12 
Tolman—English Surnames. 
as broad as it is long." A somewhat analogous influence of far 
upon near seems to have caused near , originally a comparative, 
to be looked upon as a positive. 6 
Place-names and surnames sometimes contain a vowel which 
has remained short, though the simple word afterwards experi¬ 
enced vowel-lengthening. 
old [from did , lengthened regularly from the Mercian 
*ald. See Kluge, Paul’s Gr., I., p. 866. The A-Saxon 
eald , cited in our dictionaries, is the West-Saxon 
form of the word.] 
Aldgate. 
Alden. 
Alford. 
Another illustration of the light which surnames throw upon 
the laws governing the history of English sounds is given if we 
■ask the question, What is the sound in English to-day which 
is the regular representative of an accented er + consonant in a 
word taken from French into English? The following words 
are a few of those which show this combination: 
merchant Merchant, Marchant. 
person, parson Parsons, 
clerk, English pronunciation dark. Clark. 
The surnames Parsons and Clark seem to show what is the 
regular sound-product in present English of er + cons, in a word 
taken from French into Middle-English. The knowledge of 
the French and Latin forms on the part of the learned seems to 
have influenced decidedly the ordinary English words, and even 
the surnames in some cases. 
Black, White, and Brown(e) are probably complexion-names; 
though complexion-names can not be separated from those de¬ 
rived from the color of the hair or of the clothing. Hoar must 
usually come from the hair; Blue, from the clothing, also 
G-reen(e) when not a place-name. Curtis was courteous. Silli- 
man is a name that had originally a good meaning. 
Names taken from the animal kingdom are probably often sign- 
names. The numberless Lions, Red Lions, Golden Lions, etc., 
that still exist on English signs, show how many a Lyon origi- 
6 See Skeat, Etymological Dictionary, under near. 
