In Jedwort wod for saiffgard he had beyne.—
Jedwort thai tuk; and Ruwan lewit he,
At Wallace will captane off it to be.—V. 1277. 1289.
It is Iedbrugh in Edit. 1594 and 1620. The name of this place assumes a great variety of forms; Gedword, Geddeworde, Gedewrde, Geddewerde, Gedworth, Gedeworth, Gedewurth, Gedewrze; Jedworth, Jedwurth, Jedword, Jedwort, Jedewrth, Jedwod, Jeddeburch. V. Macpherson’s Geogr. Illustr. The latter is merely the modern name. The vulgar, and indeed almost universal, pronunciation, q. Jethart, points out what was the original designation. Here were two monasteries, one of them founded so late as A. 1513; the other was established in the year 1147. Another place, not far distant, retains the name of Auld Jedworth. According to Simeon of Durham, these two Jedworths were built by Ecgred, bishop of Lindisfarn, about the year 840. Dec. Script. 13. 28. 119. 121. Simeon writes it Geddeword.
The name, it has been conjectured, might be traced to the Gadeni, a tribe who anciently inhabited the whole tract of country that lies between Northumberland and the river Tiviot. Stat. Acc. I. 1. But the Gadeni have been placed, with far more probability, in Dunbartonshire. V. Pinkerton’s Enquiry, I. p. 35. 224. 320. It is obvious, that the name of the place is formed from that of the stream, which probably claims a British origin. Gwyth signifies a channel or drain. But whatever might be the origin of Ged, or Jed, Ecgred having chosen this river as the seat of his mansion, had given it a name by adding the Saxon term weorth, or worth, denoting a possession, or hamlet; Fundus, praedium; vicus; Lye. In the same manner the names of many places in England have been formed; as Wortham, Worthington, Wandesworth, Kenelworth, &c. Old German wart, and Alemannic werts, signify locus.
NOTES ON THE EIGHTH BOOK.
—“He had sic message seyldyn seyne,
“That Wallace now as gouernowr sall ryng:
“Her is gret faute off a gud prince or kyng.
“That kyng off Kyll I can nocht wndirstand;