PARDEW. This is in all likelihood an oath — 'Par Bieu'' — and may have originated in a similar manner with Bigod, of which, indeed, itmay bea simple translation. The habit of profane swearing, so common in the middle ages, seems to have been an importation from Normandy. See Bigod. William the Conqueror, Rufus, and many of their successors, set a very bad example to their subjects in this respect ; and in the XII. centmy, Giraldus Cambrensis complains that — " tliere are some princes who at every word employ an enormous oath, foolishly and rashly presuming to swear by the death of God, by his eyes, his feet, his

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