Waso

Male
DWP
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

The name Waso is of uncertain derivation but should probably be considered in conjunction with the name Wazo.  Both seem most likely to derive from the Continental Germanic name Waz(z)o or the related Old French name Gace (Forssner 1916: 249) but the occurrence of the name-forms Was(s)o in the pre-Conquest records from Bodmin raise the possibility that the Cornish TRE form at least may be native (von Feilitzen 1937: 409; Tengvik 1938: 203); a spelling with W- rather than Gu- is not conclusive evidence against this possibility (cf. Jackson 1953: §49).  Both Domesday Book and Exon (240a2) give the TRE form as Waso, while the TRW forms occur as Wazo in DB.  All forms are normalized as Wace in the Phillimore edition, whereas the Alecto edition normalizes the TRE form as Waso and the TRW forms as Wazo.

The only entry for Waso in the PASE corpus is a catch-all category for those named in DB; there is no PASE entry for the name Wazo.

Bibliography

Forssner 1916: T. Forssner, Continental-Germanic Personal Names in England (Uppsale, 1916)

Jackson 1953: K. H. Jackson, Language and History in Early Britain: a Chronological Survey of the Brittonic Languages 1st to 12th c. A.D. (Edinburgh, 1953)

Tengvik 1938: G. Tengvik, Old English Bynames (Uppsala, 1938)

von Feilitzen 1937: O. von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book (Uppsala, 1937)

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Waso

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Waso

  Phillimore edition: Wace

  Alecto edition: Waso, Wazo

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Cornwall 5,8,5 Trefreock Waso Waso 'of Trefreock' - Robert, count of Mortain Berner 'of Hornacott' 0.25 0.25 0.15 A Map
Totals