Page:Patronymica Cornu-Britannica.djvu/117

RADMORE. From reden-vor, the great ferny place.

RADNOR. Pryce renders this name the fern land; no doubt from reden-noor.

RAIL, RAILE. From Rayle in Illogan; from ryel, royal.

RAME (De). An ancient name in Cornwall, derived from the parish and manor of Rame in East hundred. "The arms of Rame," says Tonkin, "were, in allusion to the name, Azure, a scalp of a ram's head Argent, armed." "The manor of Rame," says D. Gilbert, "and the advowson of the living, continue in the Edgcumbe family; but the barton has for some generations belonged to the Edwardses, and, under the name of Rame Place, is still their residence.......The remarkable feature of this parish is Rame Head, or, as it is usually called, the Ram; and it is a general belief that the name is taken from the resemblance of the point of the Roman battering-ram, as the Lizard is supposed to be so called from the long flat serpentine formation resembling the body of a saurian animal; but it seems to be much more probable that these observed resemblances should have corrupted some former names accidentally agreeing with them in sound, than that the promontories should be really distinguished by appellations so very modern." The name is most probably from Brit. ram, rama, great, high; ram, a height, elevation; ram, rham, that which projects or is forward; rhamu, to project, go forward; whence Ramhead on the coast of Ireland; Ramsaig, on a point in Skye; Ramass, and isle N. of Lismore, co. Argyle; Ram Head, a point opposite Portsmouth; Ramsyde, on a point in Lancashire; and Carrick Ram, a promontory in Wigtonshire.