26 USE AND ORIGIN OF SURNAMES. 
are instances also of the termination son being 
joined to surnames, as, Cookson, Swainson, 
Smithson, &e. 
The form of this class is so obvious, and the 
principle on which it is founded so apparent, that 
but little is necessary to be added in explanation. 
So obvious indeed did this mode of designation 
always appear, that it was very early adopted by 
various nations in one form or another. In those 
venerable oracles of remote antiquity, the writings 
of Moses, we have observed its use not unfre- 
quently. It occurs in the first instance in the 
second book of Moses, and is applied to persons 
contemporary with him. A mode of designation 
was afterwards adopted among the Hebrews, 
which, though apparently different, corresponded 
with that just noticed: it was by prefixing the 
monosyllables dar and ben to the name of father, 
as Benhadad, Barjonas, and a few more. 
The like distinction of individuals, by express- 
ing the relation of son, was that in common use 
among the Greeks. Thus I give an instance 
from Herodotus, in whom the form often 
occurs: KapPvone 6 Kvpov, Cambyses the son of 
Cyrus. In instances like this, the word tue son 
is understood in Greek, and is represented only 
