Oath-Names, Favourite Expressions and Phrase-Names

M ANY names of fish, vegetables, etc., as we have seen, were bestowed on sellers and dealers, often, no doubt, because of their habit of trying to attract buyers by calling out the name of their wares. At times they would add some complimentary description to which their customers would retort with some derisory epithet. A few of the former survive, but none, apparently, of the latter. Goodcheap and Goodchap are compounds of OE gōd ‘good’ and cēap ‘barter’. ME good cheap was used of a state of the market good for the purchaser, when prices were low, and the nickname could be used both of one who gave a good bargain and of one who vociferously claimed he did. The French equivalent has disappeared, though it is still used as the name of a shop, Geoffrey Bonmarche 1300 LoCt; cf. also Thomas Bargayn 1297 SRY. Goodale, Goodayle, Goodall and Goodhall all denote a brewer or seller of good ale, though the customer might have a different opinion, William Sourale 1301 SRY. Similarly, John Fresfissh (1320 LLB E) and Alexander Fresharing, fishmonger (1277 LLB B), owed their names to their constant cry of ‘fresh fish’, ‘fresh herrings’, but Robert Evelhering (1327 SRSf) and Robert Rotenheryng (1297 SRY) were apparently stigmatised as sellers of stale and not so fresh fish, though such names, whilst derogatory occupation-names, were not necessarily apt descriptions of the product sold, for Rotten Herring Staith in Hull and Rottenherringland in Welwick owe their names to the family of John Rotenhering (1348), a family of wealth and importance.