THE SECOND WINTER MEETING. xliil. 



"I thiuk this will make it clear. It shows why Fuddle is a possible variant 

 and is, in fact, in use ; but the real standard form is Piddle." 



With regard to " Trenthide " Professor Skeat writes :— In the charters pub- 

 lished by Kemble Fidcle occurs four times ; not a word about Trctithide. 



" Still there is evidence of the ' 30 liides ' ; and if you like to assume that the 

 name of ' Trente hide,' meaning 30 hides, was devised by some Norman after 

 the Conquest, that is reasonable. Domesday Book shows that Trenthide, as a 

 name, was quite unknown in lOSO. 



" Briefly, the old name was simply Pidele, pure and simple, of which Pidrie is a 

 stupid Norman travesty. Obviously the place was named from the river." 



With reference to iEIfgifu, ^thelred's bride (who is said to have bestowed the 

 manor upon the New Minster at Winchester), the Professor says "it is incon- 

 ceivablethat "thirty "could have been expressed by " trente " before 1052, 

 when she died." 



In the absence, therefore, of any eleventh century authority, I suppose we 

 must not press our claim for the antiquity of the name the parish now bears. It 

 certainly did seem to me a likely thing that so ardent a supporter of matters 

 Norman, as ^Ifgifu was, would have bestowed such an appropriate designation 

 in her native tongue (for which a parallel occurs in the neighbouring "Fife- 

 heads ") ; but there is no evidence to support this theory. I feel that, as a Club, 

 we are deeply indebted to Professor Skeat for the light he has throwai upon 

 this interesting point. 



Papers. 



The following papers were also read : — 



(i.) " British Arachnida," by the Rev. O. Pickard- 



Cambridge, F.R.S. (Printed.) 

 (ii.) "Dorset Tokens of the i8th and 19th Centuries, and 

 ]\Iedals relating to the County," by INIr. Henry 

 Symonds. (Printed.) 

 (iii.) "Hilton Church," by the Rev. E. H. H. Lee, 

 (Printed.) 



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