HOSIER. Camden explains Chaucer by Hosier. The hosier of modern times sells stockings and other soft ' under clothing.' Two hundred years ago, the hosiers of Loudon were those tailors who sold readymade clothes {qui vendent des habits dlwmmes tons aits. Cotgr.); but the original hosier was he who encased the " nether man " in leather : " The chanssure connnonly used in England, when surnames were first adopted by the commonalty, was of leather, covered both the foot and leg, and was called hose. Hosier, therefore, is the same with Chancier, which comes from the Lat. calcearins, and differs but little in meaning from another word used to denote the man who followed this employment, viz., Sutor, Sowter, or Souter, which was in use in English from the time of Chaucer to that of Beaumont and Fletcher. It is still preserved in Scotland, and has become a surname in both countries." Edinburgh Review, Ajiril, 1855.

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