ANGLO-SAXON PATRONYMICS. 453 
And this form introduced into deeds and docu- 
ments by Christianity, became the origin of all 
our surnames ending in son. Yet patronymics 
descended to this era and received also the self- 
same modification, so that they mingle with the 
rest, and keep their pristine character. Of the 
fantastical names, given by parents at the birth of 
their offspring, little needs be said, farther than 
that they furnished one set of names ending in 
son, as Edwardson, Edmundson, Richardson, Har- 
rison. Kpithets, trades, and occupations furnished 
another set, as Smithson, Hindson, Swainson. 
While patronymics supplied a third set, along 
with names of similar endings, mingling with them 
from Norse and Danish names and extraction ; 
thus among our family names, we find Dicks: 
from this we have Dixon and Dickson, and also 
Dickens, and from Dickens, Dickenson. Dixon 
with an x, is doubtlessly a false spelling for Dick- 
son, and Dickens so likewise for Dickins. But 
ins or in is no Anglo-Saxon termination, nor is it 
Norse or Danish, for the Norse termination in 
‘in’ is feminine, as also is the Danish correspond- 
ing one of “inde.” It can only be referred to 
the patronymic ing; and Dickinson is thence, as 
it were, a double patronymic, and this doubling of 
forms is not unusual in our language. So many 
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