480 Wiscormn Academy of Sciences^ Aiis, and Letters. 



and Pavill, if French, may mean : the one a to\vn of gold, and 

 the other a suburb. Ely and Kamsav indicate islands, the one 

 of ezls and the other of ram^, as Shelly points to an isle of 

 dheUs. Pinney is isle of pins, a word which of old included 

 both pegs and underpinning. The name of old was spelled 

 with a y ; so was pin, which also had two n's. Such place-names 

 were often first given by outsiders when natives migrated, and 

 in their new homes were thought of in reference to their prov- 

 enance. 



Several namxcs cam^e from connection with trees. Grover, 

 one dwelling by a grove, is similar to Atwood. Analogous is 

 Silas, that is, icoodman, being a contraction of silvaniis, which 

 is woodman in Latin. So Birge, if English, is probably hircli 

 wood. Thwaites is a clearing in a wood, — a place where the 

 trees have been thivnclced. Other names show connection with 

 valleys. ComiStock is the clan in a comb — comh in old English 

 meaning a valley or the ridge which hems it in. The' word 

 honeycomb still shows the ancient meaning. Dalzel is the 

 white dell, and Kendall the dale of kindred. 



Newton — neiv tovjn — is self-explaining. Stanley is a field 

 of stone. Lansing — the field of a lancer — reminds of a West- 

 emism, namely, tomahawk right. Sheldon is hill of shells, and 

 Conover, a cow-yard. 



Several local names were given in reference to water. Moore 

 is a marsh; so is Kerr, so is Van Hise — Hise being a corruption 

 of ness, which is Dutch for a swamp, and akin to the German 

 nass. 



Bashford is tlie passage of a stream ; the first syllable may 

 be has as in Bascom — i. e., loiver valley, or is it rather a varia- 

 tion of hush f " Olin, unless his lineage runs back to the Xorse 

 Ole, may denote a pool, — and especially, one not shallow. Lin- 

 coln is a colony beside a pool. ITpham is upper hamlet, and 

 Updike probably upon the dike. 



The name Wright is the same word as ivorker, the letter r 

 being transposed. It was in usage restricted to a mechanical 

 worker, as car^wright, etc. The name Wayne, the old English 

 form of luain, or wagon, is still found in the compound, Wain- 



*In the British gazetteer I find thre^ places now set down as das-ford, 

 and one as 6as church. 



