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This exposed me to an open field of inquiry: to search all things, prove
all things, and hold fast only to that which is good.
Is Levering a French surname? As I had not given the question any serious
thought, and being unskilled in family nomenclature, I
accepted it as such, because others had said so, until the representative of
the French government at our national capitol, in answer to an inquiry made
of him, suggested other orthographical construction, "as," he
wrote, "French surnames do not end in ing."
In my desire to "prove all things" I made diligent search
through several publications relating to surnames. The work most prolific of
information, allied to my quest, is that entitled English Surnames, by Mark
Antony Lower. Notwithstanding the volumes purport to
discuss English Surnames, the Author treats of all family names represented
in English domain, including those of Teutonic and Norman origin. He presents
in his publication 5,360 surnames, from these and other sources, of which but
23 (1 in 233) end with ing.
In a genealogical work by H. R. Cooke, 1889, entitled, "The Driver
Family," appears a roster of the troops that accompanied William of
Normandy to England (1066), as copied from the Roll in the Church of Dives, a
village in Calvados, Normandy. The name of LEVERING does
not appear, nor other name which could be construed into it, nor does any one
of the names end with ing.
In the roll of the survivors of the battle of Hastings, or Senlac (1066), as contained in Battle Abbey, Leland lists two
hundred and fifty-seven names, and in a roster of the same survivors, by
Hollinshead, embracing six hundred and fifty-three names, but one of the
entire number ends with ing, and an explanation or foot-note of doubt is
appended to this.
Leland further states as to the ending of names, "The termination
ville,--equivalent to our own English ton,--was a prevalent one among the
Normans," and Noble, gives a general rule for determining the locality
from which French names originated, viz.: "The Norman
names end chiefly in ville; those of Anjou, in lere; those in Guienne and the
banks of Garronne, in ac, and those of Picardy, in cour."
As to French, or purely Norman surnames, this disposes of a tradition that there were Leverings or Le Verings in the Norman army of
invasion.
In contrast with this, Teutonic
surnames are considered. Kemble says, "ing, inge, or inger, is found in
the sense of progeny or offspring, in the most of Teutonic languages,"
adding: "ing in modern German, is a young man."
By way of illustration he states,
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