The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-10-01

...,,< which has not often made Us ap-
- .snevs q fbe lcat siuce II Yves worn 20
kSSnvsblv by ssDaun Cbaucer OF otd y
0eolItrs: but from u We have our present
s.,rnsu,cs jeffrey. JelIrIcs, Jefferson, Jens,
'1r5ycock. Jfigkine, JepEsop, and Jepson.
The title which we have prcbxcd TO
Chsnctr,s nsmc above Is the one that was
a,yrn 20 him In bis generation. and SUISSE
os,tntiv IN common with all other persons
belonging 10 The better classes. 1t Is, Ike
Inc Dom and the Don, In use among the
Portuguese and the Spanisrds to-day,
deriyetiyo Of the Latin donsinus lhouse-
holder. lord. mastery, and corresponds to
The Mister (nadqister) Of later times. Thus
xpepxcr calls bis great predecessor "Dap
(;eof1rey y: and the Earl Of Surrey, In the
reign 81 Henry VIII, wrote OF Dan
Homer Cbaucer himself, in bis Cantcr.
bury Tales, represents the host as saying
to the Monk
- Bpt. hy my irsshs, cannot ten your same:
whether shall I call you my lord Dan John,
Or Dan Thomas, or eiles han Aibony"
He also writes OF /" Dan Constantine"
and jestingly calls the ass 10 the Nuns Tale
. Dan Burnel." Burnell, We may remark
BY the way. y trsnsposition OF Brunch,
which 10 a derIvaiive Of the given name
Bruno: whence also Bronson and Broun-
son. A. the ass received this name from
the color Of bis hide, so the fox Is called by
Chaucer, In the same Tale, ssDan Russell"
Il. g., red); which may suggest to our
lrjends Russell and Ross that their nsmes
are synonymous, both OF them tracing tbeir
cepealocy, IL they choose TO do so on the
strength Of an chronological claim. from the
Emperor Frederic Barbarossa (redbeard).
This honorary prefix "Dan," which has
given way 10 the now universal Mr., still
remains, % 30 agglutina,ion, In some OF our
surpames. Thus Dsnforth and cambridge
are equivalent TO Mr.. Forth for Ford and
Mr.. Rsdge--tbe Il In fbe latter name being
inserted TO strengthen as the Greek
grammarIans say, or give us ga better grip
with the tongue" as / have heard 1t ex-
pressed. ,<--
Nv eye happening to fall on the following
couplet In Dan Chaucer's Prologue 10 the
Canterbury Tales, am reminded that / De-
elected TO mention, when we were discuss
ing Saints names, certain modern surnames
which are due to this source:
.The rule OF Saint Naur and of Saint Benet,
Because that II was old and semsdssl STRAIT"
Msurus, Abbott OF Fulda, from the year
500 10 $40 was famous as q restorer OF the
primitive discipline OF the Benedictine or
der OF monks. His name has become with
US Naury and Murray, with their patro-
nymics, Morris and Morrison. Saint Bene-
diet has bequeatbed us our Bennett, as Is
seen 10 Chaucer's couplet.
A few lines farther on in the same para
graph Cbaucer mentions St. Augustine uD-
der the shortened form Of Austin, which,
along with Its varinym Austen, IL sur
name with us, and by aspirating we have
Hustoa and Houston, which are not al
ways, we presume, derived, like Hueston
from Hue (Cbaucer's spelling Of Hugh,
but sometimes from the Saint.
Hugh was spelt Hughes by the Normans;
and from that form OF II come Hughes, Hugh
son, HuggiDs, Hutcbns, Hugginson, and
Hutchinson. From the Chaucerian form
come Huet, Hewett, Hewetson, MILESTONE,
Wheaton, Whewell, Ewell. Ewing. Nc
Even, Hewlett, Hullet, Hewitt, HowsoD,
and Howsen-somc OF these being due TO
the later spelling OF King Henry Wills
era-viz., Hewe. In addition, we have the
welsh Pugb, which is zap Hugh" Just as
Powell Is " ap Howell" But we are rum
ming away from our saints again.
Readers OF Chaucer will remember that
his Nuns greatest oatbe was but by Saint
LOU This was the popular title OF him
W ho was canonizcd under the Latin name
Of st. Egidius. He has bequeathed us the
following list, provided st. Louis Lewis,
Lewes) does not set up c0uuter claim TO
some OF the names: Law, McLaws (Which
is doubly patropymic, since the at the end
and the Mac at the front both designate the
flial relation). Lawson, LOSING, Lawtin.
SlawsoD, Slosson. In these last two names
the Saint shows itself only in the s. Simi-
larly, Saint Perrot Qittle st. Pierrel has
dwindled to the shape in which we meet ii
in the celebrated Jack Spratt, who, accord.
ing to the nursery rhyme, helped TO "keep
the platter clean." And Spratley and
SpiadIey are meadows once owned by in
diyiduals rejoicing in the apostles name.
(HARI,Es Don.