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ˈthirdborough, ˈthridborrow Obs. exc. Hist.
Also 5–6 (7–8) thrid-, 6 thred-, thur-, thar-, 6–7 therd-; 5 -borro, 6 -bourogh(e, -borow(e, 6–7 -barow(e, -barrow, 7 -borrow, -bearer.
[In 15th c. thridborro, 16th c. thridborowe, later third-borow; and with both elements variously corrupted. Early evidence of origin scanty; but, as pointed out by Professor Skeat, prob. a ME. corruption of fridborgh:—OE. friðborᵹ peace-pledge, peace-surety: see frithborh, frank-pledge. The corruption may have been due to Norman scribes, but not necessarily so: cf. th (6). See Note below, and cf. borrowhead, borsholder, headborough.]
Formerly, The head man of a frithborh or frank-pledge; hence, the conservator of peace or peace-officer of a tithing, the petty constable of a township or manor.
c1475Hunt. Hare 199 Jac of Bonam he was constabull... Hobb Andrw he was thridborro; He bad hom, ‘Pesse! God gyff hom sorro! For I may arrest yow best’. 1512Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 19 §6 Preceptes to the Constables Hedbouroghes Thirdbouroghes Subconstables Tythingmen Borsalders. 1523Fitzherb. Surv. 20 b, The othe of all maner of Offycers generally... I shall true constable be, trewe thridborowe, trewe reue, trewe frankelege [etc.]..and truely and duely do and kepe all thynges that belongeth to myne offyce to do. 1536Act 28 Hen. VIII, c. 10 §6 Euery..Hedborowe, Thredborough, Borsolder, and euery other Lay Officer. 1547in J. H. Glover Kingsthorpiana (1883) 84 If any customery tenant or suter..do rebuke, revyle, or dysobey the constables, thurbarowes, ale-tasters, haywarde, or other officers sworne in doyinge their offyce. 1581Lambarde Eiren. i. iii. (1588) 15 Where each third Borow only hath a Constable, there the officers of the other two Borowes, be called Third-borowes. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 185, I my selfe reprehend his owne person, for I am his graces Tharborough. 1596― Tam. Shr. Induct. i. 12 Host. I know my remedie, I must go fetch the Head-borough. Beg. Third, or fourth, or fift Borough, Ile answere him by Law. 1607Cowell Interpr., Thridborow, is vsed for a constable..which seemeth to be corruptly vsed for the Saxon freoborh i. ingenuus fideiussor. 1610Norden Spec. Brit., Cornw. (1728) 30 The hundreds haue Constables, Tythinges haue Therd-barows, in some places Hedborows, in some Borowsheds, and in the weste partes a tythingman. a1625Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 336 The conseruator of peace..is called..In a Tything, a petie Constable, Borsholder, Headborough, Thirdborough, Boroughhead, Tything-man, or Chiefe pledge. 1634–5Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) App. p. lxix, March 5. To the third bearers of Brington for cryeing and prayseing a baye straye nagg taken up. 1645MS. Rec. Court Leet Castle Donington, Leicester. 25 Apr., They present R. R., J. B., R. W. and T. T. to serve the kinge and the lord of this mannor in the office of Thirdborrow for one whole year which they refused. 1658Phillips, Thridborough or Thirdborough, a word used in some old Acts, for a Headborough or Constable. 1755Johnson, Thirdborough,..an under-constable. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. i, Some prospect of..an honourable Mastership in Cordwainery, and perhaps the post of Thirdborough in his Hundred.
[Note. The friðborh or frithborgh was orig. the ‘association of ten men in common responsibility’ to prevent crime and breach of the peace. In ME. legal use the word was worn down to fridborgh, friborg, and freoborg, and, the first element being associated with freo ‘free’, was rendered in Anglo-Fr. frank plege, Anglo-L. francum plegium. The head man of the frithborh was in the 12th c. called friðborgheved or frithborges heved, ‘head of the frithborh’ (Laws of Edw. Conf. 20 (or 19), §3), and was later known as bor(r)owhead, head-bor(ou)gh, bor(h)s-holder, and burrow-elder (:—*borh-ealdor), also in Anglo-L. plegius capitalis ‘head or chief pledge’. In Fleta i. xlvii. §10, it is said, ‘frithborgh [printed frich-] est laudabilis homo astrarius testimonii{ddd}per quem omnes iuxta ipsum commorantes firmiori pace sustententur sub stabilitate fideiussionis eius vel alterius per denarium numerum, unde quilibet est quasi plegius alterius’. In this we see the transition of frithborh from the association to its individual members, and esp. to the headborough. In certain cases the latter acted with two of his fellows, ‘duos de melioribus suorum frithborgorum’ (Laws of Edw. 20 (or 19), §3), and this association of three may have contributed to the change of name from fridborgh to thridborgh and thirdborough. The probable connexion of thridborow with freoborh was suggested by Cowell: see quot. 1607.] |