eable--that is to say, as with the first stratum of Greek
names, they bear no obvious meaning in the language as we know it.
Others are names of animals or natural objects. Unlike the later
historical cognomens, they each consist, as a rule, of a single element,
not of two elements in composition. Such are the names which we get in
the narrative of the colonization and in the mythical genealogies;
Hengest, Horsa, AEsc, AElle, Cymen, Cissa, Bieda, Maegla; Ceol, Penda,
Offa, Blecca; Esla, Gewis, Wig, Brand, and so forth. A few of these
names (such as Penda and Offa), are undoubtedly historical; but of the
rest, some seem to be etymological blunders, like Port and Wihtgar;
others to be pure myths, like Wig and Brand; and others, again, to be
doubtfully true, like Cerdic, Cissa, and Bieda, eponyms, perhaps, of
Cerdices-ford, Cissan-ceaster, and Biedan-heafod.

In the truly historical age, the clan system seems to have died out, and
each person bore, as a rule, only a single personal name. These names
are almost invariably compounded of two elements, and the elements thus
employed were comparatively few in number. Thus, we get the root
_aethel_, noble, as the first half in AEthelred, AEthelwulf, AEthelberht,
AEthelstan, and AEthelbald. Again, the root _ead_, rich, or powerful,
occurs in Eadgar, Eadred, Eadward, Eadwine, and Eadwulf. _AElf_, an elf,
forms the prime element in AElfred, AElfric, AElfwine, AElfward, and
AElfstan. These were the favourite names of the West-Saxon royal house;
the Northumbrian kings seem rather to have affected the syllable _os_,
divine, as in Oswald, Oswiu, Osric, Osred, and Oslaf. _Wine_, friend, is
a favourite termination found in AEscwine, Eadwine, AEthelwine, Oswine,
and AElfwine, whose meanings need no further explanation. _Wulf_ appears
as the first half in Wulfstan, Wulfric, Wulfred, and Wulfhere; while it
forms the second half in AEthelwulf, Eadwulf, Ealdwulf, and Cenwulf.
_Beorht_, _berht_, or _briht_, bright, or glorious, appears in
Beorhtric, Beorhtwulf, Brihtwald; AEthelberht, Ealdbriht, and Eadbyrht.
_Burh_, a fortress, enters into many female names, as Eadburh,
AEthelburh, Sexburh, and Wihtburh. As a rule, a certain number of
syllables seem to have been regarded as proper elements for forming
personal names, and to have been combined somewhat fancifully, without
much regard to the resulting meaning. The following short list of such
elements, in addition to the roots given above, will