Comments on: “Jump” and related matters http://blog.oup.com/2011/06/jump/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Tue, 21 May 2013 22:08:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Graham Jump http://blog.oup.com/2011/06/jump/#comment-224016 Graham Jump Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:20:52 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=16919#comment-224016 Gulp – from all this I conclude a number of things. The current English meaning of jump arose in only about the 16th C and is probably not its original meaning, though there may be connections. So its use as a 14th C surname in Lancashire is unlikely to have been as a descriptive nickname for some one good at jumping! Not sure about the suggestion of Latin ‘jumpare’ - is that speculative? I don’t see it used in the Vulgate Bible for instance. Interesting that there are similar words thoughout European languages, suggesting some common root, possibly of an ‘expressive sound’ kind. As for the hamlet of Jump near Barnsley, it doesn’t appear to be recorded in Domesday, but other than that I have made little progress in dating the placename. It is entirely feasible that Jumps arising in Yorkshire out of Jump settled and thrived in Lancashire but died (or moved) out very early on in Yorkshire. So, surprising that jump is not a straightforward Old English word with the obvious single meaning. It may be a long time, if ever, before its meaning/origin as a surname can be clarified. Gulp – from all this I conclude a number of things. The current English meaning of jump arose in only about the 16th C and is probably not its original meaning, though there may be connections. So its use as a 14th C surname in Lancashire is unlikely to have been as a descriptive nickname for some one good at jumping!

Not sure about the suggestion of Latin ‘jumpare’ – is that speculative? I don’t see it used in the Vulgate Bible for instance.

Interesting that there are similar words thoughout European languages, suggesting some common root, possibly of an ‘expressive sound’ kind.

As for the hamlet of Jump near Barnsley, it doesn’t appear to be recorded in Domesday, but other than that I have made little progress in dating the placename. It is entirely feasible that Jumps arising in Yorkshire out of Jump settled and thrived in Lancashire but died (or moved) out very early on in Yorkshire.

So, surprising that jump is not a straightforward Old English word with the obvious single meaning. It may be a long time, if ever, before its meaning/origin as a surname can be clarified.

]]> By: Graham Jump http://blog.oup.com/2011/06/jump/#comment-223183 Graham Jump Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:34:23 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=16919#comment-223183 Thank you Professor Liberman for a very considered response. I'll mull it over and perhaps come back to you Regards, Graham Thank you Professor Liberman for a very considered response.

I’ll mull it over and perhaps come back to you

Regards, Graham

]]> By: John Cowan http://blog.oup.com/2011/06/jump/#comment-223174 John Cowan Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:52:52 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=16919#comment-223174 Locational surnames aren't commonly found in the location in question, for they mean "someone from X", and that wouldn't be a notable fact in X itself. Locational surnames aren’t commonly found in the location in question, for they mean “someone from X”, and that wouldn’t be a notable fact in X itself.

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