Hwo so mithe putten þore
Biforn a-noþer, an inch or more,
Wore he yung, or wore he hold,
He was for a kempe told.
ll. 1033-6.
Todhunter
Murgatroyd, the moor-gate-royd, means the moor-way clearing. This gate has nothing to do with gate, an opening, but we have it in gait, with specialized meaning. It is from O.N. gata, a way, cp. gate (var. dial. uses in Sc. Irel. and Eng.), a way, path, road. It is very common in M.E. writings. -royd is related to Icel. ruð, a clearing in a wood, cp. royd (Yks. Lan.), a clearing in a wood, now generally found in place-names and field-names. Pargeter means a plasterer, and is borrowed from French, cp. parget (n.Cy. Yks. Lan. Chs. Lin. Nhp. War. Hrf. Glo. Ken. Sur. Sus. Som.), to plaster with cement or mortar, also to whitewash; pargeter, a plasterer. Fr. (Norm. dial.) porjeter, crépir, couvrir une muraille d’un enduit, O.Fr. (Norm.) pargeter, projeter, jeter et répandre en avant. Wyclif has: ‘Seie thou to hem that pargiten without temperure, that it schal falle doun,’ Ezek. xiii. 11. Ruddock denotes a robin, cp. ruddock (n.Cy. Nhb. Yks. War. Wor. Suf. Ken. Wil. Dor. Som. Dev. Cor.), the robin, O.E. rudduc. Chaucer mentions ‘the tame ruddok’ in his Parliament of Foules. Rutherford means cattle-ford; the more common form of the word is found in Rotherhithe, literally cattle-harbour, cp. rother (n.Cy. Lan. War. Wor. Hrf. Sus.), a horned beast, horned cattle. John of Trevisa, writing of this country in 1387, says: ‘Þis ylond ys best to brynge forþ tren, & fruyt, & roþeron, & oþere bestes.’ Slade means a valley, a hollow, a grassy plain between hills, the side or slope of a hill, and is found in many dialects. Snell is originally an adjective, meaning quick, prompt, cp. snell (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lin.), quick, sharp, acute, keen; and of the weather: cold, piercing, O.E. snell, quick, active. Souter means a shoemaker, cp. souter (Sc. n.Cy. Yks. Nhp.), a shoemaker, a cobbler, O.E. sūtere (from Lat. sutor), M.E. soutere, cp. ‘A somer-game of souteres,’ P. Plow. Bk. V, 413. Todhunter is the fox-hunter, cp. tod (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Lin.), a fox. An early occurrence of the word is found in one of Ben Jonson’s poems. Wong means a field, cp. wong (Yks. Not. Lin. Lei. Nhp.), a field, a meadow, low-lying land, O.E. wang, wong, a plain, mead, field, M.E. wonge:
And þe lond þat þor-til longes,
Borwes, tunes, wodes and wonges.
Havelok, ll. 1443, 1444.