Page:Elizabeth Elstob - An English-Saxon homily on the birth-day of St. Gregory.djvu/84

swa we cwædon. For wo-
rulde æþelboren჻ Ac
he ofertah his æþel-
borenyss mid halgum
þeawum & mid godum we-
orcum geglende჻ Gre-
gorius is grecisc nama
se swegð on ledenum
gereorde Vigilantius.
þæt is on Englisce wa-
colre჻ He wæs swyðe
wacol on godes bebodum
þa þa he sylf heri-
gendlice leofode. & he
wacollice ymb manegra
þeoda þearfa hogode. &

have said, in respect of
the World, nobly descend-
ed: But he adorn’d, and
exceeded his high Birth,
with a holy Conversation
and good Works. ^[1] Gregory
is a Greek Name, which sig-
nifies in the Latin Tongue
^[2] Vigilantius, that is in Eng-
lish, ^[3] Watchful: He was
very diligent in God's Com-
mandments, while he himself
lived most devoutly, and
he was earnestly concerned
for promoting the Advan-
tage of many Nations, and

1	2	3	4	5	6
Pater,	avos,	proavos,	abavos,	atavos,	tritavos.

Atavus est quintus pater, the fifth Father, as Tanaquil. Fab. observes in his Notes on the first Ode in Horace. This Mr. Somner did not take notice of, explaining the word by Tritavus, which would be the sixta fæder. The whole Latin Series is critically discuss'd in the Etymol. of J. Ger. Voss. under the Word Avus.

1. Γρηγόριος.
2. It is the same also with Vigilius. And Goscelin, in his Hist. Minor. cap. 2 speaking of St. Gregory, calls him Gregorius secundum suum Nomen pervigil. Vid. Angl. Sacr. Part. II. pag. 56. And Paulus Diaconus, who first writ the Life of St. Gregory, and is followed by all the after Writers on that Subject, observes, that ex Græco eloquio in nostra lingua [which is the Latin] vigilator, seu vigilans sonat.
3. Walcore, Wakeler; of this kind we may reckon our Wake, Wakelin, or Wacelyn, Wakevil, Wakefield, &c.