OF ANGLO-SAXON DERIVATION, 163 



hall; rye, (in A.S. rjge,) having been the bread-corn of the north 

 of England, long before wheat was generally cultivated there. 

 Two designations of places in the county of Durham, Roca and 

 Stella, are of such soft and southern aspect, that one might wonder 

 from what Italian or Iberian shore they had found their way to 

 the cliffs of Monk-wearmouth, and the banks of the Tyne. I 

 conceive, however, that time was, when our forefathers called 

 them, in plain northern English, the Roch-hcC and the Stell-licC ; 

 though documentary proof does not enable me to speak with 

 certainty. 



Gate, (pronounced also by the people yett^ was in Anglo-Saxon 

 gat, geat, (es, neut.) Its signification was not limited to its 

 ordinary modern English sense, but was extended to that of the 

 German gasse, the Old-Norse gata, and Danish gade, namely, 

 the street of a toivn; or, at least, such streets as led to the old 

 portals. 



It is applied in this manner in the city of Durham, where 

 certain streets are called Framwellgate, Gilligate, Southgate, (fee. ; 

 another is designated Elvet, and the conjectural derivations 

 hitherto given in explanation are not satisfactory. Probably some 

 early document may hereafter show, that the last syllable is merely 

 an abbreviation of gate, whilst the preceding may represent, by 

 the same process, one or other of the Anglo-Saxon personal or 

 family names, beginning with JElf. This latter surmise is, how- 

 ever, made with due reservation of any plea that may be urged 

 by the Elfen race, who, unsubstantial as they may be deemed, 

 may nevertheless be able to show very substantial claims to the 

 street. 



