The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-25

M8afW III w 1nll 1Al HM1 sHl
Names by request: Browniee. Cam
eron, Centerfft Cooper. Dacus Elmore
Gifford, Green. Jefford. Schoenberser,
and Whiteside.
Variants: Blancoste. BROWNIE
Browniy, Cambron. Cowper, Daso'
Giffard, Greene, Jeffard, Schomberg
shombursk. sancteFid. Saint Hervet
and Whitside.
Browniee.
Browniee Is local surname haiiing
from Brownie or Brownly In the
county Of Kincardine. Scotland
The name IL probably English siEni-
tying 'the brown lea"
The prototheme Is the Old Engnsn
bruri. cognate with the Old High Ger
{ man bruno; Ola Morse bruni: German
braun, lithuanian, brunas, all mean
ing "brown;" Greek phryne, toad
Phryne, name of one of the most beau
tiful women OF antiquity; Sanskrit
babhrus, brown" as an adjective,
beaver. as noun.
The denterotheme 10 the Angio-Sax-
on leah. "a tract of untitled land
meadow. pasture" See under Lee In
No. 81 OF this series
This Scottish surname ranks as the
twenty-first in order of frequency
among the surnames OF its native land.
It's special home is in Argyllshire and
Perthshlre.
1t was originally nickname, the
Gaelic cam sron, crooked nose" APP
piled to its original bearers from such
. physical popularity as Indicated.
The prototheme cam 10 one of the
few Gaelic adjectives that usually
stand before the substantive. 1t is
frequent both. In personal and In
place-nsmes. 1t is: canm In Old irish,
cam in Irish. Gaelic and Cornish camm
ana cam in Welsh, cam. kan and
kamm In Breton. all descended from a
Celtic cambro-s. A number of addi-
tfonal details win be found under
Campbell in No. of this series.
The deuterotheme is the Gaelic and
irish sron nose" cognate with the
Welsh ffroen and Breton froan nose"
and possibly remotely allied to the
Greek rhis, rhinos. "nose." which has
lost an initial IS"
The traditions of the clan assert
that their ancestor was young son
of one Of the Danish kings. who as
sisted in restoring Fergus II to his
throne in 404. He was called Gamer
on by the Scots because OF his crook
ed nose.
Another tradition, makes him Dane
who had settled In one of the North
ern isles ana who in the latter part of
the reign of King William the Lion
or In the beginning of that of King
Alexander II. that Is. in the first
quarter OF the thirteenth century, mar
fied the daughter and heiress OF Mac
Martin. head Of q very old clan In In
verness.
There IS parishof considerable size,
of the name, in the Low1and county of
Fife, mentioned as Cambroun in 1900
and as cambron In 1890. The b. here
Is frequent intrusion after I'M" So
camus, CROOK becomes cambus in
place-names generally.
Cenferflt.
The surname Centerfit has every ap-
pearance of a corrupted form. I have
no data on the name a. II does not oc-
cur on my lists OF over hundred
thousand names. The name should be
traced backward by a family historian
or genealogist to recover Its earlier
spelling.
am inclined. however. to think that
this name Is the present representative
OF the name Sancte Fid, Sancte Eide
and Sancte Fidfs. found on the Hum
dred Rolls OF 1878 IN Lincolnshire and
derived from the parish of Sancta
Fides. or st = Faith. In that county,
This name would easily beoeome
sente Frid or FIT. IN popular pronsin-
citation and then popular etymology
would lead 10 CeuteIuI t<555sF
Another possibility Is Saint Hervet.
derived from Herve or Hervet the
popular saint OF Brittany. He was q
monk and blind bard who composed
many simple and religious poems which
have been the favorites of the Breton
peasantry for more than twelve ceff-
turtles, Herve and Hervet have been
the names of peer ami peasant in that
land ever since There Is also a village
Of Saint Herve in Brittany.
The name Latinized as Herveus
came to England with the Conqueror
and appears as that OF tenant-in-
chief at the time Of the Domesday
Glossy
It is disputed whether his name is
from the Breton gwaerv. hitter" re-
ferring to the legendary bitter sorrow
of his parents when they :. discovered
Teutonie Heriwis. rthe warrior of the
army"
Any reader having defnite knowi-
eigee OF earlier forms of Centerfit or
of the history of the name or family
will confer a favor by communicating
with the writer
Cooper. Cowper.
Cooper is an occupative surname
signifying 'the cooper or maker OF
casks. tubs, etc.
The great Oxford Dictionary was
not able TO report the word cooper as
found earlier than the fifteenth CEN
fury In England. The Hundred Rolls
OF 1878. however. show that the word
is at least two centuries older on
English soil. for here we find lie en-
pere. lie cnpper and lie cupare. The
Yorkshire Poll Tax List Of 1a7a has