31 



of the Latin filius, to the father's name. In the roll or list kept at 

 Battle Abbey, of the nobles who came over with William the Con- 

 queror, at least 100 names begin with Fitz. Thus Fitz-roy was the 

 king's son, and the first person who bore that name was an illegitimate 

 son of our Henry I., whose betrothed, a wealthy heiress, made his 

 want of a surname an objection to her marriage with him. In the old 

 chronicles the lady is represented as saying — 



" It were to me gneat shame 

 To have a lord withouteQ his twa name." 



Upon which the king to remedy the defect, gave the young man the 

 surname of Fitz-roy, a name which has been given at several subse- 

 quent periods to the illegitimate progeny of our kings. 



In Russia, instead of placing the Fitz before the father's name, they 

 place it after. Thus the eldest son of the Czar is called the Czar- 

 owitch. Peter the Great's name was Peter Alexiowitz, while the late 

 Emperor's name was Nicholas Paulowitz, and that of the present 

 Emperor is Alexander Nicolaievitch. 



Various other corruptions of this same adjunct "filius" are found 

 among other nations. With the Scotch it takes the form of " vich," and 

 the name of " Vich Ian Vohr," son of John the Great, is familiar to all 

 the readers of Waverley. With the Italians Figio-\anm and F?7i-petri 

 are equivalent to our Johnson and Peterson ; and the Hungarians 

 append to their sire-names the same word, in the very abbreviated shape 

 "fi,"' as Petq/i (=:Fili-petri), Laczofi, &c. 



Other terminations used in the formation of patronymics, are : in 

 Italian, "i,""y,'" and " cini," as in Stephan;/ [i.e. Stephenson), Palla- 

 vacini, &c. ; and in Spanish and Portuguese, " z," as in Dia^, i.e. Diego's 

 son, and Rodrigue;:;, i.e. Roderick's son. 



The Latin genitive is also sometimes found in German names, as in 

 Ernesti, Jacobi, and Ulrici. 



The French likewise sometimes prefix the preposition De, their sign 

 of the genitive, as in Danton, i.e. D'Antoine, or Antony's son ; and our 

 own name Dobree is a corruption of D'Aubry, i.e. Albertson. 



Besides the affix " vitch " already noticed, the Russians in common 

 with the Poles employ as patronymic terminations, " sky'' or "sko," as 

 in Petro\v.?/ii/, i.e. Peterson, Koskiu.sro, Poniatows%, and others ; " off " 

 as in Dawido^, i.e. Davidson, Deniidq^, Menschiko^", &c. ; "kin" as in 

 Iwash/rm, Goloff/iin ; and as a feminine termination. " owna"as in Alex- 

 AndrowiHi, or Alexander's daughter. 



Having said thus much on the si/-e-names, I now come to the siir- 



