The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-15


 meA.yn smelling. Massye ls on record for 1888. MassIe for i5s2 and Massey for 1909. Each Is perhaps consider ably older.
 The surname Covington Is of local l origin. It's meaning. however, will 1 depend upon whether your ancestors came from the Scotch or the English 1 Covington.
 l is mentioned in the local records or I about iis0 as Villa colbani. and again, about i2i2. 1t appears as Colbaynistun | In 1898 1t is Colbanstoun. About l4s0, 1 1t appears as covington.
 | These early forms show that the vil- | laxe received it's name from'a twelfth l century proprietor. colban. who was follower of David. Prince of Cambria. about 1120. The village. In turn. gave | It's name to the parish and barony. Colban Is derived from the Old Morse koi. Anglo Saxon col, black" an ad- | jective from the noun of the same l form meaning coal or charcoal, and 1 from the old Morse beinn. German bein. | Angio-Saxon ban, meaning bone. leg" | KoIbeinn who became Colban was thus the black legged"
 covington In Huntingdonshire, Eng land was In earlier times called Gov l enton. ls 1 fcoven. .covin and cowan were early variants of the Middle English eovent. | convent and convent from the eecles- l iasticai Latin conyentus, "a convent. l nunnery or mopastery.rs This last is I a specialized meaning of the Latin eonventtis. ~an assembly" derived from the Latin con with, together" and vsntus, past participIe of vsnIre. 'fo l come"
 1 the Scotch "coven tree" the large tree | in front of old Scottish manor houses l where the laird used to meet his yisi- tors or assemble his retainers It ap- l pears also in coveu or covin. "a gath eriHg of thirteen witches" Covent was common down to the seventeenth century and stiii survives In some proper names. as covent Garden. Lon don.
 1 The Latinlzed form convent came inc to English about the middle of the six 1 teenth century and pretty generally superseded the Middle English form in about q century.
 coyington thus means convent
 The eognatss Of con may be found under custis above. those of Venire under Sweeny In No. {: those of ton under Preston In No. 2.
 VoB Meyer, Meyer, Mayor, Lemalre. 1 The surname Won Meyer comes from | Germany, Meyer and Meier may be either Dutch or German.
 The common origin of the trio is the Old High German melcr, meier, Middle High German meier. meiger, German meier. the head servant on an estate, a land steward. the manager or lessee | of an estate" The word came into l German from the Latin major and as an equivalent of the Middle Latin ma tor domus. the steward of the house. l hold servants" whence our major domo through the spanish mayordomo.
 The prefix von in German names Is properly indicative of a local origin, but in practice It is prehxed to any kind or class of surnames to indicate some degree of nobility. Tn later times 1t was so frequently assumed without warrant that 1t was no longer indica- tive of class or rank and many justly 1 entitled to 1t, on coming to this land of equal opportunity. afterwards drop ped 1t.
 The corresponding Dutch van is purely local sign. The Old Tristan fan. fou. Old Saxon fan, fana, fou Low German van. Middle High German won. Vone ana Old High German fana. iona are all cognate and from a pre-Teu- tonic pana. The meaning is "of. from, and the more remote derivation Is from an European DO. an ablaut form of the radical seen in the Sansckrit. l Avestan and Old Persian apa, Greek apo Latin ab Gothic af. English of. l with the general idea of away from ''
 The Latin major greater" has many 1 cognates. such as the Oscan mahils. | Gothic malza, Old High German mero. German nehr, English more. Old Irish moa or mao, Irish and Gaelic mo Welsh mwy, Cornish moy, Breton mui all meaning greater" also the Arme- nian mec. Albanian math. Avestan ma zant and sanskrit mahant. all meaning great" '
 Mayer Is the same. sometimes Ger man, sometimes English.
 When German 1t has the meaning already given; when English 1t is equivalent to Mayor. Mair and Maire. also the same names in their ultimate origin but with s different meaning. The Middle English maire. mayre. meire and meyre came from the Old French maire, "a mayor, chief magis- I trate of town Hence the surname Lemaire the mayor" with the article prefixed as integral part of the name. In the early records of the surname period the English name occurs as Le Metr, Lair, Mayre. Meyre, etc. In Elizabeth's time the Spanish for mayor was adopted for both the surname and the common noun. Mair is now found principally in Durham and Shropshire, and Mayor, though general, has its l principal seat fin Lancashire. This series of surnames is then of hcial in all case. but when German or Dutch the official is connected with an estate when French or English. with 6 town or city.
 ScrOgg0, Scraggs.
 The surname Scroggs is local in origin and comes from both Scotland and England. The principal source in | Scotland is the village of Scroggs in Dumfrieshire. There was also a Scrog- town of Douglass in Lanarkshire. On l the Lyme water in PeebleshiFe is strip of natural wood. mostly "birks and allers," called Scroggswood
 There is place called Scroggs in Cumb erland. England. There may have been more at one time, as the principal home of the family is now far to the Southeast, in Bedfordshire.
 Scroggs may be either "ths man from Scroggs"-one of the places so named. or "the one who lives at or near the scroggs.'
 The provincial English scrog or shrog. Middle English scrog, skrogge and shrogge, Scot scrog and Gaelic sgrog. signifies "a stunted bush' or a tract of stunted bushes. thorns. briers, etc.
 So in the ballad of Johnie of Cocklesmuier we have:
 T cam in by yon greenwud, And doun amang the scrogs." .-
 Middle English had also the adjec- tive scroggy. covered with under