Dymott

This interesting and unusual surname derives from the Medieval female given name Dye, itself a pet form of Dyonisia, the feminine form of the Greek Dionysios meaning "The divine one of Nysa". Nysa was the name of a holy mountain in the modern Afghanistan. "Dye" (without surname) was recorded in the 1301, "Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire", and a Walter Dye appears in the 1316, "Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield", Yorkshire. "Dymott" is believed to have as its second element the Medieval English "maugh" or "mo(u)gh" meaning "relative" or specifically "brother-in-law"; hence, "Dymogh", (see below), later becoming Dymott. This element derives ultimately from the Old English pre 7th Century "maga", male relative ("mage", female relative), from the Old Norse "magr", "brother-, father - or son-in-law". On February 9th 1724, Walter Dymott and Elizabeth Wooderd were married in St. Benet Pauls Wharf, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam Dyemogh, which was dated 1332, The Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire, during the reign of King Edward 111, "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.