Buildings
The greater number of the words to be dealt with under this heading enter into the composition of specific place-names. A considerable number of surnames are derived from the names of religious buildings, usually from proximity rather than actual habitation. Such names are naturally of Greco-Latin origin, and were either introduced directly into Anglo-Saxon by the missionaries, or were adopted later in a French form after the Conquest. It has already been noted (Chapter I) that Abbey is not always what it seems; but in some cases it is local, from Fr, abbaye, of which the Provençal form Abadie was introduced by the Huguenots. We find much earlier Abdy, taken straight from the Greco-Lat. abbatia. The famous name Chantrey is for chantry, Armitage was once the regular pronunciation of Hermitage, and Chappell a common spelling of Chapel—
“Also if you finde not the word you seeke for presently after one sort of spelling, condemne me not forthwith, but consider how it is used to be spelled, whether with double or single letters, as Chappell, or Chapell” (Holyoak, Latin Dict., 1612).
We have also the Norman form Capel, but this may be a nickname from Mid. Eng. capel, nag—
“Why nadstow (hast thou not) pit the capul in the lathe (barn)?” (A, 4088.)
A Galilee was a chapel or porch devoted to special purposes—
“Those they pursued had taken refuge in the galilee of the church”
(Fair Maid of Perth, ch. ix.).
The tomb of the Venerable Bede is in the Galilee of Durham Cathedral. I had a schoolfellow with this uncommon name, now generally perverted to Galley. In a play now running (Feb. 1913) in London, there is a character named Sanctuary, a name found also in Crockford and the London Directory.
I have only once come across the contracted form Sentry 1 (Daily Telegraph, Dec. 26, 1912), and then under circumstances which might make quotation actionable. Purvis is Mid. Eng. parvis, a porch, Greco-Lat. paradises. It may be the same as Provis, the name selected by Mr. Magwitch on his return from the Antipodes (Great Expectations, ch. xl.), unless this is for Provost. Porch and Portch both occur as surnames, but Porcher is Fr. porcher, a swineherd, and Portal is a Huguenot name. Churcher and Kirker, Churchman and Kirkman, are usually local; cf. Bridges and Bridgman.
The names Temple and Templeman were acquired from residence near one of the preceptories of the Knights Templars, and Spittlehouse (Chapter III) is sometimes to be accounted for in a similar way (Knights of the Hospital). We even find the surname Tabernacle. Musters is Old Fr. moustiers (moutiers), common in French place-names, from Lat. monasterium. The word bow, still used for an arch in some old towns, has given the names Bow and Bowes. A medieval statute, recently revived to baffle the suffragettes, was originally directed against robbers and “pillers,” i.e. plunderers, but the name Piller is also for pillar; cf. the French name Colonise. With these may be mentioned Buttress and Carvell, the latter from Old Fr. carnet (créneau), a battlement.
As general terms for larger dwellings we find Hall, House, also written Hose, and Seal, the last-named from the Teutonic original which has given Fr. Lasalle, whence our surname Sale. To the same class belong Place, Plaice, as in Cumnor Place.
The possession of such surnames does not imply ancestral possession of Haddon Hall, Stafford House, etc., but merely that the founder of the family lived under the shadow of greatness. In compounds -house is generally treated as in “workus,” e.g. Bacchus (Chapter VIII), Bellows, Brewis, Duffus (dove), Kirkus, Loftus, Malthus, Windus (wynd, Chapter XIII). In connection with Woodhouse it must be remembered that this name was given to the man who played the part of a “wild man of the woods” in processions and festivities. William Power, skinner, called “Wodehous,” died in London in 1391. Of similar origin is Greenman. The tavern sign of the Green Man is sometimes explained as representing a forester in green, but it was probably at first equivalent to the German sign “Zum wilden Mann.” Cassell is sometimes for Castle, but is more often a local German name of recent introduction. The northern Peel, a castle, as in the Isle of Man, was originally applied to a stockade, Old Fr. pel (pieu), a stake, Lat. Palos. Hence also Peall, Peile. Keep comes from the central tower of the castle, where the baron and his family kept, i.e. lived. A moated Grange is a poetic figment, for the word comes from Fr, grange, a barn (to Lat. granum); hence Granger.
With Mill and the older Milne (Chapter II) we may compare Mullins, Fr. Desmoulins. Barnes is sometimes, but not always, what it seems (Chapter XXI). With it we may put Leathes, from an obsolete Scandinavian word for barn (see quot. Chapter XIII), to which we owe also the names Leatham and Latham. Mr. Oldbuck’s “ecstatic description” of the Roman camp with its praetorium was spoilt by Edie Ochiltree’s disastrous interruption
“Praetorian here, praetorian there, I mind the bigging o’t.” (Antiquary, ch. iv.).
Notes
1 On the development in meaning of this word, first occurring in the phrase “to take sentrie,” i.e. refuge, see my Romance of Words, ch. vii.