The possession of such surnames does not imply ancestral possession of Haddon Hall, Stafford House, etc., but merely that the founder of the family lived under the shadow of greatness. In compounds -house is generally treated as in "workus," e.g. Bacchus (Chapter VIII), Bellows, Brewis, Duffus (dove), Kirkus, Loftus, Malthus, Windus (wynd, Chapter XIII). In connection with Woodhouse it must be remembered that this name was given to the man who played the part of a "wild man of the woods" in processions and festivities. William Power, skinner, called "Wodehous," died in London in 1391. Of similar origin is Greenman. The tavern sign of the Green Man is sometimes explained as representing a forester in green, but it was probably at first equivalent to the German sign "Zum wilden Mann." Cassell is sometimes for Castle, but is more often a local German name of recent introduction. The northern Peel, a castle, as in the Isle of Man, was originally applied to a stockade, Old Fr. pel (pieu), a stake, Lat. Palos. Hence also Peall, Peile. Keep comes from the central tower of the castle, where the baron and his family kept, i.e. lived. A moated Grange is a poetic figment, for the word comes from Fr, grange, a barn (to Lat. granum); hence Granger.
With Mill and the older Milne (Chapter II) we may compare Mullins, Fr. Desmoulins. Barnes is sometimes, but not always, what it seems (Chapter XXI). With it we may put Leathes, from an obsolete Scandinavian word for barn (see quot. Chapter XIII), to which we owe also the names Leatham and Latham. Mr. Oldbuck's "ecstatic description" of the Roman camp with its praetorium was spoilt by Edie Ochiltree's disastrous interruption
"Praetorian here, praetorian there, I mind the bigging o't." (Antiquary, ch. iv.).
The obsolete verb to big, i.e. build, whence Biggar, a builder, has given us Biggins, Biggs (Chapter III), and Newbigging, while from to build we have Newbould and Newbolt. Cazenove, Ital. casa nuova, means exactly the same. Probably related to build is the obsolete Bottle, a building, whence Harbottle. A humble dwelling was called a Board—
Borde, a little house, lodging, or cottage of timber (Cotgrave)—
whence Boardman, Border. Other names were Booth, Lodge, and Folley, Fr. feuillée, a hut made of branches—
"Feuillée, an arbor, or bower, framed of leav'd plants, or branches" (Cotgrave).
Scale, possibly connected with shealing, is a Scandinavian word used in the north for a shepherd's hut, hence the surname Scales. Bower, which now suggests a leafy arbour, had no such sense in Mid. English. Chaucer says of the poor widow—
"Ful sooty was hir bour and eek hire halle."