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to betroth and troMeanwhile lov= with the tender

compound. Of what? Perhaps of love preceded by true; in which case it is a word like blackbird. Perhaps of something else. In Danish, trolove voleda betrothed or engaged person. lag law, and has nothing to do passion. Upon this Mr. Laing, in his well-known work upon Norway, remarks that the words have no origin in the affections, and that “a man may be a true lover to his bond of ten pounds, as well as to his sweetheart." He goes further, and holds that the word love itself: =amo has the same legal character: in which, however, he is wrong

-as may be seen from the German liebe, and the Latin lub-et. Laying this, however, out of the question, it is clear that, if the first part of this doctrine be right, we have, in trúelove, not only a curious derivative, but a word of Scandinavian origin. And such I once believed it to be. Where, however, is the evidence of its meaning an engaged person in English? Until this be adduced it is better to suspend judgment.

CHAPTER VII.

PATRONYMICS AND GENTILE NAMES.

§308. In Anglo-Saxon the termination -ing is as truly patronymic as ons is in Greek. In the Bible-translation -dns the son of Elisha is called Elising. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle occur such genealogies as the following:-Ida was Eopping, Eoppa Esing, Esa Inging, Inga Angenwiting, Angenwit Alocing, Aloc Beonocing, Beonoc Branding, Brand Bældaging, Bældag Wódening, Wóden Friðowulf

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ing, Fridowulf Finning, Finn Godwulfing, Godwulf Geating Ida was the son of Eoppa, Eoppa of Esa, Esa of Inga, Inga of Angenwit, Angenwit of Aloc, Aloc of Beonoc, Beonoc of Brand, Brand of Bældag, Bældag of Woden, Woden of Fridowulf, Fridowulf of Finn, Finn of Godwulf, Godwulf of Geat.-In Greek, this would be "Ida v Ἐοππείδης, Ἔοππα Ησείδης, Ἤσα Ιγγείδης, Ἴγγα Αγγενφιτείδης, &c. In like manner, Edgar Atheling means Edgar of the family of the nobles.

The plurals of these forms in -ing have commanded attention from their prominence in the Anglo-Saxon charters, as the names of places. Through the Codex Diplomaticus we learn that the following districts (along with many others) of which the names now end in the simple singular syllable -ing, originally, ended in the plural form -ing-as. Thus

Barking
Bocking

Essex
Essex

was

Sussex

Bercingas
Boccingas.
Dicelingas.
Doccingas.
Mallingas
Readingas.

THE

Ditchling
Docking

Malling

Reading

Tarring

Norfolk

Kent

Berks

Sussex

Terringas.

These, with others, are (as has been stated) names which actually occur in A. S. documents. In the following, the forms in -as are inferred from the present names.

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and so on throughout the alphabet. In a few cases,

however, the -as, in the form -s, is retained at the pre

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§ 309. Can these plurals, real and hypothetical, be the names of the men and women who occupied certain districts rather than the names of the districts themselves? Yes. The nature of the word Wales may be seen in § 8; but it is only one word out of many; the transfer of the name of the inhabitants to the land inhabited being common both in A.-S. and Old English. Again, in Lithuanic

Szvëdai, Swedes from Szvedas, a Swede

Prúsai, Prussians

Lénkai, Poles

Prúsas, a Prussian
Lénkas, a Pole

=Sweden.
Prussia.
=Poland.

In Cornwall, the w-l is singular; as it, also, is in

the following passage:

"pis tiping com him how Wale him betrayed
perfor is Gascoyn left and er at werre delayed."

The older name for England is Engle than Anglia.

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"The Denes adde the maystre, tho al was 'do:
And by Est Angle and Lyndeseye hii wende vorp atte laste,
And so hamward al by Kent and slow and barnde vaste."
ROB. GLOU. 160.

To proceed. Norfolk and Suffolk are the people (folk) of the North and South, the use of f-lk as the part of a local name being particularly common in the Norse.

* Our wall-nuts have nothing to do with walls. They are foreign nuts; Welsh nuts, or nuces Gallica.

S

Sus-sex, and Ess-ex are the South Saxons, and the East Saxons rather than South, or East, Saxony.

Somer-set, and Dor-set are words of the same kind; meaning Somer-settlers and Dor-settlers-the A.-S. form having been sata incola, with a plural both in -as, and -an. In the Codex Diplomaticus we have

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§ 310. The total number of different names, either real or inferred, which end in -ing, is, as Mr. Kemble writes, 627; but, as several of them are repeated in different counties, the sum total amount to 1329, distributed

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§ 311. In respect to the names like Tarring, &c., which stand alone, or without the additions of -wic, -ham,

-worth, -borough, and the like, their distribution is as

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§ 312. Supposing these words to be declined like cyning = king, their possessive case would be, in the singular number, (say) Malling-es, in the plural, Malling-a. If so, the town of Malling, or, of a Malling would be Mallingestún; the town of the Mallings being Mallingatún. But what would Mallingtun be? This question is anything but unimportant. In the Codex Diplomaticus (No. 179), Mr. Kemble finds an Æɣelwulfing land; also (No. 195), a Folcwining land; also (ibid.), a Wynhearding land; upon which he remarks that this means the land of an Æthelwulf, a Folwine, and a Wynheard; rather than that of a family called Æthelwulfings, a family called Folcwinings, or a family called Wynheardings. From this, he argues that the termination -ing is, by no means, sufficient, in all cases, to make a patronymic, but that, on the contrary, it sometimes denotes a genitive, or possessive, case-Ethelwulfing land being exactly equivalent to Ethelwulfes land. In like manner Woolbedington, Wool Lavington, and Barlavington are, respectively, Wulfbædingtún, Wulfláfingtún, and Beórlafingtún, or the

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