Redpath

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family surname of English and Scottish origin ; a Canadian brand name for refined white sugar
2. A surname borne by various people ; the name of a well-known Canadian brand of granulated sugar
3. A family name common in Britain ; a trademark for a Canadian line of white table sugar

Etymology: Redpath is a surname, not a common word, and its history lies in the landscape of the Scottish Borders. It is a habitational name, meaning it was taken from a place rather than from a trade or a father's name. The place lies in Berwickshire, a county on the Scottish side of the border with England, and the name is built from two Old English elements: "rēad," meaning "red," and "pæþ," meaning "path" or "track." The picture this suggests is an ordinary track worn through the ground, perhaps reddened by the colour of its soil or the reddish stone beneath it. Many such names in Britain were given to farmsteads or hamlets by people who simply described the lie of the land around them. Families who lived there took the place name as their own, and over generations it was carried away from the original spot into other parts of Scotland and England.