By Nevil Story Maskelyne, M.A., FRS. 99 
rising from a ford or shallow, the place, namely, on the river at 
_ which it was crossed by the Roman Road. 
The sister name of Lechlade would probably mean the reedy 
ford or shallow, Jacha, iad, from Jacha, a reed, also a Goidelic word. 
Anglo-Saxon derivations for the place-name Cricklade have been 
suggested, and one has the support of Mr. Toller. They depend 
on the word ge/dd, a road, resembling the terminal part of the 
fame as given in the Saxon Chronicles. Mr. Toller (in the new 
edition of Bosworth’s Dictionary) gives the forms Creccagelad, 
and Creca-lad, deriving the gelad in the manner mentioned. On 
the first syllable he gives no discussion, whether as being derived 
from erecca, a creek or bay, or from crecise, Greek (créca the 
substantive). Of course the final syllable of Lechlade would have 
to be similarly derived: which alone renders the suggestion at least 
very improbable. But in fact the scribes of the Chronicles, who 
_are the authorities quoted for the form ge/ad, can hardly date earlier 
than the twelfth century. Thus the form Creccagelade occurs in the 
Parker MS. (in a paragraph representing the events of the year 905), 
and in the (D) MS. in the parallel passage the name is Oreocegelade. 
For the events of the year 1016, in a paragraph in the Laudian 
MS., the town appears as Croecilade, and in the corresponding 
passage of the (C) MS. it is Cregelade. 
It would seem not improbable that the name became 
“ Engliscised ” in progress of time by giving it at the hands of the 
scribes a termination that included the ge with what looked as a 
meaning in the vernacular ; the g being transferred from the first 
to the second syllable. Had the ge been an essential part of the 
ne me in common parlance it would hardly have dropped out of the 
word as handed on in the mouths of the people, as has been the 
case in all the three names, Oricklade, Chicklade, and Lechlade. 
