We are sprung from the sea; a county of seaports is our dwelling-place, and the sea itself our ample dominion, covered throughout its vast extent with our fellow subjects in their "floating cities." These are filled with our wealth, which we commit to the winds and waves to distribute to the extremities of the four quarters of the world. We are therefore no common people, nor are they common events which form eras in our history; nor common revolutions which have combined and modified the elements of our speech.

Though we have kept no genealogies to record to us from what particular horde of settlers we are sprung—no family chronicles to tell us whether Saxon, Dane, Norse, or Norman owns us as progeny—still our names serve partly to distinguish us, and "words" themselves thus still remind us of what otherwise would be totally forgotten. It has been claimed that two-thirds of us are sprung from the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, and had our language kept pace with our blood we should have had about two-thirds of our modern English of the same origin. But we have more. Our tongue is, hence, less mixed than our blood. It is therefore easier to trace out the histories of words than of families.

It is difficult at first sight to determine whether family names have been derived from family residences or the residences have obtained their names from their first proprietors. The Romans imposed their military names upon the towns of the early Britons. The Danes added their own descrip-names, and previous to becoming converted to Christianity gave the names of their heathen deities to the mountains and landmarks. To these were added the names of Norse and Danish kings and jarls. After the Norman Conquest, when the land had been divided by William the Conqueror among his followers, comes the period when surnames were taken from the chief lands and residences. Pagan deities supply us with many surnames. From "Balder" comes Balderstone, Osbaldistone. "Thor" gives us Tursdale, Turton, Thursby, Thorley, Thurston, and Thurstaston, in the Wirral, near West Kirby. "FrËyer" supplies Frisby, Frankby, Fry, Fryer, Fraisthorpe, and Fraser. "Uller" or "Oller" gives Elswick, Ullersthorpe, Elston, Ulverston. From "VÉ," a sacred place, like "Viborg," the old Jutland assize town, we derive Wydale, Wigthorpe, Wythorpe, Willoughby, Wilbeforce, Wigton, and Wyre. Some of our earliest Lancashire names are derived from "Gorm," "Billingr," "Rollo," who were Norse and Danish kings. Their names and their compounds show us that the Danes were Christianised, as "Ormskirk," which provides very many surnames, such as Orme, Oram, Ormsby, Ormerod, Ormeshaw; and another form of Gorm, "Grim" as Grimshaw and Grimsargh. Formby and Hornby may also be traced to this origin. From "Billingr" we get Billinge, the village near Wigan, standing on a high hill and having a beacon, Billington and other names of this construction. From "Rollo" we derive Roby, Raby, Rollo, Rollinson, Ribby. From "Arving," an heir, we get Irving, Irvin, and Irton. From "Oter" we have Otter, Ottley, Uttley. The Danes sailed up the river Douglas, and gave the name Tarleton, from "Jarlstown." Many Christian names come from the Danish—Eric, Elsie, Karl, Harold, Hugo, Magnus, Olave, Ralph, Ronald, Reginald. Surnames formed by the addition of "son" or "sen" are common to both Danes and English, but never appear in Saxon names. Thus we have Anderson, Adamson, Howson, Haldan, Matheson, Nelson, Jackson, Johnson, Thomson, and Stevenson.

The different names we find given to the same trees arise from different settlers giving and using their own form of name: "Birch," "Bracken," "Crabtree," and "Cawthorn." "Wil-ding" is also known in Westmorland and Yorkshire. "Whasset," which gives its name to a small hamlet near Beetham, in Westmorland, is Danish; "Wil-ding" is probably Flemish, and also Wild, Wilde, as this name dates from about the year A.D. 1338, when Edward III. encouraged numbers of Flemings to come over from the Netherlands to introduce and improve the manufacture of woollens. He located them in different parts of the country, and we find them settled in Kendal and in the vicinity of Bury and Rochdale. This will account for this surname being so frequently found in Lancashire.

From Copenhagen "the harbour of merchants," we derive many important place-names and surnames. A Copeman was a Chapman, a merchant or dealer; and thus we derive Cheap, Cheapside, Chepstow, and Chipping. In surnames we get Copeland, Copley, Copethorne, and Capenhurst. The common expression "to chop or change," comes from this source. In the London Lyckpeny of 1430 we find: "Flemings began on me for to cry 'Master, what will you copen or buy.'" In 1579, Calvin in a sermon said: "They play the copemaisters, and make merchandise of the doctrine of this Gospel." These early copmen remind us of the Lancashire merchant who had visited the States after the American Civil War. He said to the late John Bright: "How I should like to return here, fifty years after my death, to see what wonderful progress these people have made." John Bright replied: "I have no doubt, sir, you will be glad of any excuse to come back."

To the abundance of surnames derived from Danish origin the following are important:—Lund, Lindsey, Lyster, Galt or Geld, and Kell. Lund was a grove where pagan rites were conducted. Lindsey is a grove by the sea. Lyster is Danish for a fishing fork composed of barbed iron spikes on a pole for spearing fish. Galt or Geld, an offering of the expiatory barrow pig to the god "FrËyer." From Kell, in Danish a "spring," we get Kellet and Okell.

Surnames of a distinct Danish character, and customs derived from Viking days are to be met with in our local Fairs and Wakes. Writing on this subject, the Rev. W.T. Bulpit of Southport says that, "Robert de Cowdray, who died in 1222, was an enterprising Lord of Manor of Meols, and obtained a Charter from the King, with whom he was a Persona-Grata, for a weekly Wednesday market, and a yearly Fair, to be held on the Eve and Day of St Cuthbert, to whom the church is dedicated.

The Charter probably did but legalise what already existed; Cowdray was a man of the world, and knew that it would be an advantage to his estate to have a fair.

Soon after his death the Charter lapsed. Enemies said it interfered with pre-existing fairs.

Though legally it had no existence the fair continued for centuries in connection with St. Cuthbert's wake in March. It was also the end of the civil year, when payments had to be made, and thus farm stock was sold. This caused the market and wake to be useful adjuncts, and a preparation for welcoming the New Year on March 25th, St. Cuthbert's Day, the anniversary of his death was held on March 23rd, and a Viking custom demanded a feast. The old name of the death feast was called Darval, and the name was transferred to the cakes eaten at the wake, and they were called Darvel Cakes.C

Long after the event commemorated was forgotten Darvel Cakes were supplied in Lent to guests at Churchtown wakes.

Connected with these fairs there was a ceremony of electing officials, and at these social gatherings of all the local celebrities a Mayor was elected who generally distinguished himself by being hospitable. Similar ceremonies still exist, where charters no longer survive, at such places as Poulton near Blackpool, and Norden near Rochdale.

Traces of the Norman are found in Dunham Massey and Darcy Lever and a few others, but along the whole of the east and north of the county the Saxon and Danish landholder seems to have held in peace the ancestral manor house in which he had dwelt before the Conquest, and the haughty insolence of the Norman was comparatively unknown. Speke, the oldest manor house in South Lancashire, near Liverpool, is derived from "Spika," Norse for mast, which was used for fattening swine. "Parr" is a wooded hill, and this word enters into many compound names. "Bold," near St. Helens, signifies a stone house, and is the surname of one of the oldest Lancashire families. The Norse "Brecka," a gentle declivity, is much in evidence in West Lancashire, as in Norbreck, Warbrick, Swarbrick, Torbrick, Killbrick in the Fylde district, and also Scarisbrick, in the vicinity of Ormskirk. This name used to be spelt Scaursbreck, and is a compound of "Scaur," a bird of the seagull type, and "breck" from the natural formation of the land. Birkdale, Ainsdale, Skelmersdale, Kirkdale, Ansdell, Kirby, Kirkby, Crosby, are all place-names of Danish origin which provide many surnames in the county. Where Danish names abound the dialect still partakes of a Danish character.

English Surnames.

A great majority are derived from trades and callings. Some may be traced from ancient words which have dropped out. "Chaucer"D and "Sutor" are now meaningless, but long ago both signified a shoemaker. A "pilcher" formerly made greatcoats; a "Reader," thatched buildings with reeds or straw; a "Latimer" was a writer in Latin for legal and such like purposes. An "Arkwright" was the maker of the great meal chests or "arks," which were formerly essential pieces of household furniture; "Tucker" was a fuller; "Lorimer" was a sadler; "Launder" or "Lavender," a washerman; "Tupper" made tubs; "Jenner" was a joiner; "Barker" a tanner; "Dexter," a charwoman; "Bannister" kept a bath; "Sanger" is a corruption of singer or minstrel; "Bowcher," a butcher; "Milner" a miller; "Forster," a forester; a "Chapman" was a merchant. The ancestors of the Colemans and Woodyers sold those commodities in former generations; "Wagners" were waggoners; and "Naylors" made nails. A "Kemp" was once a term for a soldier; a "Vavasour" held rank between a knight and a baron. Certain old-fashioned Christian names or quaint corruptions of them have given rise to patronymics which at first sight appear hard to interpret. Everyone is not aware that Austin is identical with Augustin; and the name Anstice is but the shortening of Anastasius. Ellis was originally derived from Elias. Hood in like manner is but a modern corruption of the ancient Odo, or Odin. Everett is not far removed from the once not uncommon Christian name Everard, while even Stiggins can be safely referred to the northern hero "Stigand." The termination "ing," signified son or "offspring." Thus Browning and Whiting in this way would mean the dark or fair children. A number of ancient words for rural objects have long ago become obsolete. "Cowdray" in olden days signified a grove of hazel; "Garnett," a granary. The suffix "Bec" in Ashbec and Holmbec is a survival of the Danish "by," a habitation. "Dean" signifies a hollow or dell, and the word "bottom" meant the same thing. Thus Higginbottom meant a dell where the "hicken" or mountain ash flourished. "Beckett" is a little brook, from the Norse "beck." "Boys" is a corruption of "bois," the French for wood. "Donne" means a down; "Holt," a grove, and "Hurst," a copse. "Brock" was the old term for a badger, hence Broxbourne; while "Gos" in Gosford signified a goose.

On Dialect in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The district of England which during the Heptarchy was, and since has been known by the name of Northumbria, which consists of the territory lying to the north of the rivers Humber (whence the name North-humbria) and Mersey, which form the southern boundaries, and extending north as far as the rivers Tweed and Forth, is generally known to vary considerably in the speech of its inhabitants from the rest of England. Considering the great extent and importance of this district, comprising as it does more than one-fourth of the area and population of England, it seems surprising that the attention of philologists should not have been more drawn to the fact of this difference and its causes. From an essay on some of the leading characteristics of the dialects spoken in the six northern counties of England (ancient Northumbria) by the late Robert Backhouse Peacock, edited by the Rev. T. C. Atkinson, 1869, we learn that, when addressing themselves to the subject of dialect, investigators have essayed to examine it through the medium of its written rather than its spoken language. The characteristics to be found in the language now spoken have been preserved in a degree of purity which does not appertain to the English of the present day. It is therefore from the dialect rather than from any literary monuments that we must obtain the evidence necessary for ascertaining the extent to which this Northumbrian differs from English in its grammatical forms,—not to speak of its general vocabulary.

The most remarkable characteristic is the definite article, or the demonstrative pronoun—"t," which is an abbreviation of the old Norse neuter demonstrative pronoun "hit"—Swedish and Danish "et." That this abbreviation is not simply an elision of the letters "he" from the English article "the," which is of old Frisian origin, is apparent from the fact that all the versions of the second chapter, verse 1, for instance, of Solomon's Song, "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys," the uniform abbreviation for all parts of England is the elision of the final letter "e," making the into "th"; on the other hand, out of fourteen specimens of the same verse in Northumbria, eight give the "t" occurring three times in the verse, thus, "I's t' rooaz o' Sharon, an' t' lily o' t' valleys."

The districts where the Scandinavian article so abbreviated prevails are found in the versions to be the county of Durham, Central and South Cumberland, Westmorland; all Lancashire, except the South-eastern district, and all Yorkshire; an area which comprehends on the map about three-fourths of all Northumbria.

The next leading feature is the proposition—i, which is used for in. This is also a pure Scandinavianism, being not only old Norse, but used in Icelandic, Swedish and Danish of the present day. Two instances occur in the 14th verse of the same chapter, where for "O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, etc.," we have idiomatic version: "O my cushat, 'at 's i' t' grikes o' t' crags, i' t' darkin' whols o' t' stairs."

Another word which occurs in six of the Northumbrian versions is also Scandinavian, viz., the relative pronoun at for that. From this illustration of a short verse and a half of Scripture, we have established the Norse character of the dialect as distinguished from common English, of five of the most ordinary words in the English language, namely, the representatives of the words the, in, that, art and am. These instances from the Etymology of the Dialects help to establish the following canon: That when a provincial word is common to more than one dialect district (that is, districts where in other respects the dialects differ from each other), it may, as a rule, be relied upon, that the word is not a corruption but a legitimate inheritance. Those referred to, we have seen, are the inheritance of a whole province, that province being formerly an entire kingdom.

Proceeding in the usual order of grammars, having disposed of the article, we come next to the substantives. These differ from the ordinary English in that they recognise only one "case" where English has two. The Northumbrian dialect dispenses with the possessive or genitive case almost entirely, and for "my father's hat," or "my uncle's wife's mother's house," say, "my faddher hat," and "my uncle wife muddher house." Upon which, all that need be remarked is that they have gone further in simplifying this part of speech than the rest of their countrymen, who have only abolished the dative and accusative cases from the parent languages of their speech. Extreme brevity and simplicity are eminently Norse and Northumbrian characteristics. We have already seen some remarkable instances in the versions of Solomon's Song, where we saw that the first three words, "I am the," are expressed in as many letters, namely, "I's t'"; and again in verse 14, "thou art in the," by "at 's i t'." We have here another instance in the abolition of the genitive case-ending, out of many more that might be added.

In pronouncing the days of the week we find: Sunnda for Sunday, Thorsda for Thursday, and Setterda for Saturday, always with the short da. The remaining days as in ordinary English. In pronouns we find "wer" for "our," in the possessive case, from old Norse vÂrr.

Relative—At for who, which, that.

Demonstrative—T' The.
That theyar—that one.
Thoer—these or those.

Indefinites—Summat=something, somewhat. From old Norse sum-hvat, somewhat.

The two following are common at Preston and adjacent districts:

Sooawhaasse=whosoever.
Sooawheddersa=whethersoever.

Correlative adjectival pronoun:

Sa mich=so much.
Swedish, SÂ mycket.

Adverbs from Scandinavian:

Backerds—backwards.
Connily—prettily, nicely.
eigh—yes; forrÙt, forrud—forwards;
helder—preferably; i mornin—to-morrow;
i now—presently; lang sen—long since;
lowsley—loosely; neddher—lower nether;
neya—no; noo—now;
reetly—rightly; sa—so; sen—since;
Shamfully—Shamefully.
Shaply—shapely; sooa—so.
tull—to; weel—well; whaar—where.

Interjections.

Ech!—exclamation of delight.

Hoity-toity!—what's the matter: from old Norse "hutututu."

Woe-werth!—woe betide.

An Illustration.

A good illustration of Danish terms may be gathered from the following conversation heard by a minister in this county between a poor man on his death-bed and a farmer's wife, who had come to visit him: "Well, John," she said, "when yo' getten theer yo'll may happen see eaur Tummus; and yo'll tell 'im we'n had th' shandry mended, un a new pig-stoye built, un 'at we dun pretty well beawt him." "Beli' me, Meary!" he answered, "dost think at aw's nowt for t' do bo go clumpin' up un deawn t' skoies a seechin' yo're Tummus!" The word "mun" also is in frequent use, and comes from the Danish verb "monne;" the Danish "swiga," to drink in, as "to tak a good swig," and "Heaw he swigged at it!" Many Danish words become purely English, as foul, fowl; kow, cow; fued, food; stued, stood; drown, drown; "forenoun" and "atternoun" became "forenoon" and "afternoon;" stalker, stalker; kok, cock; want, to want.

In popular superstition the races had much in common. The Danish river sprite "Nok," imagined by some to be "Nick," or "Owd Nick," the devil; but properly "Nix," a "brownie." He wore a red cap and teased the peasants who tried to "flit" (Danish "flytter") in order to escape him.

Though we have "Gretan," to weep, it also means to salute or bid farewell, from the Danish "grata." "Give o'er greeting," we hear it said to a crying child. While "greeting" is a popular word of Danish origin, so is "Yuletide" for Christmas, and "Yule Candles," "Yule Cakes," "Yule Log." The word "Tandle" means fire or light, and is given to a hill near Oldham. From this we derive our "Candle." "Lake," to play, is still used in our district, but never heard where Danish words are not prevalent. In the Danish, "Slat" means to slop, and it is said, "He slat the water up and down." A very common participle in Lancashire is "beawn." The Danish "buinn" is "prepared," or "addressed to," or "bound for," as "Weere ar't beawn furt' goo?" In Danish and Lancashire "ling" means heath; but it does not occur in Anglo-Saxon. From the Danish "Snig," to creep, we get "snig," eels.

Locally we also have the name "Rossendale," which covers a large extent of our county. May we not suppose this to be from "rost," a torrent or whirlpool, and "dale," the Danish for valley?

The names of places beginning or ending with "Garth," or "Gaard," shows that the people were settling in "Gaarde" or farms belonging to the chief, earl, or Udaller. With the Danish "Steen," for stone, we have Garston, Garstang, Garton, as well as Garswood and garden. The Danish having no such sound or dipthong as our "th," must account for the relic of the pronunciation "at" for "that," which is much used in our local dialect, as "It's toime at he were here,"—"at" being the Danish conjunction for "that." The word we use for sprinkling water, to "deg," does not come from the Anglo-Saxon "deagan," which means to dye or tinge with colour, but from "deog" or "deigr." Shakespeare uses the word in the "Tempest," where Prospero says: "When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt." From "Klumbr," a mass or clod, we get "clump," as clump of wood, and "clumpin' clogs." Stowe says, "He brought his wooden shoes or clumpers with him."