TEXT C The men and women of
Anglo-Saxon England normally bore one name only. Distinguishing epithets were
rarely added. These might be patronymic, descriptive or occupational. They were,
however, hardly surnames, Heritable names gradually became general in the three
centuries following the Norman Conquest in 1066. It was not until the 13th and
14th centuries that surnames became fixed, although for many years after that,
the degree of stability in family names varied considerably in different parts
of the country. British surnames fall mainly into four broad
categories: patronymic, occupational, descriptive and local. A few names,
it is true, will remain puzzling: foreign names, perhaps, crudely translated,
adapted or abbreviated; or artificial names. In fact, over fifty
percent of genuine British surnames derive from place names of different kinds,
and so they belong to the last of our four main categories. Even such a name as
Simpson may belong to this last group, and not to the first, had the family once
had its home in the ancient village of that name. Otherwise, Simpson means "the
son of Simon", as might be expected. Hundreds of occupational
surnames are at once familiar to us, or at least recognizable after a little
thought: Arther, Carter, Fisher, Mason, Thatcher, Taylor, to name but a few.
Hundreds of others are more obscure in their meanings and testify to the amazing
specialization in medieval arts, crafts and functions. Such are "Day", (Old
English for breadmaker) and "Walker" (a fuller whose job was to clean and
thicken newly made cloth). All these vocational names carry with
them a certain gravity and dignity, which descriptive names often lack. Some, it
is true, like "Long", "Short" or "Little", are simple. They may be taken quite
literally. Others require more thinking: their meanings are slightly different
from the modem ones. "Black" and "White" implied dark and fair respectively.
"Sharp" meant genuinely discerning, alert, acute rather than quick-witted or
clever. Place-names have a lasting interest since there is
hardly a town or village in all England that has not at some time given its name
to a family. They may be picturesque, even poetical; or they may be pedestrian,
even trivial. Among the commoner names which survive with relatively little
change from old-English times are "Milton" (middle enclosure) and "Hilton"
(enclosure on a hill). Which of the following sentences is an opinion rather than a fact
A．Hundreds of occupational names are at once familiar to us. B．"Black" and "White" implied "dark" and "fair" respectively. C．Vocational names carry with them a certain gravity and dignity. D．Every place in England has given its name to a family.