102 MR. CARR ON COMPOSITE NAMES OF PLACES; ETC. 



in probably every countj of England, and is associated with 

 many sites of singular beauty and of old historical renown. 



There will be found a class of names terminating in over, our, 

 ore, or, and er, as Bolsover, Windsor, Cumnor; the origin of 

 which ending is the Anglo-Saxon word ofer, (in the dative ofre,) 

 signifying a hank or margin. It is the German ufer, which has 

 the same sense. This in the Low German is over, and occurs in 

 the name of Hanover. 



In Doomsday Book this termination generally appears in the 

 form of the dative or ablative case with the final e as Calnovre 

 or Calnouvre, Balcovre, Edensovre, now Edensor near Chatsworth, 

 Belsovre,Essovre,&c., all in Derbyshire. In Yorkshire is mentioned 

 Ulsigovere, from this element appended to the personal name Ul- 

 sig or Wolfsig, in later English, Wolsey. Shotover near Oxford, 

 and Bolsover still retain their terminations uncontracted. 



The stately site of Windsor itself was in early English days 

 designated under the forms of Windlesovra, Windlesora, Windes- 

 ora, Windesoure : the first part of the word alluding, it is thought, 

 to the Windels, or basket-osiers, cultivated on the banks of the 

 Thames. The arc of bulrushes even was expressed in Saxon by 

 the term windel. 



The truth is that old significant names, however humble and 

 homely in their first origin, are never out of place, but lend them- 

 selves easily to the highest and most dignified associations. They 

 spring from the vernacular speech of the country, bearing the 

 traces of its old inflections, and perpetuating its archaic forms. 

 Hence they possess an historical worth and weight which no modern 

 coinage can attain. Thus it matters not, whether a North 

 American town be called Athens, or Utica, or Bufl\ilo ; the stamp 

 of modern vulgarity is there, proclaiming how low English taste 

 had fallen in the days when we colonized those regions. 



It is unfortunate that Bagsore, in Shropshire, because the g 

 happens to be pronounced soft, has come to be written Badger. 

 Had reference been made to Doomsday Book, some such compro- 

 mise as Badgesor would have been preferred, so as to reconcile 

 etymology and pronunciation as nearly as possible. As the 

 study of national antiquities and language proceeds, names 



