Bamber
Has anyone heard the first name Bamber? I saw it as the name of the author to a book about Chinese dynasties, Bamber Gascoigne.
Does the sea exist
Because of our longing?
Does the sea exist
Because of our longing?
This message was edited 6/27/2013, 4:08 AM
Replies
It's a surname - a place-name surname, from Bamber Bridge in Lancashire.
Ah, I see. You don't know anything more about the place name?
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamber_Bridge):
The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge".
I'm not sure why it would be tree-trunk rather than beam, but still!
The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge".
I'm not sure why it would be tree-trunk rather than beam, but still!
Beam and boom (the moving barrier) are cognates of German Baum and Dutch boom. So that's probably it. Like a hornbeam being originally a horn 'boom', so calling it a hornbeam tree is etymologically repetitive. (Clears throat. Resumes normal life.)
Thanks! nm
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