-em, whence Fr.

Lesueur. This would inevitably become Sewer and then Sh.o.r.e, as above.

Perhaps, in the final reckoning, Shaw is not altogether guiltless, for I know of one family in which this has replaced earlier Sh.o.r.e.

The medieval le suur brings us to another problem, viz. the poor show made by the craftsmen who clothed the upper and lower extremities of our ancestors. The name Hatter, once frequent enough, is almost extinct, and Capper is not very common. The name Shoemaker has met with the same fate, though the trade is represented by the Lat. Sutor, whence Scot. Souter. Here belong also Cordner, Codner, [Footnote: Confused, of course, with the local Codnor (Derbys.h.i.+re)] Old Fr.

cordouanier (cordonnier), a cordwainer, a worker in Cordovan leather, and Corser, Cosser, earlier corviser, corresponding to the French name Courvoisier, also derived from Cordova. Chaucer, in describing the equipment of Sir Thopas, mentions

"His shoon of cordewane" (B, 1922).

The scarcity of Groser, grocer, is not surprising, for the word, aphetic for engrosser, originally meaning a wholesale dealer, one who sold en gros, is of comparatively late occurrence. His medieval representative was Spicer.

On the other hand, many occupative t.i.tles which are now obsolete, or practically so, still survive strongly as surnames. Examples of these will be found in chapters xvii.-xx.

Some occupative names are rather deceptive. Kisser, which is said still to exist, means a maker of cuishes, thigh-armour, Fr, cuisses--

"Helm, cuish, and breastplate streamed with gore."

(Lord of the Isles, iv. 33.)

Corker is for caulker, i.e. one who stopped the c.h.i.n.ks of s.h.i.+ps and casks, originally with lime (Lat. calx)--

"Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches, caulk'd and bitumed ready"

(Pericles iii. 1).

Cleaver represents Old Fr, clavier, a mace-bearer, Lat. clava, a club, or a door-keeper, Lat. clavis, a key. Perhaps even clavus, a nail, must also be considered, for a Latin vocabulary of the fifteenth century tells us--

"Claves, -vos vet -vas qui fert sit claviger."

Neither Bowler nor Scorer are connected with cricket. The former made wooden bowls, and the latter was sometimes a scourer, or scout, Mid.

Eng. scurrour, a word of rather complicated origin, but perhaps more frequently a peaceful scullion, from Fr. ecurer, to scour, Lat.

ex-curare--

"Escureur, a scourer, cleanser, feyer" (Cotgrave).

[Footnote: Feyer: A sweeper, now perhaps represented by Fayer.]

A Leaper did not always leap (Chapter XVII). The verb had also in Mid. English the sense of running away, so that the name may mean fugitive. In some cases it may represent a maker of leaps, i.e. fish baskets, or perhaps a man who hawked fish in such a basket.

A Slayer made slays, part of a weaver's loom, and a Bloomer worked in a bloom-smithy, from Anglo-Sax. blo-ma, a ma.s.s of hammered iron.

Weightman and Warman represent Mid. Eng, waeman, hunter; cf. the common German surname Weidemann, of cognate origin. Reader and Booker are not always literary. The former is for Reeder, a thatcher--

"Redare of howsys, calamator, arundinarius" (Prompt. Parv.)--

and the latter is a Norman variant of Butcher, as already mentioned.

SPELLING OF TRADE-NAMES

The spelling of occupative surnames often differs from that now a.s.sociated with the trade itself. In Naylor, Taylor, and Tyler we have the archaic preference for y. [Footnote: It may be noted here that John Tiler of Dartford, who killed a tax-gatherer for insulting his daughter, was not Wat Tiler, who was killed at Smithfield for insulting the King. The confusion between the two has led to much sympathy being wasted on a ruffian.] Our ancestors thought sope as good a spelling as soap, hence the name Soper. A Plummer, i.e. a man who worked in lead, Lat. plumb.u.m, is now written, by etymological reaction, plumber, though the restored letter is not sounded. A man who dealt in 'arbs originated the name Arber, which we should now replace by herbalist. We have a restored spelling in clerk, though educated people p.r.o.nounce the word as it was once written

"Clarke, or he that readeth distinctly, clericus." (Holyoak's Lat.

Dict., 1612.)

In many cases we are unable to say exactly what is the ocpupation indicated. We may a.s.sume that a Setter and a Tipper did setting and tipping, and both are said to have been concerned in the arrow industry. If this is true, I should say that Setter might represent the Old Fr, saieteur, arrow-maker, from saiete, an arrow, Lat.

sagitta. But in a medieval vocabulary we find "setter of mes, dapifer," which would make it the same as Sewer (Chapter XV).

Similarly, when we consider the number of objects that can be tipped, we shall be shy of defining the activity of the Tipper too closely.

Trinder, earlier trenden, is from Mid. Eng. trender, to roll (cf.

Roller). In the west country trinder now means specifically a wool-winder--

"Lat hym rollen and trenden withynne hymself the lyght of his ynwarde sighte" (Boece, 1043).

There are also some names of this cla.s.s to which we can with certainty attribute two or more origins. Boulter means a maker of bolts for crossbows, [Footnote: How many people who use the expression "bolt upright," a.s.sociate it with "straight as a dart"?] but also a sifter, from the obsolete verb to bolt--

"The fanned snow, that's bolted By the northern blasts twice o'er."

(Winter's Tale, iv. 3.)

Corner means horn-blower, Fr, cor, horn, and is also a contraction of coroner, but its commonest origin is local, in angulo, in the corner.

Curren and Curryer are generally connected with leather, but Henry VII. bestowed 3 on the Curren that brought tidings of Perkin War-beck. Garner has five possible origins: (i) a contraction of gardener, (ii) from the French personal name Garner, Ger. Werner, (iii) Old Fr. grenier, grain-keeper, (iv) Old Fr, garennier, warren keeper, (v) local, from garner, Fr. grenier, Lat. granarium. In the next chapter will be found, as a specimen problem, an investigation of the name Rutter.

PHONETIC CHANGES

Two phonetic phenomena should also be noticed. One is the regular insertion of n before the ending -ger, as in Firminger (Chapter XV), Ma.s.singer (Chapter XX), Pottinger (Chapter XVIII), and in Arminger, Clavinger, from the latinized armiger, esquire, and claviger, mace-bearer, etc. (Chapter XV). The other is the fact that many occupative names ending in -rer lose the -er by dissimilation (Chapter III). Examples are Armour for armourer, Barter for barterer, Buckler for bucklerer, but also for buckle-maker, Callender for calenderer, one who calendered, i.e. pressed, cloth

"And my good friend the Callender Will lend his horse to go."

(John Gilpin, 1. 22)--

Coffer, for cofferer, a treasurer, Cover, for coverer, i.e. tiler, Fr.

couvreur, when it does not correspond to Fr. cuvier, i.e. a maker of coves, vats, Ginger, Grammer, for grammarer, Paternoster, maker of paternosters or rosaries, Pepper, Sellar, for cellarer (Chapter III), Tabor, for Taberer, player on the taber. Here also belongs Treasure, for treasurer. Salter is sometimes for sautrier, a player on the psaltery. We have the opposite process in poulterer for Pointer (Chapter II), and caterer for Cator (Chapter III).