MOUNTJOY

A name adopted probably by one of the crusaders, from a place near Jerusalem, which, according to Sir John Mandeville, "men clepen Mount-Joye, for it gevethe joye to pilgrymes hertes, be cause that there men seen first Jerusalem * * * a full fair place, and a delicyous." Lower says, "Some religious houses in England had their Mountjoys, a name given to eminences where the first view of the sacred edifice was to be obtained. This name is still retained in a division of the hundred of Battel, not far from the remains of the majestic pile reared by William the Conqueror. Boyer defines 'Mont-joie' as a heap of stones made by a French army, as a monument of victory."

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

MOUNTJOY. Fr. Mont-joie, which Cotgrave defines a.s " a barrow, a little hill, or heape of stones, laved in or neare a highway for the better discerning thereof, or in remembrance of some notable act performed, or accident befallen in that place ; also a goale to run at ; also (metaphorically) any heap." A famous French war-cry in the middle ages was '' Mont-joie St. Denis!" and Montjoye is the title of the chief herald of France, corresponding to our Garter, Both the M-ar-cry and the heraldic title doubtless refer to some victory which was commemorated by the casting up of a mound of earth or a great heap of stones — a practice of the higjiest antiquity. A district of the parish of Battel, the scene of the Norman Conquest, is still known by the name of I\Iountjoy. According to Sir John Maundeville an emmence near Jerusalem was formerly so called, because " itgevethe joy to pilgrymes hertes, because that there men seen first Jerusalem ... a full fair place and a delicyous." In charters the name was written indifferently De Monte Gaudii, and De Monte Jovis.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.