156 THEYDON BOIS.
That the Norman word Boys was pronounced the same as the
French Bois for "wood" is nowhere shown. It was probably used
both in Flanders and in England, for in "The Visitation of London"
(1633-34), under the name Dubois, is entered the following
pedigree :—
Mr. J. 0. Halliwell quotes ("Archaic Dictionary''), as illustrating
the meaning of Boys—wood, the following lines from a Cambridge
manuscript :—
" And bad them go betyme
To the boys Seynt Martyne."
In reading the lines, although "Boys" is not necessarily pronounced
"Boice," the euphony points out that such was intended, for, if to be
pronounced as is the French word for wood, the line would have
been harsh sounding, and not such as a poet would have written.
In a manuscript about the middle of the fourteenth century are the
lines :—
" Then com a Vois to Joseph.
Thenne spekes a Vois to Joseph."16a
In the fifteenth century oys and oh were used when spelling
cross :—
" And soffrede peyne and Passyone,
And on the Croys was I-done."
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 1459, spoke of "Boystous nayles of
yren," when speaking of the crucifixion.16b
In a 1516 manuscript, "Josaphe of Arimathea" fastens on Evelaks
shield "a Crois of Red Cloth."16c
The mode of pronouncing the o in cross and other words men-
tioned by Mr. Ellis, has no doubt authority in the ancient spelling, so
that Boys as well as Croys may reasonably be supposed to have been
pronounced with a prolongation of the sounds, not exactly two
14 Harlean Society's Publications.
15 Myer's "Instruction to Parish Priests," Early English Text Society, page 14.
16 Early English Text Society's Publications :
(a) "Joseph of Aramathie," page 2.
(b) "Words of John Fisher," page 229.
(c) "Joseph of Aramathie," page 15.