OF SELBORNE 241 



" 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, 1 the names of many fields, and some families, 2 

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

 subsisting 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 f which 

 induced them to build by the banks of that perennial current ; for 

 ancient settlers loved to reside by brooks and rivulets, where they 

 could dip for their water without the trouble and expense of 

 digging wells and of drawing. 



It remains still unsettled among the antiquaries at what time 

 tracts of land were first appropriated to the chase alone for the 

 amusement of the sovereign. Whether our Saxon monarchs had 

 any royal forests does not, I believe, appear on record ; but the 

 Constitutiones de Foresta of Canute, the Dane, are come down to 

 us. We shall not therefore pretend to say whether Wolmer-forest 



1 Selesburne, Seleburne, Selburn, Selbourn, Selborne, and Selborn, as it has been 

 variously spelt at different periods, is of Saxon derivation ; for Set signifies 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, item, fcecundus,fertilis. " bel-gaepr-tun : faecunda graminis 

 clausura ; fertile pascuum : a meadow in the parish of Godelming is still called 

 Sal-gars-ton." Lye's Saxon Dictionary, in the Supplement, by Mr. Manning. 



2 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 en- 

 closure 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 an hedge. When the good women call their hogs they cry sic, sic* not 

 knowing that sic is Saxon, or rather Celtic, for a hog. Coppice or brush wood our 

 countrymen call rise, from hris, frondes ; and talk of a load of rise. Within the 

 author's memory the Saxon plurals, housen a.nd Reason, 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 it is far from being obliterated. 



3 Well-head signifies spring-head, and not a deep pit from whence we draw 

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



*2ica, porcus, apud Lacones ; un Porceau chez les Lactdtmoniens : ce mot a 

 sans doute este" pris des Celtes, qui disoient sic, pour marquer un porceau. Encore 

 aujourd'huy quand les Bretons chassent ces animaux, ils ne disent point autrement, 

 que sic, sic. Antiquitt de la Nation, et de la Langue des Celtes, par Pezron. 



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