The times., 1899-05-21
THE DERIVATION OF NAMES.
How Rudynrd KIpIing's Names Was
Evolved.

There has been great deal of wasted
ingenuity over the significance of Mr..
Rudyard Kiplings two names. There has
been an attempt to derive Kipling from
Ripper salmon caught at spawning time
and unpalatable unless it is split and salt
ed and smoked. One amateur phlologer
has discovered that ling means one who
sells. therefore ''ldpperling" signifies one
who sells kippers. Drop out the middle
syllable and there you have "kipiing'' in
all its native robustness, There was a
waste of thought here. for there is a per-
fectly proper word, ''kipperling," wherein
the ling is the double Saxon dimnutive
''el'' and ing rolled into one syllable,
and it means little kipper, or fish, ready
for smoking and sailing. Those fam lar
with Mr.. Owen Seaman's delightful
Will remember:
Now this is the law OF the herring feet that har-
ries the northern main,
Tattooed in scars on the chests of the tars with
brand like the brand of Cain;
That none may WOO the sea-born shrew save such
pay their way
With kipperling netted at Of night and
cursed ere the crack Of day.
There are number of names due TO our
humble cousins of the fins and scales
which might be urged in behalf of the de-
rivation of the poets name from the fish's.
The names Fish" and Fisk" are the
best known instances, but with them to
Whale, Dolphin, Dolfn, Eels Bass, Sal
mon, Cutie, Haddock, Trout Pollock,
Conger. HaSe, Smelt, Sturgeon, Mackerel,
Pilchard Chubb. Roach, Breame, Pike,
Pickerel, Tench, Lamprey, Skinner.
Scates, Barnacle, Spratt, Mussel, and a
host of others, not all of them due to tae
fish whose name they seem to bear, yet al
with names of that order. The difficulty
is in accounting for the loss of the middle
syllable, which is necessary for the mean
ing, "kipper" having the significance OF 4
projecting jaw-what Kentuckians call
Jimmy -jawed.
But the word "kip'' is just as well known
word as "kipper, and avoids the diiii-
Guilty. Kip is, and for centuries past has
been, the name of the sort of leather in
termediate between calfskin and cowhide.
Kip" itself is a surname not very rare
having been borne by well-known bishop
OF the Episcopal Church, as well others
of some prominence in this country and
| England. At just the time when English
men were taking surnames to themselves
| the leather trade was one of the most
| fourishing in the country. Leather itself
was in common use for wearing apparel,
! jenkins, pouches, breeches, bottles, drink
| ing cups, chausses, gipsires and many
things besides boots and shoes being made
| from il. Tanner Skinner, Leatherer,
| Leatherman. Leather, with the variants,
| Ledderer Ledderman, and Ledder or Lead
| er; Currer. Barker. Tower from Tawyer-
which, in whitetawyer, came TO be Whit
| tier-Megucer, and a great many more
| came into use, and with them the Eame
"Kipling" n. /. Bowditch records the
presence of Kipling in the Boston direc-
! tory for 1858. He was one whose ances-
! tors when surnames were being generally
assumed, became sufficiently identified
with small kipskin to have it serve him
for distinguishing appellation.
There is no such trouble with Rudyard.
| There was a Captain Rudyard, who sub
scribed to the publication of "Anburey's
| Travels in the last century, and the name
| is known. though uncommon. II is not an
occupative surname like Kipling or Smith,
but an ancient given name transferred to
| be a surname, which is the case with
! host of others, names like Addy. Avery,
| Aldrich. Allen, Alger. Askell or Haskell,
| Bent, Boyd, Brand. Cation, Craddock, and
1 thousands more. Its Significance is simple.
! Hrothgar, famous or shining spear, was
I name Of might among the Angles, being
borne by the son of Healfdane. King OF
| the Skyldings. 1t was modified into Roger.
the German Rudiger, on one hand, and in
| another English dialect remained Rudyard,
/ the "a being added for the sake of uni
! formity with many names in ard
name of precisely the same sort is Ledyard,
the spear Of the people, which is the same
| as Leger. Hilyard is battle spear, and
takes an analogous Hillger or Hillyer
while Alger means elf spear, with the va
RANT Alyard or Halyard.
The objection TO deriving them from
gertha or gardr is the sex for one thing
| these words being feminine in the Morse
tongues, while their Saxon equivalent is
ward or ward, as in Edward, Hayward
Harvard, Howard, and many more. This
would give Redward Ledward, Hlward
and Award or Award. The last name is
the only one found in English, and is of
recent introduction from Germany, indi-
eating that the real derivation is from the
ancient word for spear and not for guardi-
an. The full name of the famous story
teller, therefore, signifies the Famous
Spear of the Little Kipskin.
IIeuricIs heer is a nerrIeSs hrveroge saldon