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Wyne, pleasant, or as a noun, Joy or Pleasure ; Bert, bright ; Ulf, help ; 

 Eed or Roed (hence our modern read) used in the composition of 

 names both as a prefix and a postfix and signifying speech, counsel, 

 prudence or sagacity; and lastly Frith, peace. Hence such modern names as 

 Goodwin, Godfrey, Goderick ; Oswald, a heroic ruler ; Osmond, protected 

 by the Gods ; Oscar, Osbert, Oswy and Osric. From Orm, a serpent, 

 which was a common personal name among the Northmen, is derived our 

 local name " Ormathwaite, " which in our days has given a title to a peer 

 of the realm, and Ormerod, which is the exact synonym of Ormathwaite, 

 both signifying Orme's Clearing. Then we have Hildehrand which 

 signifies the torch of war, as Guthred does sagacious in war ; Guthlac is 

 the modern Goodlake; Baldwin, bold in battle; Ethelred, noble in council; 

 and Ethelwolf, the noble wolf ; Egbert, bright eyed ; Edivin, gainer of 

 prosperity ; Edward, guardian of happiness. It would be easy to extend 

 this list, but half a dozen Saxon feminine names must suffice. Alfred the 

 Great, we learn, married the daughter of a Mercian noble ; she bore the 

 name of Ethelswitha, which signifies, noble in the highest degree ; then we 

 have Wiymefred, pleasant or persuasive or perhaps, winning in speech (Of. 

 our old English word, tvinsome) ; Mildred, mild or gentle of speech ; 

 Bertha, the bright maiden ; Ethelinda, the noble maiden ; Edith, the 

 happy, or blessed or prosperous maiden. 



With the advent of the Norman rule was ushered in a host of new 

 names which for a time eclipsed the Saxon, as the historical 

 records of Rolls of Courts of the period abundantly testify ; indeed it 

 seemed as if not merely the Saxon names but the Saxon tongue itself was 

 to become extinct. We all know how under the stern savage rule of the 

 early Norman Sovereigns the Norman language was constituted the lan- 

 guage of the Court, the Church, the Baronial Hall, the Courts of Law and 

 Justice and the Public Schools of the Kingdom ; and most of us know I 

 suppose, how, after a struggle for the mastery between the two — the one 

 the language of the rich, the powerful, and the noble, the other the lan- 

 guage of the common people — for more than 200 years, the down-trod- 

 den and despised Saxon tongue finally re-asserted its sway, and how it now 

 forms the staple of modern English as spoken in the walks of everyday life 



