Note 460 — Chapter IX · THE MUTUAL GUARANTEE. MÆGBURH. TITHING. HUNDRED.

“Seðe bið werfǽhðe betogen, and he onsacan wille ðæs sleges mid áðe, ðonne sceal beón on ðǽre hyndenne án cyningáð be xxx hída, swá be gesíðcund men swá be ceorliscum, swá hwæðer swá hit sý.” Ini. § 54. Thorpe, i. 136. Upon this passage the late Mr. Price had the following note, which is interesting, though I cannot agree with his conclusion: “It has been already observed that the hynden consisted of ten persons, and, like hynde in the words twýhynde, sixhynde, twelfhynde, appears to have been formed from hund, of which the original meaning was ten. The hynden therefore will correspond to the turba of the Civil Law (‘quia Turba decem dicuntur.’ Leg. Præt. 4. § Turbam), the Tourbe of the French Coutumes: 'Coutume si doit verefier par deux tourbes et chacun d’icelles par dix temoins.' Loisel. liv. v. tit. 5. c. 13.” But the correspondence noted will entirely depend upon the fact of the hynden really being a collection of ten men, which I do not admit. There is no dispute as to the meaning of Turba or Tourbe: but if, as it is not impossible, turba should be really identical with þorp, vicus, it might deserve consideration whether the original village was not supposed to consist of ten families and so to form the tithing or gyldscipe.