Ten to n ic Term i nat'io n s . 



77 



buried underneath, or because of what it intercepts or bars, 

 or what it shelters. " The Anglo-Saxon beorh was not the 

 Gorman berg ( = a mountain) in its strict application, but 

 bore a far wider meaning. The least elevation or rising of 

 the ground, even a cluster of stones, or a heap of earth, was 

 called beorh. The term is used in Joshua, vii., 26, " And 

 worhton mid stiiuum anne steapne beorh him ofer " And they 

 wrought with stones one high beorh ( = heap) over him." 

 There can be little doubt as to our word barrow (when applied 

 to the tumuli on our downs) being a form of the same word. 

 There is however an Anglo-Saxon verb byrian which signifies 

 to raise, and eor^Sbyre is also the common name for a tumulus. 

 From this comes the word, so frequently found in charters, 

 by ri gels ( = a burial-place) , and possibly also the words barrow 

 and burrow ( = a warren), because eor^byre signifies not only 

 a tumulus or tomb, but a heap of earth in every other respect. 

 Leo, p. 76. 



Berie. This occurs as a frequent termination, and in the names of 

 places which can neither be described as towns, villages, or 

 hills. Thus we have Uesei-beri (Cod. Dipl., 706) (=Hasel- 

 bury), and 'Etes-berie ( = Yatesbury) (W. Domesd., 122). 

 There are two words of frequent occurrence in charters, bearo, 

 which means a " woody plot," and bezro, or bero, a word only 

 occurring in composition, and denoting "pasture.'''' The 

 connection of beri with either of these is however not clear. 

 It seems clearly a distinct word from either of the two just 

 explained, though it assumes in composition the same form 

 bury. Whisbaw, in his Law Dictionary, gives Beria, Berie, 

 Berry as meaning a " large open field." He adds these words 

 from Cowell : " Most of our glossographers have confounded 

 the word berie with that of bury and borough, as the appella- 

 tions of ancient towns : whereas the true sense of the word 

 berie is a flat wide campaign. Many fiat and wide meads 

 and other open grounds are called by the names of Beries 

 and Berry-field. The spacious meadow between Oxford and 

 Ifley was, in the reign of King Athelstan, called Bery. As 



