New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-12-28
ETY.MOLOGY OF N:aMES.

~ rSCnAo Auab tuo new DdrQlulan ENVOY. IN
Count just arrived in the United States, bears
the somewhat butcherly appellaton of Talia-
csrne, originally, no doubt, Tagliacarne; that
M,eleave flesh; given, no doubt, to the warlike
founder Of the family, in memory Of the biting
ness Of his sword in battle. For, though some
may suppose that TINS founder is likely to have
been as obscure Of birth as brave of deeds, vet
it must be remembered that he must have been
ennobled, not for cleaving the flesh of beeyes
but that Of men. Or, say that he drew his title
Oasis possible) from the skill with which, at the
board, not in battle, he handled the carving
knife, not the sword; still, his lineage was. no
doubt, good. For, in those days, not menials,
but young gentlemen, performed this service.
1t was regular part Of the courtly, yet war
like education of the times of knighthood, MS one
may see in those best old pictures of how Cheya-
iers were bred up-the Loyal Servants ac-
count of the boyhood and the after deeds of that
most gallant of warriors, Pierre du Chartrail
better known as the Incompatible Bayard !;
Christine de Pise's !" Life of the good King
Charles VI" or in that other classic of pure
and sweet old French, the Petit Jehan do
Saintree"
The new Ambassadors designation brings to
our mind that of Southern family of some
distinction-the Taliaferros whose name is. in
common pronunciation, corrupted into Tolliver
Originally, they must have been Italian. and
have been called Tagliaferro, that is, cleaye
Ton," or :" armour-cleavers." Possibly they
came directly, hither from the land in which
some progenitor of mighty muscle had at first
won for them this martial surname; but
probably, they have come to us through Eng
land; for there survives not even a faint and
fading tradition of their Ausonian origin. Our
own superstition is that they are English ever
since the times Of the Conquest and are sprung
from that large Norman champion, Taillefer.
OF whom the chronicles tell how, at the battle of
Hastings, he advanced between the armies as
tney were about to close in fight and challenged
70 single combat, then and there, any man in
Harold's army. His stature and his bearing were
such Is to induce, in the boldest Englishman. |
some little hesitation to accept his invitation
but, while they paused, the vast Norman was |
amusing himself by giving them some specimens
Of ms activity and his address; he danced,
laundering out, as he danced, the old heroic
song OF him who fell at Roncevalles, Roland to
Inc time Of which he hurled high into the air,
nus great, two-handed sword, catching il ever
as it fell. They tell us that after that perform.
Ance' Iailiefer's chance Of finding an adversary
entirely. In his disappointment. he
seems to have flung himself upon the enemy with
fury, and, after many acts of Prov
ess, and much havoc enacted, to have at last rot
cut down, as the tallest fellow will, in the end
For, however tough one may be, one is sure.
soon or late, to meet tougher or luekier, and
to be knocked over. Well, SO much for Taille-
ers fate; as to his name, it was, no doubt, fixed
n England, in its Italian form, as won but =
little while before, in Apuglia and Sicily, under
Robert Guiscard and his bold brothers. by our /"
Norman Of the chronicles.
Such is the origin of our Taliaferros; who,
lowever, in this country--no doubt by the force a
our institutions-have become neither fercer g
lor taller than other folks. They dance no = =
letter. they sing no louder than the rest of the '
'orid' and have quite forgotten the ancestral
rick Of the long