Observations on goats and the name Ticcenesfelda                                               Mary Harris April 2020

 

In our considerations of the meaning of Ticcenesfelda and whether Ampfield was a game enclosure the following thoughts occurred to me:

 

'Ticcen' is OE for kid rather than goat. However, 'ticcenmann' is used to mean 'keeper or breeder of kids'. Examples are found in Winton Domesday and Domesday Book. It is also common in place names eg Titchfield, Tichborne.

This suggests that 'ticcen' is used generally for goats not just kids.

 

Some time ago I was reading a translation of Aelfric's colloquy. 

[Ælfric’s Colloquy is a dialogue between a schoolteacher and his pupils. ‘Colloquy’ simply means ‘conversation’. Dating from the 10th century, this educational text was written by Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 950–c. 1010) and was intended to help novice monks learn Latin. The form of the colloquy had long been used in Western Europe in monastic schools. On one manuscript someone has added a translation of the Latin text in Old English – the language of the Anglo-Saxons – between the lines. It appears to have been copied in Christ Church, Canterbury in the second quarter of the 11th century.]

 

In this translation of Aelfric's colloquy where the huntsman lists the animals he hunts he includes goats (and bears).

 

"What sort of beasts do you catch mainly? 

I catch harts, bears, does, goats and some hares".

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However, I have now checked the original OE:

Ic gefeo heortas ond baras ond rann ond rægan ond hwilon haran. 

which I would translate as 

I catch harts and boars and roe deer does and male roe deer and sometimes hares.

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So I checked the Latin:

capio ceruos et apros et dammas et capreos et aliquando lepores

which I translate as

I catch harts (male deer) and boars and does (usually fallow deer) and male roe deer and sometimes hares.