Corner means horn-blower, Fr, cor, horn, and is also a contraction of coroner, but its commonest origin is local, in angulo, in the corner. Curren and Curryer are generally connected with leather, but Henry VII. bestowed £3 on the Curren that brought tidings of Perkin War-beck. Garner has five possible origins: (i) a contraction of gardener, (ii) from the French personal name Garner, Ger. Werner, (iii) Old Fr. grenier, grain-keeper, (iv) Old Fr, garennier, warren keeper, (v) local, from garner, Fr. grenier, Lat. granarium. In the next chapter will be found, as a specimen problem, an investigation of the name Rutter.
Two phonetic phenomena should also be noticed. One is the regular insertion of n before the ending -ger, as in Firminger (Chapter XV), Massinger (Chapter XX), Pottinger (Chapter XVIII), and in Arminger, Clavinger, from the latinized armiger, esquire, and claviger, mace-bearer, etc. (Chapter XV). The other is the fact that many occupative names ending in -rer lose the -er by dissimilation (Chapter III). Examples are Armour for armourer, Barter for barterer, Buckler for bucklerer, but also for buckle-maker, Callender for calenderer, one who calendered, i.e. pressed, cloth
"And my good friend the Callender
Will lend his horse to go."
(John Gilpin, 1. 22) —
Coffer, for cofferer, a treasurer, Cover, for coverer, i.e. tiler, Fr. couvreur, when it does not correspond to Fr. cuvier, i.e. a maker of coves, vats, Ginger, Grammer, for grammarer, Paternoster, maker of paternosters or rosaries, Pepper, Sellar, for cellarer (Chapter III), Tabor, for Taberer, player on the taber. Here also belongs Treasure, for treasurer. Salter is sometimes for sautrier, a player on the psaltery. We have the opposite process in poulterer for Pointer (Chapter II), and caterer for Cator (Chapter III).
Such names as Ginger, Pepper, may however belong to the class of nicknames conferred on dealers in certain commodities; cf. Pescod, Peskett, from pease-cod. Of this we have several examples which can be confirmed by foreign parallels, e.g. Garlick, found in German as Knoblauch, [Footnote: The cognate Eng. Clove-leek occurs as a surname in the Ramsey Chartulary.] Straw, represented in German by the cognate name Stroh, and Pease, which is certified by Fr. Despois. We find Witepease in the twelfth century.
Especially common are those names which deal with the two staple foods of the country, bread and beer. In German we find several compounds of Brot, bread, and one of the greatest of chess-players bore the amazing name Zuckertort, sugar-tart. In French we have such names as Painchaud, Painlevê, Pain-tendre—
"Eugene Aram was usher, in 1744, to the Rev. Mr. Painblanc, in Piccadilly"