This surname of CABE was a French nickname for someone with a large head, or a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman. The name was originally derived from the Old French CABOT, and rendered in medieval documents in the Latin form CAPOCEUS. The earliest French hereditary surnames are found in the 12th century, at more or less the same time as they arose in England, but they are by no means common before the 13th century, and it was not until the 15th century that they stabilized to any great extent; before then a surname might be handed down for two or three generations, but then abandoned in favour of another. In the south, many French surnames have come in from Italy over the centuries, and in Northern France, Germanic influence can often be detected. Surnames derived from placenames are divided into two broad categories; topographic names and habitation names. Topographic names are derived from general descriptive references to someone who lived near a physical feature such as an oak tree, a hill, a stream or a church. Habitation names are derived from pre-existing names denoting towns, villages and farmsteads. Other classes of local names include those derived from the names of rivers, individual houses with signs on them, regions and whole countries. A notable member of this surname was John CABOT (l425-l500) the Genoese-born Venetian navigator and explorer hailed as the modern discoverer of North America. He moved to England and settled in Bristol circa l490. In l497, under Letters Patent from King Henry VIII he sailed from Bristol with two ships in search of a route to Asia accompanied by his three sons. On 24th June after fifty two days at sea, he sighted land (probably Cape Breton Island, Scotia) and claimed North America for England. He is thought to have made further voyages in search of a North-west passage. In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armoured warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe. |
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