The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-20

lai. These old forms show the mean ing to be "the birch field"
 The surname appears on the Hun dred Rolls of 1878 as de Berkeleye, de Berkelay. dc Berclay. de Berclawe ana in Kirby's Quest of 1927 as Bercley.
 Very few indeed are the families Of England that can at this time ina their direct ancestors among either the tenants-in-capite or the under.tan- ants of land in the Domesdny. but the Berkeleys of Berkeley Castle, in qiou- cestershire have descended in q direct line from Roger de Berkeley, q com panion of the ConQueror. upon whom the lands of Berkeley were conferred. He assumed surname from the es- tate. This is a remarkable. if not unique. instance of length of territorial possession.
 The Barclays are now found chiefly in Scotland. Their founder was Theo- dore de Berkeley. of the Gloucester. shire family. who removed to the northern kingdom in the time of David T. The northern pronunciation made Barclay Of their name and so 1t has been so written since the fifteenth ceH- tury. Berkeley and Berk1ey survive In England and all three have come to America.
 The prototheme Is the Anglo.saxon birce, beorc. birch" cognate with the Old Morse bjork. Danish birk, whence the North English and Scottish birk. German birke. old High German bircha, birihha, Lithuanian berzas, Old Prussian berse. Old Slavonic breza, Russian bereSA, ossetic barg. Sanskirt bhurja. all meaning birch" also the Latin fraxinus, the ash," and Buiga- rian brest, 'the elm" The name indi- ~.an IS s Is from the radical seen in the san skrit bhrajati, ''to shine" etc.
 The deuterotheme Is the Anglo Sax on leah. "held." of which the history has been given under Lee in No. of this series.
 The surname Withers indicates that he who first bore 1t was a ''son of Wither." Only the surname and a few local names have prevented this old personal name from--so to speak whitening from memory.
 One Wither about 1910 was an ecs clessiastic at Oxford and another was a benefactor of the Hyde Abbey at Winchester, about 1030.
 One is mentioned in the Domesday as a tenant in the pre-conquestua1 days. So far as the writer has found, these are the only instances of the old per sonal name on extant English records. The names Withering (Wither's son) and Witherwine CWither's friend) would indicate, however, that these were not the only occurrences. This is further supported by the frequency of the surname Wyther on the Hundred Rolls of 127s.
 The three Wihtheres found on the Anglo-Saxon records of the ninth cen- tury arc most likely another name. Germanic scholars claim that the names Withari, Witheri, Witihere, Wither, etc, found on the records at St. Gall as early as 7S6, represent 6 different name from the Anglo Saxon Wither, whose true German cognate, Wizhere, Is also on the St. Gall rec ords.
 In England the withers are now found mainly in Hampshire, Berkshire and Nottinghamshire.
 The prototh eme of the name Is the wit. mind, understand ing" vita. "a wise man." literally, ''one who knows" witan, "to know This is cognate with the Gothic witan, "to know" Sanskrit veda, know, have seen," and the rest of the list given under Gwyn in No. " of this series.
 The deuterotheme is the Anglo Saxon here, army" cosnate with the Old High German heri. hari, German heer, Old Morse herr, Gothic harJis. all meaning army" 'fhost." It appears In the English verb harry" and in 'harbor." It Is cognate also with the