io" s. v. JAN. is. 19C&] NOTES AND QUERIES.
33
resistance." Isaac of York, in 'Ivanhpe'
(chap, xxii.), was in a " humour of passive
resistance" when awaiting the terrors of
Front de Bceuf in the dungeon pf the Castle
of Torquilstone and in 'Pickwick 5 the cod-
fish which Mr. Weller was taking by the
Muggletpn Telegraph back to the Manor
Farm, Dingley Dell, as a Christmas present
to Mr. Wardle, suddenly ceased its " passive
resistance " to being packed into the boot, to
the discomfiture of the guard, and " the
unsmotherable delight of all the porters and
bystanders." ALAN PITT BOBBINS.
J' FAMOUS" CHELSEA (10 th S. iv. 366, 434, 470, 517). Certainly there is a place named "Ceolesig" in two MSS. of the * A.-S. Chronicle.' an. 1006. But, unluckily, it is near Wallingford, and the modern name happens to be Cholsey.
What we really want is not suggestions, but old spellings quoted from old documents. But this would require research, and it is so very much easier to guess.
The spelling of charter No. 60 in Birch is pf no value at all ; it gives "Ethrelwedi " (sic) for ^Ethelrsedi, and "Pershora' 1 (sic) for Per- scora. So it is nothing but a late Norman copy, and is misdated.* The spelling in No. 247 is not " Celchyd/' but Celchyth ; for the d is *' crossed." WALTER W. SKEAT.
It is quite true, as PROF. SKEAT says, that the two charters which I quoted from Thorpe will be found in Birch. But I cannot see that I repeated what PROF. SKEAT had already said "as if it were new." PROF. SKEAT merely showed that "Celchyth " was "faraosus" or " celeber,*' while my object was to demonstrate, for the benefit of those readers who had not the leisure or the oppor- tunity to consult the 'Cartularium,' that the reason for its being "famous" was that so many synods were held there, and in support of this contention I gave particulars of two. I did not profess that this informa- tion was new, as it is, of course, to be found in Birch or Thorpe ; but it was so far new that I do not think it has been recorded in any history of Chelsea. I quoted from Thorpe because his collection happened to be the handiest at the moment.
As regards ' Cealchyth," PROF. SKEAT had pointed out that Mr. Plummer had made a mistake in regard to this place. I only wished to assure myself that other writers, in copying from the MSS., had not done the
- As for " Ethcealchy," the eth is a playful
French spelling of A.-S. cut ; and the A.-S. terminal letter is contemptuously omitted.
same. We now learn, on the authority of
PROF. SKEAT, unless I am mistaken in his-
language, that there were two different
places, <: Cealchyth " and "Celchyth," each
of which was celebrated for its synods. Or
can "Cealchyth" be a possible mistake of
the scribe for "Celchyth"?
With regard to MR. ADDY'S theory, there- can be no doubt that the second constituent of the name was "hyth," and not "ig." There is no authority whatever for the latter ending, and MR. ADDY merely repeats an old guess of Bosworth's. A place named "Ceoles-Ig" or "Ceols-ig" certainly occurs in the charters, but it represents Cholsey, in Berkshire, and in all probability the first constituent is not "Ceol/'a name theme, but "Ceol," a boat. The earliest mention of Chelsea after Domesday times that I can find is in the * Calendar to the Feet of Fines for London and Middlesex,' i. 2, under date 8 Ric. I. (1196), where it is spelt Chelchud'. The transition to the modern form, as I have before pointed out, is shown in the will of Richard Laykyn, mercer, dated 1535, where- the name is spelt Chelsehyth (Sharpe's 4 Calendar of Husting Wills,' ii. 639).*
W. F. PRIDEAUX.
Somner, in his 'Dictionarium Saxonico- Latino-Anglicum,' 1659, has " Ceoles-ige, loci nomen, villse insularis olim, et navibus accommodata, ut nomen significat." " Ceol^' is A.-S. for ship. Bosworth, in his 'A.-S. Diet.,' quotes Somner,and identifies " Ceoles- ig ' with Chelsea. Lewis, in his 'Topo- graphical Diet.' (seventh ed., 1848), says that Chelsea was anciently called Chelcheth, or Chelchith, " probably from the S. ceosl, cesol, sand ; and hythe, a harbour, from which its pre- sent name is derived/' Bosworth has ceosel, ceosl, gravel, sand. Camden (Gibson's trans.) says : "Chelsey [sic] is so called from a bed or shelf of sand in the river Thames (as some suppose), but in records it is named Chelche-hith. " Cealc " in A.-S. place-names- would generally be pronounced " Cawk, ' as Calke Abbey, Derby ; also Cawk well in Line., so named from the calx or chalk pits there. Somner mentions " Cealca ceaster, oppidi nomen" (i.e. chalk city), which Camden thought was Tadcaster.
The etymology of the name Chelsea and the identity of the place were discussed at 2" a S. viii. 205 and ix. 132, 189. W. 11. H.
Barton-under-Needwood.
- Might I suggest the hope that writers on this-
subject would first read my paper in 9 th b. >/>* which gives many references to the early spelling of the name ?
