Rev. John Adams— On Sarsen Stones. 199 



"Saracen," and a writer in "Notes and Queries" thus indorses it 

 (vol. xi. 494) : " The Saxons applied the term Saresyn to pagans or 

 heathens in general ; and, as the principal specimens of these blocks 

 of stone were perceived to be congregated into temples popularly 

 attributed to heathen worship, it naturally came to pass that the 

 entire formation acquired the distinctive appellation of Saresyn, or 

 heathen stones." Unfortunately for this explanation, we never find 

 the epithet "Saracen" applied to Stonehenge, Abury (or Avebury), or 

 any other heathen temple or monument in this country. Moreover, 

 those stones must have had a distinctive name long before the Saracens 

 were heard of by the Saxon inhabitants of our Chalk Downs ; and it 

 is most unlikely that their ancient designation should ever have 

 given place to a foreign word, especially such a vague and inappro- 

 priate one as " Saracen " must have been. 



Another derivation of the word is from " Sel Stan," great stone ; 

 the prefix " Sel " being sometimes used in Saxon topography for 

 great, e.g. Selwood ; and in support of this notion, I have been 

 informed that in the north of England, isolated masses of rock are 

 called " Selfstone," pronounced " Selsun." The Latin word Saxum 

 also has been suggested as the probable root of the name ; and as it 

 expresses exactly what Sarsen commonly means, and was doubtless 

 the word by which the Eomans designated the stones, it is not im- 

 possible that the Belgic Britons of those regions may have borrowed 

 it from them, and handed it down to their descendants, corrupted 

 into " Sarsens."^ 



I would ventui'e, however, to give another derivation which seems 

 to me more probable than the foregoing. The Saxon words " Sar." 

 grievous, troublesome, and " Stan," a stone, are, I believe, the origin 

 of the term. In pronunciation they would naturally become Sarsen, 

 Sassen, or Sarsden : and, moreover, their signification is most appro- 

 priate to those stones ; for when the downs were first brought under 

 cultivation, the breaking up and hauling away such impediments to 

 the plough, as they were, must have been a very sore and trouble- 

 some Avork.^ 



With regard to the origin of the blocks themselves, theories have 

 been propounded, even more absurd than those concerning their 

 name. Sir Christopher Wren, e.g., thought that they were cast up , 

 by a volcano!^ Stukeley's notion^ was that, because they were of 

 greater specific gravity than the Chalk, they were expelled from that 

 formation by the rotation of the earth ! A writer in the "Archeeo- 



1 I am indebted to Prof. Phillips for this suggestion. 



2 The word " Sar" occurs in the earliest copy of the poem of " Chevy Chase" — 



" The dint it was both sad and sar 

 'i'hat he of Montgomry sets ; 

 The swan feathers that his arrow bar 

 With his hart-blood they were wet." — Fit it. v. 90. 

 In the preceding verse the word " soar" (sore) is used instead of " sar'*: — 



"A dynt that was both sad and soar." 

 The Scotch word "sair," signifying great, as well as painful, best expresses the 

 meaning of the Anglo-Saxon adjective '• Sar." — Note by Edit. N. B. F. C. Tr. 

 ^ See Aubrey's "Nat. Hist, of Wiltshire," p. 44, * "Abury," p. 16. 



