Surname Origins, Their Source and Significations (1875)

'Nicholas Osemund,' or 'John Oswald.' Nor must 'Thor,' the 'Jupiter tonans' of the Norsemen, be left out, for putting aside local names, and the day of the week that still memorialises him, we have yet severalsurnames that speak of his influence. 'Thurstan' and 'Thurlow' seem both of kin. 'Thorald,'however, has made the greatest mark, and next 'Thurkell.'Thorald may be seen in 'Torald Chamberlain'(A), Ralph fil. Thorald (A), or Torald Benig (A); while Thurkell or Thurkill is found first in the fuller form in such entries as 'Richard Thyrketyll,' or 'Robert Thirkettle,' and then in the contracted in 'Thurkeld le Seneschal,' or ' Robert Thurkel.'

We have just referred to Thurkettle. 'Kettle' was very closely connected with the mythology of Northern Europe, and is still a great name in Norway and in Iceland. The sacrificial cauldron of the gods must certainly have been vividly present to the imagination of our forefathers. The list of names compounded with 'Kettle' is large even in England. The simple 'Kettle' was very common. In Domes-day it is 'Chetill,' in the Hundred Rolls 'Ketel' or 'Cetyl' or 'Cattle.' Such entries as 'Ketel le Mercer,' or 'Chetel Frieday,' or 'Cattle Bagge,' are met with up to the fifteenth century, and as surnames 'Kettle,' 'Chettle ' and 'Cattle ' or 'Cattell' have a well-established place in the nineteenth. Of the compound formswe have already noticed 'Thurkettle' or ' Thurkell:

Anketil le Mercir' (A), 'Roger Arketel' (A), 'WilliamAsketill' (Q), and 'Robert fil. Anskitiel' (W. 12) are all but changes rung on Oskettle. The abbots of England, in 941, 992, and 1,052, were 'Turketyl,' 'Osketyl,' and 'Wulfketyl' respectively. The last seems

PATRONYMIC SURNAMES.

to be the same as 'Ulchetel' found in Domesday.' In the same Survey we light upon a 'Steinchetel,' and

Grinketel ' is also found in a Yorkshire record of the same period.2Orm, the representative of pagan worship in respect of the serpent, has left its memorial in such entries as 'Alice fil. Orme,' or 'Ormus Archbragge.' The descendants of these are our 'Ormes ' and 'Ormesons.' More local names abide in 'Ormsby,' ' Ormskirk,' 'Ormerod,' and 'Ormes Head.'

A series of names, some of them connected with the heroic and legendary lore of Northern Europe, were formed from the root ' sig ' — conquest. Many of these maintained a position as personal names Iong after the Norman invasion, and now exist in our directories as surnames. Nevertheless, as with the others hitherto mentioned, they are all but invariably found in their simple and uncompounded form. Our ' Sewards,' 'Seawards,' and 'Sawards ' represent the chief of these. It is found in England in the seventh century, and was a great Danish name. Entries like 'Syward Godwin ' or 'Siward Oldcorn' are found as late as the beginning of the fourteenth century. Next we may mention our 'Segars,' 'Sagars,' 'Sa-hers,' 'Sayers,' and 'Saers,'undoubted descendants of

'While all these fuller forms are obsolete as surnames, we must not forget that most of them still exist curtailed. From early days ' kettle' in compounds became ' kill' or 'kell.' Thus 'Thurkettle' has left us ' Thurkell' and 'Thurkill,' already mentioned. Osketyl' has become 'Oskell' ('Oskell Somenour,' A. A. 3, vol. ii. p. 184). 'Ulchetel' was registered as 'Ulkell' and 'Ulchel' ('W. 12, pp. 19, 2o), Our 'ArkeIls' (Sim. fil. Arkill, E.), I doubt not, are corruptions of 'Ansketyl' or 'Oscetyl' or 'Arketel.'

2 Matthew Paris, under date 1047, says of the bishopric of Selsey, 'Defuncto Grinketel, Selesiensi pontifice, Hecca regis capellanus successit.'