ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 293 



denarios." Here we see that Selborne was a royal manor : and 

 that Editha, the queen of Edward the Confessor, had been lady 

 of that manor, and was succeeded in it by the Conqueror, and 

 that it had a church. Besides these, many circumstances concur 

 to prove it to have been a Saxon village ; such as the name of 

 the place itself,* the names of many fields, and some families, t 

 with a variety of words in husbandry and common life, still sub- 

 sisting among the country people. 



What probably first drew the attention of the Saxons to this 

 spot was the beautiful spring or fountain called Well Head,:}: 

 which induced them to build by the banks of that perennial 



* Selesburne, Seleburne, Selburn, Selbourn, Selborne, and Selborn, as it has 

 been variously spelt at different periods, is of Saxon derivation ; for Set signi- 

 fies great, and burn torrens, a brook or rivulet : so that the name seems to be 

 derived from the great perennial stream that breaks out at the upper end of 

 the village. Sel also signifies bonus, \\.zm. fcecundus, fertilis. " Sel ss&pp-cun : 

 f&cunda gtaminis clausura ; fertile pascuum : a meadow in the parish of 

 Godelming is still called Sal-gars-ton" LYE'S Saxon Dictionary ', in the Sup- 

 plement, by Mr. Manning. 



f Thus, the name of Aldred signifies all-reverend, and that of Kemp means 

 a soldier. Thus we have a church-litton, or enclosure for dead bodies, and 

 not a church-yard ; there is also a Culver-croft near the Grange-farm, being 

 the enclosure where the priory pigeon-house stood, from culver a pigeon. 

 Again there are three steep pastures in this parish called the Lithe, from 

 Hlithe, clivus. The wicker-work that binds and fastens down a hedge on the 

 top is called ether, from ether, a hedge. When the good women call their 

 hogs they cry sic, sic, 1 not knowing that sic is Saxon, or rather Celtic, for a 

 hog. Coppice or brushwood our countrymen call rise, from Arts, frondes 

 and talk of a load of rise. Within the author's memory the Saxon plurals, 

 housen and peason, were in common use. But it would be endless to instance 

 in every circumstance : he that wishes for more specimens must frequent a 

 farmer's kitchen. I have therefore selected some words to show how familiar 

 the Saxon dialect was to this district, since in more than seven hundred years 

 is far from being obliterated. 



J Well-head signifies spring-head, and not a d eep pit from whence we draw 

 water. For particulars about which see Letter I. to Mr. Pennant. 



1 2i*a, porcus, apud Lacones ; un Porceau chez les Lacedemonians : ce mot a sans doute 

 este pris des Celtes, qui disoent sic, pour marquer un porceau. Encore aujour'huy quand le 

 Bretons chassent ces animaux, ils ne disent autrement, que sic, sic. Antiquitt de la Nation 

 it de la Langue des Celtes, par Pezron, 



