Chapter XV
), Black and its variant Blake sometimes mean pale. Blagg is the same word; cf. Jagg for Jack. White has no doubt been reinforced by wight, valiant
"Oh for one hour of Wallace wight Or well-skilled Bruce to rule the fight."
(Marmion, vi. 20.)
As an epithet applied to the hair we often find Hoar; cf. Horlock. Redd is rare, the usual forms being the northern Reid, Reed, Read; but we also have Rudd from Anglo-Sax. rud, whence ruddy and the name Ruddock, really a bird nickname, the redbreast. To these must be added Rudge, Fr. rouge, Rouse, Rush and Russ, Fr, roux, and Russell or Rowsell, Old Fr. roussel (Rousseau). The commonest nickname for a fair-haired person was Blunt, Blount, Fr. blond, with its dim. Blundell, but the true English name is Fairfax, from Anglo-Sax. feax, hair. The New English Dictionary quotes from the fifteenth century
"Then they lowsyd hur feyre faxe, That was yelowe as the waxe."
The adjective dun was once a regular name, like Dobbin or Dapple, for a cart-horse; hence the name of the old rural sport "Dun in the mire"--
"If thou art dun we'll draw thee from the mire." (Romeo and Juliet, i. 4.)
It is possible that the name Dunn is sometimes due to this specific application of the word. The colour blue appears as Blew--
"At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blew: To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new"
(Lycidas, 1. 192)--
and earlier still as Blow--
"Blak, blo, grenysh, swartysh, reed."
(House of Fame, iii. 557.)
Other colour names of French origin are Morel, swarthy, like a Moor, also found as Murrell [Footnote: This, like Merrill, is sometimes from Muriel.]; and Burnell, Burnett, dims. of brun, brown. Chaucer speaks of--
"Daun Burnet the asse" (B, 4502);
[Footnote: Lat. dominus; the masculine form of dame in Old French.]
"Daun Russel the fox" (B, 4524.)
But both Burnell and Burnett may also be local from places ending in -hill and -head (), and Burnett is sometimes for Burnard. The same applies to Burrell, usually taken to be from Mid. Eng. borel, a rough material, Old Fr. burel (bureau), also used metaphorically in the sense of plain, uneducated
"And moore we seen of Cristes secree thynges Than burel folk, al though they weren kynges."
(D, 1871.)
The name can equally well be the local Burhill or Burwell.
Murray is too common to be referred entirely to the Scottish name and is sometimes for murrey, dark red (Fr. mûre, mulberry). It may also represent merry, in its variant form murie, which is Mid. English, and not, as might appear, Amurrican--
"His murie men comanded he To make hym bothe game and glee."
(B, 2029.)
Pook, of uncertain origin, is supposed to have been a dark russet colour. Bayard, a derivative of bay, was the name of several famous war-horses. Cf. Blank and Blanchard. The name Soar is from the Old French adjective sor, bright yellow. It is of Germanic origin and cognate with sere.
The dim. Sorrel may be a colour name, but it was applied in venery to a buck in the third year, of course in reference to colour; and some of our names, e.g. Brocket and Prickett, [Footnote: Both words are connected with the spiky young horns, Fr. broche, spit, being applied in venery to the pointed horns of the second year.] both applied to a two-year-old stag, must sometimes be referred to this important department of medieval language. Holofernes uses some of these terms in his idiotic verses
"The preyful princess pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleasing priket; Some say a sore; but not a sore, till now made sore with shooting. The dogs did yell; put l to sore, then sorel jumps from thicket."
(Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2.)
A few adjective nicknames of Celtic origin are so common in England that they may be included here. Such are the Welsh Gough, Goff, Gooch, Gutch, red, Gwynn and Wynne, white, Lloyd, grey, Sayce, Saxon, foreigner, Vaughan, small, and the Gaelic Bain, Bean, white, Boyd, Bowie, yellow-haired, Dow, Duff, black, Finn, fair, Glass, grey, Roy, Roe, red. From Cornish come Coad, old, and Couch, [Footnote: Cognate with Welsh Gough.] red, while Bean is the Cornish for small, and Tyacke means a farmer. It is likely that both Begg and Moore owe something to the Gaelic adjectives for little and big, as in the well-known names of Callum Beg, Edward Waverley's gillie, and McCallum More. The Gaelic Begg is cognate with the Welsh Vaughan. Two other famous Highland nicknames which are very familiar in England are Cameron, crooked nose, and Campbell, wry mouth. With these may be mentioned the Irish Kennedy, ugly head, the name of the father of Brian Boru.
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