Note 147 — Chapter II · LOCAL SURNAMES.
Reading edition
Our ‘Sarsons’ may be metronymically descended from ‘Sare’ or ‘Sarra.’ Skelton, in ‘Elynore Rummyng,’ speaks of
‘Dame Dorothe and lady Besse,
Dame Sare, our pryoresse.’
Nevertheless the same writer, in his ‘Poem against Garnesche,’ addresses a Saracen thus—
‘I say, ye solem Sarson, alle blake is your ble.’
Such entries as ‘William fil. Sare,’ ‘John Saresson,’ ‘Henry Sarrasin’ or ‘Peter Sarracen,’ show both origins to be possible.