Gaiter

Gaiter
Recorded in various spellings as shown below this is an English surname, but one ultimately of Norse-Viking 8th century origins. It derives from the word "geit" meaning a goat, through the later medieval English "gayte". It described a goatherd as in John Le Gaythirde recorded in Yorkshire in 1301 and Robert Gayterd in the same county in 1466. The post medieval surname spellings include Gait, Gatt, Gaiter, Gayter, Gaytor, Gaythor, Gaither and Geator. One of the first recorded surnames in the new colony of Virginia was John Gather, who was recorded as "living at James Cittie", on February 16th 1623. Quite a few of the inhabitants are recorded as "dead" presumably to make up the figures a bit for the authorities back home in England, to prove that they had actually been there, and not lost at sea. The muster of the inhabitants of "Mulbury lland" as spelt, also Virginia and taken in January 1624 recorded a John Gatter. He apparently arrived in 1620 on the ship George of London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Michael Le Geytere. This was dated 1279, in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdon during the reign of King Edward 1st of England, and known as "The Hammer of the Scots" 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Surnames reference. 2013.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gaiter — Gait er, n. [F. gu[^e]tre, cf. Armor. gweltren; or perh. of German origin, and akin to E. wear, v.] 1. A covering of cloth or leather for the ankle and instep, or for the whole leg from the knee to the instep, fitting down upon the shoe. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Gaiter — Gai ter, v. t. To dress with gaiters …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Gaiter — Gaiter, Luigi, ital. Schriftsteller und Philolog, geb. 5. Nov. 1815 in Caprino bei Verona, gest. 12. Febr. 1895 in Verona, studierte Theologie und Philosophie, wirkte dann als Gymnasialprofessor in Verona und Mantua und wurde 1861 als Professor… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • gaiter — leather cover for the ankle, 1775, perhaps from Fr. guêtre belonging to peasant attire, from M.Fr. *guestre, probably from Frank. *wrist instep, from P.Gmc. *wirstiz (Cf. Ger. Rist instep; see WRIST (Cf. wrist)). Related: Gaiters …   Etymology dictionary

  • gaiter — ► NOUN 1) a covering of cloth or leather for the ankle and lower leg. 2) chiefly US a shoe or overshoe extending to the ankle or above. DERIVATIVES gaitered adjective. ORIGIN French guêtre …   English terms dictionary

  • gaiter — [gāt′ər] n. [altered (after GAIT) < Fr guêtre, earlier guietre, prob. < Frank * wrist, instep, akin to WRIST] 1. a cloth or leather covering for the instep and ankle, and, sometimes, the calf of the leg; spat or legging ☆ 2. a shoe with… …   English World dictionary

  • gaiter — [18] Etymologically as well as semantically, gaiter is an ‘ankle covering’. It comes from French guêtre ‘gaiter’, which may well have been formed from Germanic *wirst . This denoted ‘twist, turn’, and it has several modern derivatives which mean… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • gaiter — UK [ˈɡeɪtə(r)] / US [ˈɡeɪtər] noun [countable] Word forms gaiter : singular gaiter plural gaiters a piece of leather or cloth that covers and protects your leg from the knee to the ankle …   English dictionary

  • gaiter — [18] Etymologically as well as semantically, gaiter is an ‘ankle covering’. It comes from French guêtre ‘gaiter’, which may well have been formed from Germanic *wirst . This denoted ‘twist, turn’, and it has several modern derivatives which mean… …   Word origins

  • Gaiter (disambiguation) — Gaiter may refer to: *Gaiters, worn on legs *Bishop s Gaiters *Gaiter (vehicle) *Crus, the lower legPeople: *Dorothy Gaiter, wine columnist of The Wall Street Journal ee also* Gator …   Wikipedia

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