Note 1 — GEORGE BRANDES (continued 18)

In 1875 Charles Mackay made an attempt, in the Athenaum, to prove a Celtic origin for the name, deriving it from seac = dry, and speir—shanks, thus dry or long shanks. If we take into consideration the numerous other names and nicknames of the day which began with Shake—Shake-buckler, Shake-launce, Shake-shaft, &c., this explanation does not seem very probable. Another argument in favour of its Anglo-Saxon origin and simple meaning, Spearshaker, is the contemporaneous existence of the Italian surname Crollalanza.