(B, 4022.)
Hence the names Bowerman, Boorman, Burman.
But the commonest of names for a humble dwelling was cot or cote
Born and fed in rudenesse
As in a cote or in an oxe stalle
(E, 397)
the inhabitant of which was a Colman, Cotter, or, diminutively, Cottrell, Cotterill. Hence the frequent occurrence of the name Coates.
There are also numerous compounds, e.g. Alcott (old), Norcott, Kingscote, and the many variants of Caldecott, Calcott, the cold dwelling, especially common as a village name in the vicinity of the Roman roads. It is supposed to have been applied, like Coldharbour, to deserted posts. The name Cotton is sometimes from the dative plural of the same word, though, when of French origin, it represents Colon, dim. of Cot, aphetic for Jacot.
Names such as Kitchin, Spence, a north-country word for pantry (Chapter XX), and Mews, originally applied to the hawk-coops (see Mewer, Chapter XV), point to domestic employment. The simple Mew, common in Hampshire, is a bird nickname. Scammell preserves an older form of shamble(s), originally the benches on which meat was exposed for sale. The name Currie, or Curry, is too common to be referred entirely to the Scot. Corrie, a mountain glen, or to Curry in Somerset, and I conjecture that it sometimes represents Old French and Mid. Eng. curie, a kitchen, which is the origin of Petty Cury in Cambridge and of the famous French name Curie. Nor can Furness be derived exclusively from the Furness district of Lancashire. It must sometimes correspond to the common French name Dufour, from four, oven. We also have the name Ovens. Stables, when not identical with Staples (Chapter XIII), belongs to the same class as Mews. Chambers, found in Scotland as Chalmers, is official, the medieval de la Chambre often referring to the Exchequer Chamber of the City of London. Bellchambers has probably no connection with this word. It appears to be an imitative spelling of Belencombre, a place near Dieppe, for the entry de Belencumbre is of frequent occurrence.
Places of confinement are represented by Gale, gaol (Chapter III), Penn, whence Inkpen (Berkshire), Pond, Pound, and Penfold or Pinfold. But Gales is also for Anglo-Fr. Galles, Wales. Butts may come from the archery ground, while Butt is generally to be referred to the French name Bout (Chapter VII) or to Budd (Chapter VII). Cordery, for de la corderie, of the rope-walk, has been confused with the much more picturesque Corderoy, i.e. coeur de roi.