The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-22


 Name. by Requests Bristovv, George,
 sebastian, warneId, Yeaman. Allied Names, Bristo, Bristol, Bris-
 toyse. Bastian, Bastien, Basten,
 Bastin, BastiOn, Georges, George
 son, GiOrgio, Wastei, feOman.
 warneId.
 warheld Is surname of territorial origin. It indicates that the ances- for of the family once lived in Warfield, England. The only place now known to have borne this name seems to be the parish of Warfield in the union of Hamstead, hundred of WargTave. Berkshire This once formed a part of Windsor Forest and was included in a grant to the See of Winchester by queen Emma. mother of Edward the confessor. This grant seems to have been resumed later by her son. as 1t is described in the Dom esday Book as belonging to the Grown and is there said to have been settled by Edward on his queen, Editha.
 In l1ss Richard I sold the land to Godfrey de Lucy. Bishop of Winches- ter, who attached it again to that See In Ib5I all Wargrave. including War field, was surrendered to Edward VI, who conferred 1t upon Sir Henry Ne vile, a gentleman of his privy cham Der.
 Queen Mary annulled this grant and returned the land to the See of Win chester. Mary's grant was in turn annulled, and Edwards reafiirmed by an act of Parliament in the first year of Elizabeth'a reign Thus four queens have been connected with the history of this parish. Had this aught to do with the oft-remarked chivalry of our American Warfields?
 The male line of Sir Henry Neville became extinct in i74o, and the grant passed to heirs in the female line, where 1t stin lies.
 The warneld family seems to have left not only the parish that gave for in the indext to Berkshire Wills, a50S-1652. no Warheld is named.
 The name is usually supposed to be a compound of war and field, and ex- plained as an equivalent of battle Held. The writer cannot endorse this for three reasons:
 First-rhe name occurs in the Domesday Book as Warwelt, which shows that the spelling of the initial syllable was then the same as now. But the word does not appear in Anglo Saxon until the twelfth century. Tn the Chronicle for HIS 1t is wyrre and under 1140 1t is uuerre. Both of these pates are considerably later than the pomesdRy. We must admit. however
 
 eroribus quod Angli warscot dicunt." This unique instance of the war epellfng. as it occurs in the Latin ver- sion of the laws of Danish King. can hardly outweigh the spelling of the na- tive chrontcIers.
 Secondly-There is no evidence that battltneld was ever called a war field, in England.
 Thfrdiy-There seems to be no men tion of Q battle. that ever occurred in or even very near the parish of War field.
 He would then seek the origin of the name in the Anglo-Saxon waer, "an Inclosure." and field, "a aeld." "a pas ture." Warfield, then. means ''the in- \ closed or fortified field." So Warham in Dorsetshire and in Norfolk means, the inclosed or fortified ham. or vil- lage."
 Moreover. a reason for this name may be found fin the remains of a strong in- trenchment, surrounded by a double ditch, dating from Roman times and called for centuries past Caesars Camp" This surrounds the top of a rise of land and Is of irregular forma- ton, as 1t follows the contour of the hill. It iS described as about 5B0 paces in length and 2s0 in width at the mid de. This lies near the confines of the parish and near the great Roman road. now known as the Devils Highway" leading from London to the western part of the island. Many Roman coins have been found here, but no mention is made of the discovery of Roman arms or anything to indiiate the scene of a battle.
 The Interpretation here given, is sound in the phonetics of the etymon proposed easy in semantics and SUD- ported by analogy and seems admir- ably to suit the locality, which was lit- orally "An ,inclosed and fortified field"
 The Anglo-Saxon waer is coradicate with waerian and werian, "to defend, inclose, protect" This is cognate with the old High German werjan, German wehren, Old Morse veria, ito protect, defend." Gothic warjan and Old Saxon werian. "to forbid, hinder" the Avea- Gan-verena-vaiti and Sanskrit vrnote, "to protect cover, surround" With the frequent interchange of q" for "r" we have the Armenian gelun. to oppress, to turn, Greek eiIuo. "enfold. cover" Latin volvo. "to roll" Irish fillim, "to bend" Cymric olwyn, wheel"
 The deuterotheme Is the Anglo Saxon field. English field, cogpate with the old High German. Old Saxon and Old Tristan field Dutch weld, South African Dutch veldt. 'held." OldNorse fold. pasture" Old SlavOnic polje, field" Lithuanian platus. broad" Greek plat us, fiat. broad" Avestan perethus.