LUMB, LUMP, LUMPKIN.
Lumbe is also a present German name, and seems to be the same as an O.G. Lumpe, which Stark takes to be a contraction of some compound name, perhaps Lundbert. Lump and the diminutive Lumpkin are from Suffolk Surnames, and may be German and not English.
KNELL, NELLY, NILL, KNELLER.
Of the Cnyllingas, settled in Northamptonshire, I find no further trace in Anglo-Saxon times, nor anything to correspond in Old German names. The name is also a very uncommon one at present, the above Knell, Nelly, and Nill being all taken from Suffolk Surnames, though Knell at all events was an English name. Kneller, as the name of the painter, is of Dutch origin; it seems to be a compound from this stem (hari, warrior). The origin may perhaps be found in O.N. hnalla, to beat.
KNAPP, KNAPPING, KNIBB, KNIPE, KNIPPING, NAF NAPP, NAPKIN, KNIFE, KNYVETT.
One of the oldest Low German names on record is Hnaf, mentioned in the "Traveller's Song," written, as supposed, about the fifth century. There is a corresponding O.G. Hnabi, eighth century, the origin being, no doubt, A.S. cnapa, cnafa, son, boy. To this may be placed our names Knapp, Napp, and the patronymic Knapping. (The name Naf, in Suffolk Surnames, may possibly not be English.) I also take the A.S. Cnebba[54] to come in here, also Hnibba, found in Hnibbanleah (Hnibba's lea), and Nybba, found in Nybbanbeorh (Nybba's barrow), and so connect also our names Knibb, Knipe, and Knipping. Stark also brings in here the name Cniva, of a Gothic king of the third century, and Cnivida, also the name of a Goth, placed by Foerstemann to A.S. cnif, knife. If this be correct, our name Knife might also come in here, parallel with Knipe, and also Knyvet as probably a diminutive. Also Napkin, another diminutive = Germ. knabchen.
PIM, PYM.
The father of the Lombard king Rachis was called Pimo. There is also a Pymma about the tenth century in the Liber Vitæ. As to the origin of the name, I am unable to offer any suggestion. It may be, as Stark opines, a contraction of some compound name.
WAMBEY, WAMPEN.
Wamba was the name of a West-Gothic king in the seventh century, and there was also a deacon of the same name a few years earlier. I do not know of it as an Anglo-Saxon name, but I suppose Scott must have had some authority for introducing it as the name of the jester in Ivanhoe. The only derivation that can be suggested is from the Goth. wamba, belly, giving it the meaning of "paunchey." But it was not a nickname in the case of the Gothic king, for he bore it upon his coins, and it is difficult, as Stark observes, to suppose such a name for a king. Finding, however, on certain of his coins the variation Wanba, Stark is inclined to think that it may be a contraction of some name such as Wanbert. Was it by literary intuition that Scott pitched upon such a name for the jester, or did he know of its supposed meaning of "paunchey"?