The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-07-30
RAMsLE AMONG sURNAMEs.
Annual Address Delivered by Rev. J. wal
tor Daniel Before the Alumni Asso-
citation Of Newberry College,
june 49, 1891.


+.- Daniel Before the Alumni Asso-
eiation Of Newberry College,
June 16,'1s91
"There is no excellency wlsaou
labor" and indeed, it appears ina
there would have been few surname'
without it. Like the doves of whlcf
Israeps sweetestsinger speaks OF hover
ing among the pots upon the fiat house
tops of the Jews, there seeking rest
ing place for the night, but soaring
away in the early dawn with thell
wings covered with silver" and theli
"feathers with yellow gold," untar'
nished by the sooty cooking utensils
30 the Cooks and Ccoksons made them
selves a name in the crude kitchens Of
our Anglo-Saxon ancestors.
We have also Brewers and Brewsters,
showing that the brewers art was also
in the hands of women. Over the pro-
ducts Of their art many brave knight
uttered the common Saxon toast woes
hoel (be welD to his drinking compan-
ion, and drank to the king, queen, or
his lady love. But many Of the descen-
dants of the Brewers and Brewsters
are to-day heart and hand against the
traffic of their progenitors.
Macaulay speaks of the gay appear
ance of London in the olden times,
caused by the painted signs of the store
and dshop-keepers. All sorts Of animals,
frightful dragons and monsters were
painted to attract the attention OF the
passer-by and invite his custom. The
shop-keepers of feudal times were am
bilious to excel each other, as they are
to-day, in the novelty of their signs;
and this, together with the ignorance
of times, gave rise to many anus
ing scenes. 1.-THE story is told Of a Ger
tain shoemaker, who hearing or seeing
the Latin expression-Mens conscaa
recti, though knowing nothing OF its
meaning, thought it would be an addi-
tional attraction to his sign, and had it
inscribed beneath his pictorial shoe. A
rival son of Crispin, not to be outdone
in business enterprise, at once offered
an amendment, and placed upon his
sign the words Mems and soonaen's con-
scsa recti. These signs gave rise to per-
sonal names, thus John doing a
smiths business at the "Arm and
Hammer" might after awhile become
known as John Hammersmiti. Or an
other John-a rival blacksmit th-zeal-
Gus to portray the muscular capacity OF
his arm, had the sign painter to deal
somewhat in pictorial hyperbole, and
may have thus secured for himself the
title John Armstrong.
In this manner, many of the names
of the animals of the forest were
fastened as surname upon men. A
number of rival butchers doing busi-
ness in the same town or city took
their names from the painted images
of certain animals over their places of
business-thus we have from the NAM
mails Buck, Bullock, Lamb, Roe and
many others. The Fishers made their
name with hook and line, but the COM
peting fshmongers took their names
doubtless from the pictorial representa-
ton of their craft painted in gaudy
colors over their fish stalls, hence we
have Bodfsh, Bass, Pike, Roach and
Fish.
The birds Of the forest were not
ignored in the day Of surname-maklng
for we have the names-Wren, Dove,
Sparrow, Swami, Nightingale, Finch,
Bullfnch, Jay, Hawkes., Crane, Drake,
Partridge, Wookcock, Henshaw, which
is properly speaking Herns1a~, an
other name for heron: and this brings
to mind the'saying-"He doesn't know
q hawk from a hand-saw, wherein
the last word is corruption of hern-
shaw. By substituting this word the
drift of the proverb is apparent, In
I timatirg that one does not know the
difference between the hawk, or falcon,
or the heron or hernshaw which the
hawk pursues
The major pss' Of these names, per-
haps, came from The painted signs OF
hucksters, though some of them may
have originated from trivial character
;sttics and incidents. Carlyle informs
Us that Harald, the first Christian king
.sof Norway, as early as A. D. SCI, "got
he name of GreWeU frou his people
"a yery trivial account, but seeming
With perfect good-humour on their
mont Sems iceland traders had brought
., fRrs to Trondhjem (Lade)
'1' being Stacker toan the
55ssS-7 presented achosen
assion's gus, w sSlets orp'hatever
would fall in ID S lp won. it with
her hands CONT l rapidly
es, and moving heRnently aanoels S
side, as she crtrAA.2t iXaken TSgeN to
uaee ,:'G4d the surn~ Sthy 5e 5se
himself" e4Hs~,1t
The surname Of the first cory ,3is..
of the numerous iarls of Nor 'ed II
Harald, Fairhair, and that Of the cta-
thor of the Norman conquest Of En-
gland, Rolf the Ganger (Walksr) came
from incidents equally as trivial as
that which gave Harald Greyfell his
appellation. Rolf Ganger was 50
welghty man no horse could carry
him, says Carlyle, and he walked,
"having a mighty stride wi*hai, ana