NOTES AND QUERIES. [* s. v. JAN. 6, im
from the common noun. But in Edgware,
co. Middlesex, and Edge worth, co. Glou-
cester,* we have records of the masc.
ending -es, so that these names must be from
men's names, the gen. sing, of the common
noun being ecge. I suspect that a personal
name occurs in the Domesday Book name
for the hundred of Christ Church, co. Hants.
It is written Ege-iete (i. 516, col. 1), Eghe-iete
(i. 386, col. 2, 43b, col. 1, 44, col. 2), and
Eghe-iet (46, col. 2). The latter part of the
name is undoubtedly O.E. geat, dat. geate,
and the first part is ecg plus a vowel (Eghe.
264, col. 2, 264b, col. 1, now Edge, co. Chester,
represents the dat. sing. Ecge). By the time
of the Survey the weak-ending -an had sunk
down in compounds to -e, so that this may
be an O.E. *Ecgan-geat (cf. Wigheiete, i. 166b,
col. 2= Wiggangeat, Wyegate, co. Glouc.,
- Cart. Sax., ; iii. 585, 23). It might represent
an Ecges-geat, for the gen. sing. masc. is frequently given as e in Domesday and in later records. Later forms do not throw any light upon the origin. It occurs as Eggieta (Latinized) in Pipe Koll, 14 Hen. II., 182; Eggiet(h)e in the rolls 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Hen. II. But whatever the original form of this local name may have been, we have in it a form that would regularly yield Edgett. t A natural feature that could give its name to a hundred might easily be recorded in a family name.
Edgett is, moreover, derivable from the masc. name Ead-geat (written Eddiet in Domesday), since nundreds of these O.E personal names are still preserved as family names. Nor does this exhaust the possibilities for, by the processes referred to above
- jEadan-geat, *Eades-geat, compounds of gea
with hypocoristic forms of names beginning with Ead-> might also produce a modern Edgett. Probabilities are in favour of th< Hampshire local name or the personal namj ^l an d the question which it really i
- The former, an O.E. *Ecges-wer (written jEgces
wer in an eleventh-century Westminster charte dated 978, ' Cart. Sax.,' iii. 605, 12), occurs in th Pipe Roll, 15 Hen. 11., p. 173, as Eggeswera; ii 1168-1173 as Egges-ivere ('Cat. of Ancient Deeds. A 2097) ; Eges-ivere, A 2146 ; in 1266, Egges-were A 1737, &c. The Gloucestershire village, O.E. *Ecges toeorS, appears in Domesday, i. 166b, col. 1, 167b col. 2, as Egeis-uurde, Eges-worde.
t It is noteworthy that there was an Eces-geat possibly miscopied for Ecges-geat, in Bicingtun, o Bickton, par. of Fordingbridge, co. Hants ('Cart Sax.,' iii. 252, 3, from the ' Liber de Hyda,' where it i wrongly identified by Dr. Birch with Bightor which is phonologically improbable), in the vicinit of the hundred in question.
J The geat of this name has nothing to do wit geat, but represents either the deity Geat or th
an only be settled by documentary evidence,
hich possibly does not exist.
W. H. STEVENSON.
" CORDWAINER " (9 th S. iv. 436). This word, n the form of cordiner, is applied to the craft f shoemakers in Scotch burghs. It is said to >e derived from Cordova, in Spain, noted for ts leather manufactures. Tanned horse eather is known in Scotland as cordovan. amieson says that the name of cordwainer was generally given in Europe to one who wrought in foreign leather. French cordon- lier, corduannier ; Swedish corduwans- nakere, a leather-dresser. A. G. REID.
Auchterarder.
BOUDICCA REPULSED AT VERULAM (9 th
S. iv. 457). There is no ground for suppos- ng that Verulam was the scene of the defeat of Boudicca (Boadicea). Tacitus (* Ann.,' xiv. 31-37), in relating the battle, does not men- tion any place. Meriyale ('History of the Romans/ ch. li.) conjectures that it was ought near Camulodunum (Colchester) ; for this view he refers to Mr. Jenkins in Archceo- ogia, 1842, and to the Quarterly Review, vol. xcvii. Orelli on Tacitus, ' Ann.,' xii. 32, mentions the opinion that Camulodunum was Maldon, near Colchester ; but this view is decidedly disapproved by Hiibner in Pauly's ' Beal - Encyclopadie,' new ed., art.
- Camulodunum.' Verulam was taken by the
Britons and the population slaughtered in the insurrection. B. H.
I cannot agree with MR. HOOPER that it is " a mere duty " to use u Boudicca " instead of " Boadicea " as " the more correct name." He may not know that the MS. evidence is very conflicting. In the 'Annals,' xiv., it is as follows: "Boodicia" (31), "Bouducca" (35), "Boudicca" (37). On the other hand, both the MSS. of the 'Agricola' of Tacitus (16) have the a, reading "Voaduca" and "Voadicca." Orelli, the best editor, reads " Boudicea " ; but there seems to me quite sufficient evidence to warrant in current speech a retention of the form which has been fixed as English. Such changes in names are often attempted, but hardly ever carried through where a word has become a national English possession apart from its use by the learned. HIPPOCLIDES.
MAY ROAD WELL, ACCRINGTON (9 th S. iv. 396, 464). I dp not like to destroy the pious inferences which the theories of your cor re- Germanic tribal name Gautoz, the Gautar whose name is preserved in the Swedish province ot Gotland (O.N. Gaut-land), Germanic au having developed into O.E. ea.
