• @degen@midwest.social
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        2 months ago

        Is this the genesis of British “humour”? Thomas, a Becket, even got the name in the time of Shakespeare.

        Waiting for somebody to eviscerate me over British history, cause all I know is Monty Python.

        • @fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk
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          52 months ago

          I think you’re going to need some Blackadder to go along with your Monty Python.

          Start with the second series though, as the first series is a little weaker (the characters and style are a bit different), and might put you off.

          • @Player2@lemm.ee
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            22 months ago

            Interesting, I generally prefer the first series over the others, though I haven’t seen the last one yet

        • @oo1
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          52 months ago

          In Wales they used to use ab/ap as a patronym, a bit like Mac in Gallic. There might have been similar in parts of whatever they called England before the anglo-saxons came, but that’s not likely to have influenced anything by the time of Becket, or the later time when the ‘a’ was added.

          I don’t think it has really survived in Wales either; the ‘a’ has often dissapeared and the p/b merged with the fathers name, like Prichard, or Bowen.

          • Flying Squid
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            12 months ago

            There is a theory that America is named not after Amerigo Vespucci, but after Richard ap Meryk also known as Richard Amerike, who owned the ship that sent John Cabot across the Atlantic. I think it’s mostly been refuted at this point, but the name has stuck with me.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike