332 " JEWS IN CORNWALL " ; AND " MARAZION." 



varieties. I have collected above 30 from charters, old deeds, 

 rolls in the Public Eecord Office, maps and plans, the writings of 

 William of Worcester, Leland, Carew, Camden, Norden, Scawen, 

 Hals, Borlase, Whitaker, Oliver, &c. In my Paper on " Nomen- 

 clature," * I pointed out the necessity of collecting these various 

 modes of spelling ; for, as Max Miiller says : " Inquiries into the 

 " origin of local names are, in the first place, historical, and only 

 " in the second place, philological. To attempt an exj^lanation of 

 " any name, without having first traced it back to the earliest form 

 "in which we can find it, is to set at defiance the plainest rules 

 " of the science of language as well as of the science of history. 

 " Even if the interj^retation of a local name should be right, it 

 " would be of no scientific value without the preliminary inquiry 

 " into its history, which frequently consists in a succession of the 

 " most startling changes and corruptions. Those who are at 

 " all familiar with the history of Cornish names of places, will 

 " not be surprised to find the same name written in four or five, 

 "nay, in ten different ways. The fact is that those Avho pro- 

 "nounced the names were frequently ignorant of their real import, 

 " and those who had to write them down could hardly catch their 

 "correct pronunciation." In "Nomenclature" (p. 110) I shewed 

 this more particulai"ly in reference to Domesday names. 



The name of the place under discussion does not occur in 

 Domesday, unless we refer Tremarustel to this, which Mr. Carne 

 rather identifies with S. Austel. Omitting this, and a strangely 

 corrupted spelling in Earl Alan's charter, Merdresem, I think the 

 oldest form of the name I have met with is Marchachjon, so given 

 by Dr. 01iver,t in the Charter of Earl Richard, 1257. Now this 

 is easily reconciled with the form now in use, Marazion. With 

 regard to this I stated % that whatever may be the meaning of the 

 latter part, the meaning of the former part is quite plain, viz., 

 "Market." II So far, the Professor and I are agreed. He says : 



* Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, No. VI, p. 108. 



f Monasticon, p. 31. 



J Nomenclature, p. 115. 



II We have another name compounded with this: " Marhas an vose," 

 in Perranzabuloe. If we wish to he very correct in every respect, this is 

 " Market of the entrenchment" (Mac Lauchlan) ; but older writers gave it 

 "Maid's Market." The word admits of both significations. 



