"JEWS IN COI?^fWALL"; AND " MARAZION." 333 



" Anyhow it is clear that in Marazion we have some kind of name 

 "for market. The old Cornish word for market is marchas, a 

 " corruption of the Latin mercatus. Originally the Cornish word 

 " must have been mar chad, and this form is preserved in Brittany, 

 " while in Cornish the cli gradually sank to h, and the final d to s." 

 We thus easily see the connection between Murchad, Marhas, and 

 Maraz, in Marclmdyon, Marazion, &c. ; and the connection between 

 Marchad and Market, in Market Jeiv is still more palpable, the ch 

 and d having been hardened into k and t. But how are we to 

 account for the variation in the rest of the name 1 And what is 

 the meaning we are to attach to it 1 Here is indeed a riddle, to 

 the solution of which we now address ourselves ; and, if we can- 

 not show positively what are the origin and meaning of the name, 

 we may show what they may be. 



The possible meanings of " Marazion " and its alias " Market 

 Jew," considered by Professor Max Miiller, are " Thursday Market," 

 "Little Market," "Markets," and "Jew-Market." He says: "The 

 " only explanation of the name which we meet with in early writers, 

 " such as Leland, Camden, and Carew, is that it meant ' Thursday 

 "Market.' Leland expresses AIarasdeyth7jonhj forum Jovis. Camden 

 " explains Merkiu in tjie same manner, and Carew takes Marcaieiv 

 "as originally Marhas dieiv, i.e., 'Thursdaies market, for then it 

 " useth this traflfike.' " We further know, from a charter granted 

 by Eobert, Earl of Cornwall, that the monks of the Mount had 

 the privilege of holding a market on Thursday (die quintce ferioi) ; 

 and though it is doubtful whether this market was held on the 

 mainland or on the Mount, yet I think, notwithstanding what the 

 Professor says, that this is sufficient reason why the little town, 

 at or near which the market was held, should have been called by 

 some people " Thursday Market " ; just as S. Sampson's Square, 

 in York, formerly was " Thursday Market," and, I believe, is still 

 popularly so called, because a market is held there on Thursday. 



Dr. Oliver derived " Market Jew " ^rom the ISTorman-French 

 MarcM de Jeudi, which corresponds exactly "with what I believe to 

 be the true reading of Leland, Marasdeythyou : Maras:=market, 

 deyth=diij, deythyow=T\'mrsda,j. Professor Max Miiller says : 

 "Thursday in Cornish was called deyow, not diew." But such is 

 the uncertainty of spelling in old Cornish that either of them 

 would serve as a contraction for the full form of the word as found 



