Surname Origins, Their Source and Significations (1875)

lete, seems to have been in familiar use in early times.' An old poem tells us

Then the schalkes sharply shift their horses,

To show them seemly in their sheen weeds.

In 'Sir Gawayne,' too, the attendant is thus described-

Clene spurs under

Of bright golde, upon silk hordes, barred full rich,

And scholes (depending) under shanks, there the schalk rides.

We are not without traces of its existence in other compounds. Thus our 'Marshalls ' were originally marechals;' that is, 'mare-schalks,' the early name

for a horse-groom or blacksmith. The Marshall, however, was early turned into an indoor office, and seems to have been busied enough in ordering the position of guests in the hall, a very punctilious affair in those days. The Boke of Curtasye' says:

In halle marshalle alle men schalle sett,

After their degre, withouten lett.

Our 'Gateschales,' a name now altogether obsolete, were the more simple porter, while our 'Gottschalks,'a surname more frequently hailing from Germany, but once common with ourselves as a Christian name, denote simply 'God's servant.' But we are wandering. Let us come back to the dinner-table. Such sobriquets as 'Ralph le Suur'2 or 'john le Sewer'

1 This was evidently in existence as a surname formerly, although I have only been able to discover one instance of it. The Principal of Bedel Hall, one of the numerous smaller establishments at Oxford in medieval times, was in the year 1462 a certain Dr. Schalke. (Mun. Acad. Oxon.) It is very likely that our present 'Chalk' represents this name.

2 We still use the compounds of this, as in 'pursue,' 'ensue,' or 'issue;' but we scarcely now employ the simple root-word so freely as it evidently was employed in Wicklyffe's time. He translates Mark ii. 14 as follows: 'And whaune he passide he saygh Levy of Alfey sittynge at the tolbothe and he seide to hym, sue me, and he roos and suede him.'

SURNAMES OF OFFICE.

remind us of the sewer — he who brought in the viands.' A sewe, from the old French sevre, to follow, was any cooked dish, and thus is simply equivalent to our course. Chaucer, in describing the rich feasts of Cambuscan, King of Tartary, says the time would fail him to tell

Of their strange sewes.

I believe the Queen's household still boasts its four gentlemen sewers. As a surname, too, the word is still common. A curious custom presents itself to our remembrance in our 'Says,' who, when not of the 'de Says'('Hugh de Say,'A.), are but descendants of the 'le Says' ('John le Say,' M.) of the Hundred Rolls. An 'assay' or 'say' was he who assayed or tasted the messes as they were set one by one before the baron, to guard against his being accidentally or purposely poisoned. An old poem uses the fuller form, where it says

Thine assayer schalle be an hownde,

To assaye thy mete before thee.

In the 'Boke of Curtasye,' too, we are told to what ranks this privilege belonged

No mete for man schalle sayed be,

But for kynge, or prynce, or duke so fre.2

1 'The sewer must serve, and from the borde convey all manner of potages, metes, and sauces.' — The Boke of Kervynge.

2 'Item: A Duke's eldest sonn is borne a Marquisse, and shall goe as a Marquisse, and have his Assayes, the Marquisse being present.'