PITT
This is a copy of an article published in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper,
on 7th June 1993,
reproduced by kind permission of the author, the late Desmond Holden.
The “What's in a Name” series was a regular
feature in the Advertiser over the period 1993‑2004,
taking a refreshing look at the derivation of some typically
Derbyshire surnames.
Articles are confined to the origins and meanings of surnames,
and do not indicate any particular interest on Desmond's part in
the genealogy, descent, or family history of individuals bearing
the surnames featured.
Editor's Note: Articles are provided for general interest and
background only. They are not intended to provide an exhaustive treatise
for any individual family history - investigations of which may yield
quite different results. Or, in Desmond's own words:
“In the end it must remain with individual bearers of the names to
draw upon family traditions and to seek out such documentary
evidence as is available to decide the matter for themselves.”
WHAT'S IN A NAME …
Are you called PITT?
This name has innumerable variations ranging through Pitt, Pitts,
Pett, Petts and ultimately to Pitman and Puttman. The reason is not
difficult to understand. Water is fundamental to all forms of life
and no human settlement could last long without an assured supply
of water. Our ancestors no doubt relied at first upon visible
springs to supply their needs, but as time went on they discovered
that water could be obtained by digging holes in the ground and to
which they gave the name "pit".
This word, in various guises appears as many a place-name -
although the regular occurrence of the unit "pit" in place-names
does not necessarily imply some identification with water-supply:
it has several other meanings as well. However, in the case of a
personal name, that of "Pitt" or "Pitts" would most certainly have
originally referred back to somebody with associations with a
water-supply.
The word "pit" is derived from the Latin word for well, that is to
say "puteus" - and those of us who remember our French can identify
"puits" and recognise even the Spanish "pozo"! The use of the word
"pit" (though actually it was "pyt") to describe a hole in the
ground from which water could be drawn, dates from even before the
time of King Alfred the Great (890) and after that period it began
to be used in connection with many other purposes. So it can be
said that "Pitt" is a location name - that is to say it would have
been employed to describe an individual or a group of people who
lived near or who were associated with a source of water.
It naturally follows that some people would have become experts in
finding underground supplies of water and skilled at digging wells
and one such person would have been described as being a "Pitman".
In the case of the name "Pitman" one is not perfectly happy to
learn that it also came to mean a "grave-digger" since the word
"pit" was sometimes used in that sense. So a person now called
"Pitman" might have an ancestor who was either an accomplished
well-digger or who was associated with the churchyard!
The earliest record of the name "Pitt" is to be found in Sussex and
dates from 1182. The most famous bearer of the name of Pitt was
William, the Prime Minister from 1783 to 1804, and of Pitman, Sir
Isaac, the inventor of a form of shorthand which, until the
introduction of audio-typing, was an indispensable requirement for
any girl aspiring to become a proficient office secretary.
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© Desmond Holden
From "The Peak Advertiser", 7th June 1993.
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