The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-10


 This in Anglo-saxon and English poet ry from Beowulf down has the conne- tation "capable of great physical endur-, ance and exertion." hardy and bold h battle" and in the old High German that of powerful. mighty, valorous."
 The coGnates are Dutch hard. Oid Morse .hardr, Danish haard. Swedish haerd. Gothic hardus. 'hard. hardy. se- vere." Greek kratus. ''strong, powerful, kratos. power. strength"
 Bernard. etc. may then be rendered as 'the powerful, vaiorous warrior" or more literally. the strong bear."
 Rfch. Niche.
 The English surname Rich and -Richs Is sometimes a. patronymic. "the son of Richard" This Is shown by the derivativs patronymic Riches. by the allied and equivalent Kicks. Rixan Rixon and by entries on the Yorkshire Poll Tax Llst where Johannes Riche and Matilda Ryche pay the peasants tax of four pence. For the meaning of the name in these instances see under Richards below.
 The surname in a great majority of instances Is, however, . nickname as amply attested by the numerous en- Hundred Rolls of 127s and other early records. 2; The Teutonic origin of the name ,ap- pears in the Gothic rtiks, which as c substantive means "lord, king, ruler" and as an adjective, powerful. mighty" etc. The old High German rfhhi is<in the first instance @kingly," and then powerful, distinguished. 1ordly." The general idea of powerful. wealthy" in- heres in the Middle High German riche. German reich, Low German rik, rike. Dutch rijk. Old Tristan rick. rik, Old Saxon riki. Angio-Saxon rice, Middle English riche, ryche.s rich, old Morse rtikr. Swedish rik, Danish rig.
 From the Teutonic were borrowed the Old French riche, French riche. Proven cal rio, Spanish and Portugese rico, Italian ricco. all meaning rich"
 The English rich is descended direct ly from. the Angio-Saxon rice. Its res semblance to the Old French has led some to the belief that 1t was borrowed from that.s The change from ''c'' to "ch'' has parallels in Greenwich from Green vic. from pic and beseech from be- seke. etc. @
 There are many cognates in the rndo- European languages. Among the more illustrative and interesting we may se- lect the old Celtic rig. Irish and Gael ic righ, old Cymric and old Breton Fl. Galiic rig. all meaning .;kfng" and fse- quent in proper names as Caturic (Bat- tie King), Rigomagus. (King's Fieldl: Old Lithuanian rikys, "a king" old Prussian riiks. 'rfch"; Latin. rex, "a king" regina, "a queen": Sansl<rit raja king" and rajni. queen"
 The meaning of the Angio-Saxon may be illustrated by its use in the Anglo. Saxon Gospels. Tn Mark R., z5 rice is used for the rich man of the King James Version, and in Luke l. b2. for the mighty" of the later version Rich as a surname thus indicates "a power. full or wealthy man"
 Richards, Richardson.
 The two patronymics Richars and Richardson are formed from the old personal name Richard the former by adding the genitival suffix B., the lat- ter the patronymic, sufix son, hence each signifies the son of Richard
 The personal name can be traced 10 the sixth century when Ricohard was a Frankish chieftain. A bishop of Alibi in 6T3 bore the name in the same form. Richhart appears In the next century and the name then became fairly com mon. Richard or Rfchardet was one of the Quatre Filx d; Aymon of the Old French 'ronanees: and legends. but is seems to have been Richard. son of Hlothere, king of Kent s73-es5, who gave up his throne to become a monk at Lucca and who wrought many mira. cles there, that first gave any great vogue to the name. From him the third duke of Normandy is supposed to have received the name. Two of his successors bore 1t and as many as a score appear at the time of the Con- quest. Among these was the second son of the Conqueror. who was killed about 10s0.
 The name has thrice ascended the English throne but lost some of its popularity with the last Plantagenet
 The surname fii Richarrdi Is found in the Hundred Rolls; Richard in Kir- by's Quest and Rykard and Richard on the Yorkshire Poll Tax List. Richards in not foundSnow north of Nottingham shire and is, rare in force. Richards Is crowded into the western half of Eng land and is common also in Wales It's chief centers are in Cornwall, Wales and Monmouthshire. Richardson has it's greatest numbers in Cumberland, Westmoreland, Durham. Northumber- land Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire. Lin colnshire and Essex.
 The prototheme of Ricohart is the Old High German rlhhi probably with a substantive value. the ruler See