Chapter XII

), French usually keeps one or both, though these were more often lost when the name passed into England. Thus our Roach is not a fish-name, but corresponds to Fr. Laroche or Delaroche; and the blind pirate Pew, if not a Welshman, ap Hugh, was of the race of Dupuy, from Old Fr. Puy, a hill, Lat. podium, a height, gallery, etc., whence also our Pew, once a raised platform.

In some cases the prefix has passed into English; e.g. Diprose is from des préaux, of the meadows, a name assumed by Boileau among others. There are, of course, plenty of places in France called Les Préaux, but in the case of such a name we need not go further than possession of, or residence by, a piece of grass-land--

"Je sais un paysan qu'on appelait Gros-Pierre, Qui, n'ayant pour tout bien qu'un seul quartier de terre, Y fit tout alentour faire un fossé bourbeux, Et de monsieur de l'Isle en prit le nom pompeux."

(Molière L'Ecole des Femmes, i. 1.)

The Old French singular préal is perhaps the origin of Prall, Prawle. Similarly Preece, Prees, usually for Price, may sometimes be for des Pres. With Boyes (