Names From Wares
Such names as Ginger, Pepper, may however belong to the class of nicknames conferred on dealers in certain commodities; cf. Pescod, Peskett, from pease-cod. Of this we have several examples which can be confirmed by foreign parallels, e.g. Garlick, found in German as Knoblauch, 1 Straw, represented in German by the cognate name Stroh, and Pease, which is certified by Fr. Despois. We find Witepease in the twelfth century.
Especially common are those names which deal with the two staple foods of the country, bread and beer. In German we find several compounds of Brot, bread, and one of the greatest of chess-players bore the amazing name Zuckertort, sugar-tart. In French we have such names as Painchaud, Painlevê, Pain-tendre—
“Eugene Aram was usher, in 1744, to the Rev. Mr. Painblanc, in Piccadilly”
(Bardsley).
Hence our Cakebread and Whitbread were probably names given to bakers. Simnel is explained in the same way, and Lambert Simnel is understood to have been a baker’s lad, but the name could equally well be from Fr. Simonel, dim. of Simon. Wastall is found in the Hundred Rolls as Wasted, Old Fr. gastel (gâteau). Here also belongs Cracknell—
“Craquelin, a cracknell; made of the yolks of egges, water, and flower; and fashioned like a hollow trendle” (Cotgrave).
Goodbeer is explained by Bardsley as a perversion of Godber (Chapter VII), which may be true, but the name is also to be taken literally. We have Ger. Gutbier, and the existence of Sourale in the Hundred Rolls and Sowerbutts at the present day justifies us in accepting both Goodbeer and Goodale at their face-value. But Rice is an imitative form of Welsh Rhys, Reece, and Salt, when not derived from Salt in Stafford, is from Old Fr. sault, a wood, Lat. saltus.2 It is doubtful whether the name Cheese is to be included here. Jan Kees, for John Cornelius, said to have been a nickname for a Hollander, may easily have reached the Eastern counties. Bardsley’s earliest instance for the name is John Chese, who was living in Norfolk in 1273. But still I find Furmage as a medieval surname.
We also have the dealer in meat represented by the classical example of Hogsflesh, with which we may compare Mutton and Veal, two names which may be seen fairly near each other in Hammersmith Road (but for these see also Chapter XXIII), and I have known a German named Kalbfleisch. Names of this kind would sometimes come into existence through the practice of crying wares; though if Mr. Rottenherring, who was a freeman of York in 1332, obtained his in this way, he must have deliberately ignored an ancient piece of wisdom.
Notes
1 The cognate Eng. Clove-leek occurs as a surname in the Ramsey Chartulary.
2 This is common in place-names, and I should suggest, as a guess, that Sacheverell is from the village of Sault-Chevreuil-du-Tronchet (Manche).