Notes and Queries 1850.02.23 by Various
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Various >> Notes and Queries 1850.02.23
"Es haubers, _jazerans_, et es elmes gemez"--
seems to prove that, in that instance at least, a gorget is meant.
At any rate, the translation of the passage in the inventory to which
"GASTROS" refers should be, "three Pisan collerets of steel mail," not
that given by Meyrick. Here we have clearly a fabric of Pisa: whereas
the _pisan_, of which I desire to know the meaning, invariable occurs
as an independent term, e.g. "_item, unum pisanum_," or "_unum par
pisanorum_." Of course I have my own conjecture on the subject, but
should be glad to hear other opinions; so I again put the question to
your correspondents. In conclusion I would observe to "GASTROS" that
they must be _very_ late MSS. indeed in which such a contraction as
_pisan_ for _partisan_ can be found. If you have room, and think it
worth while, I will from time to time send you some corrections of the
more flagrant errors of Meyrick.
T. HUDSON TURNER.
* * * * *
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.
_Norman Pedigrees_. In reference to your correspondent "B.'s"
inquiries, he will find much information in the Publications de
la Societe des Antiquaires de Normandie. Under their auspices, M.
Estancelin published in 1828 a full history of the Earls of Eu. I am
not aware of any full collection of pedigrees of the companions of
William the Conqueror: the names of several of the lands from which
they took their designations yet remain.
W. DURRANT COOPER.
{267}
_Norman Pedigrees._--In answer to "B.'s" query (No. 14. p. 214.),
an excellent Gazetteer was published in Paris, 1831, entitled
_Dictionnaire Complet Geographique, Statistique, et Commercial de la
France et de ses Colonies; par M. Briand-de-Verze_, pp. 856. Many of
the names of the Conqueror's Norman companions will be found in that
work; as, for instance, Geoffrey de "_Mandeville_, village. Calvados
arrondissement, 311/2 O.N.O. de Bayeaux," &c.
Norman de _Beauchamp_: three Beauchamps are mentioned; that 51. from
Avranches will be the one in question.
C.I.R.
Oxford, Feb. 19. 1850.
_Norman Pedigrees._--Your correspondent "B." (No. 14. p. 214.) would
probably find part of the information he seeks in _Domesday Book, seu
Censualis Willelmi Primi Regis Angliae_. But query? Is "B." right in
supposing the prefix "De" to be _French_? Does it not rather originate
in the _Latin_?
"Domesday" is written in Latin throughout; and the "de," denoting the
place, is there occasionally followed by what seems to be the Latin
ablative case. I copy an example:--
"Canonici de Hansone ten. l. hida de Sansone," (i.e. loc. in
co. Stafford.)
Then of the person it is said--
"Sanson ten. de rege, &c.... iii. hid. trae in Hargedone," &c.
J.S.
_Translation of AElian._--In answer to the query of "G.M." in No. 15.
p. 232., I beg to state that in Lowndes's _Manual_, vol. i. p. 13., is
the following notice under the head of "AElianus Claudius:"--
"Various Histories translated by T. Stanley, London, 1665,
8vo. 5s. This translation is by the son of the learned editor
of AEschylus, and was reprinted 1670. 1677."
C.I.R.
_Ave Trici and Gheeze Ysenoudi._--I regret that I cannot give "H.L.B."
any further information about these ladies than the colophon I
transcribed affords. To me, however, it is quite clear that they were
sisters of some convent in Flanders or Holland; the name of their
spiritual father, Nicolas Wyt, and the names of the ladies, clearly
indicate this.
S.W.S.
_Daysman_ (No. 12. p. 188.)-- It seems to me that a preferable
etymology may be found to that given by Nares and Jacob. The arbiter
or judge might formerly have occupied a _dais_ or _lit de justice_, or
he might have been selected from those entitled to sit on the raised
parts of the courts of law, i.e. jurisconsulti, or barristers as we
call them. I have heard another etymology, which however I do not
favour, that the arbiter, chosen from men of the same rank as the
disputants, should be paid for loss of his day's work.
GEORGE OLIVER.
Perhaps the following may be of some use in clearing up this point.
In the _Graphic Illustrator_, a literary and antiquarian miscellany
edited by E.W. Brayley, London, 1834, at p. 14, towards the end of
an article on the Tudor Style of Architecture, signed T.M. is the
following:--
"This room (talking of the great halls in old manor-houses)
was in every manor-house a necessary appendage for holding
'the court,' the services belonging to which are equally
denominated 'the homage,' with those of the king's palace. The
_dais_, or raised part of the _upper end_ of the hall, _was
so called_, from the administration of justice. A _dais-man_
is still a popular term for an arbitrator in the North, and
_Domesday-Book_ (with the name of which I suppose every one to
be familiar) is known to be a list of manor-houses."
C.D. LAMONT.
Greenock.
[Our correspondents will probably find some confirmation of
their ingenious suggestion in the following passage from _The
Vision of Piers Ploughman_:--
"And at the day of dome
At the heighe deys sitte."
Ll. 4898-9. ed. Wright.]
_Saveguard_.--"BURIENSIS" (No. 13. p. 202.) is informed that a
_saveguard_ was an article of dress worn by women, some fifty or sixty
years ago, over the skirts of their gowns when riding on horseback,
chiefly when they sat on pillions, on a _double horse_, as it was
called.
It was a sort of outside petticoat, usually made of serge,
linsey-wolsey, or some other strong material: and its use was to
_guard_ the gown from injury by the dirt of the (then very dirty)
roads. It was succeeded by the well-known riding-habit; though I have
seen it used on a side-siddle by a rider who did not possess the more
modern dress.
P.H.F.
Amongst the bequests to the Clothworkers' Company of London is one by
Barbara Burnell, by will dated 27th June, 1630, wherein she directs
the company to bestow 4l. 6s. yearly in woollen cloth to make six
waistcoats and six _safeguards_ for six poor women.[17]
Also we find that John Skepworth, by will dated 17th Oct. 1678, gave
two closes of land to the parish of Louth, to the intent that the
churchwardens and overseers of the poor there should apply the rents
and profits of the same in providing so much coarse woollen cloth as
would make ten suits yearly to be given to ten poor people of Louth,
the men to have coats and breeches, and the women to have waistcoats
and _safeguards_.[18] {268}
If "BURIENSIS" has a friend belonging to the Clothworkers' Company, it
is probable that he will acquire much information on this subject from
their old records.
H. EDWARDS.
[17] Reports from the Commissioners of Charities b. 235. 32nd
part 4.--696.
[18] Ibid.
_Derivation of "Calamity"_ (No. 14. p. 215.)--"Calamity" is from
the Latin _calamitas_, from _calamus_ a straw or stalk of corn,
signifying, 1st, the agricultural misfortune of the corn being beaten
down or laid by a storm; and thence, any other trouble or disaster:--
"Ipsa egreditur nostri fundi _calamitas_."
Ter. _Eun_. i. 1.
Upon which the commentator in the Delph. ed. has this note:--
"_Calamitas_ est grando et tempestas, quae calamos segetum
prosternit et conterit. Unde Cicero Verrem vocat '_calamitosam
tempestatem_.'"
Ainsworth, quoting the above passage from Terence, adds:--
"Ubi Donatus. Proprie _calamitatem_ rustici vocant quod
comminuat _calamum_; h.e. culmen et segetem."
The etymology of its synonym, "_disaster_," is more direct--[Greek:
dhus hasthaer], a star of evil influence, or, as we say, "born under
an ill planet."
[Greek: Philologos]
Forcellini, _s.v. Calamitas_, says:--
"Proprie significat imminutionem clademque calamorum segetis,
quae grandine vel impetuoso aliquo turbine aut alia quapiam de
causa fit."
He then quotes Servius, _Ad Georg_, i. 151:--
"Robigo genus est vitii, quo culmi pereunt, quod a rusticanis
calamitas dicitur."
Then follows the note of Donatus on Ter. _Eun_. i. 1. 34.
It appears to me, if "_calamitas_" were derived from _calamus_, it
would mean something very different from what it does.
Another suggestion is, that the first syllable is the same as the
root of _cad-o_, to fall; _l_ and _d_, everybody knows, are
easily interchangeable: as Odysseus, Ulixes: [Greek: dakruon],
_lacrima_, _tear_, &c. &c. If so, _calamitas_ is a corrupted form
of _cadamitas_. Mar. Victorinus, _De Orthogr_. p. 2456., says:--
"Gueius Pompeius Magnus et scribebat et dicebat _Kadamitatem_
pro _Kalamitatem_."--(Quoted from Bothe's _Poetae_," _Scenici
Latinorum_, vol. v. p. 21.)
But how is the -_amitas_ to be explained? I may as well add,
that Doederlein, with his usual felicity, derives it from [Greek:
kolouo].
EDWARD S. JACKSON.
I beg to refer MR. F.S. MARTIN (No. 14. p. 215.), for the derivation
of "Calamity," to the _Etymologicon Linguae Latinae_ of Gerard Vossius,
or to the _Totius Latinitatis Lexicon_ of Facciolatus and Forcellinus.
He will there find that the word _calamitas_ was first used with
reference to the storms which destroyed the stalks (_calami_) of corn,
and afterwards came to signify metaphorically, any severe misfortune.
The terrific hail-storm of the summer of 1843, which destroyed the
crops of corn through several of the eastern and midland counties of
this kingdom, was a _calamity_ in the original sense of the word.
"W.P.P." has also kindly replied to this query by furnishing a part of
the Article on _Calamitas_ in Vossius; and "J.F.M." adds, _Calamitas_
means--
"The spindling of the corn, which with us is rare, but in
hotter countries common: insomuch as the word _calamitas_ was
first derived from _calamus_, when the corn could not get out
of the stalk."--Bacon, _Nat. Hist_. sect. 669.
_Derivation of "Zero"_ (No. 14. p. 215.).--_Zero_ Ital.; Fr. _un
chiffre_, _un rien_, a cipher in arithmetic, a nought; whence the
proverb _avere nel zero, mepriser souverainement_, to value at
nothing, to have a sovereign contempt for. I do not know what the
etymology of the word may be; but the application is obvious to that
point in the scale of the thermometer below the numbered degrees to
which, in ordinary temperatures, the mercury does not sink.
[Greek: Philologos]
Deanery of Gloucester, Feb. 7. 1850.
"_Zero_" (No. 14. p. 215.)--_Zero_, as is well known, is an Italian
word signifying the arithmetical figure of nought (0). It has been
conjectured that it is derived from the transposition from the Hebrew
word _ezor_, a girdle, the zero assuming that form. (See Furetiere,
vol. iii.) Prof. le Moine, of Leyden (quoted by Menage), claims for
it also an Eastern origin, and thinks we have received it from the
Arabians, together with their method of reckoning ciphers. He suggests
that it may be a corruption from the Hebrew [Hebrew: rphs], _safara_,
to number.
_Complutensian Polyglot_.--I cannot pretend to reply to "MR. JEBB'S"
inquiry under this head in No. 12. p. 213.; but perhaps it may assist
him in his researches, should he not have seen the pamphlet, to refer
to Bishop Smallridge's "Enquiry into the Authority of the Primitive
Complutensian Edition of the New Testament, as principally founded on
the most ancient Vatican MS., together with some research after that
MS. In order to decide the dispute about 1 John v. 7. In a letter to
Dr. Bentley. 8vo. London, 1722."
J.M.
Oxford, Feb. 5.
_Sir William Rider_.--In reply to the queries of "H.F.," No. 12. p.
186., respecting Sir William Rider, I beg to say that among the many
MS. notes which I have collected relating to the Rider family, {269}
&c., I find the following from the _Visitation of Surry_, 1623, and
from a MS. book of _Pedigrees of Peers_ in the Herald's College, with
additions.
"Thomas Rider married a daughter of ---- Poole of Stafforde,
by whom he had Sir William Rider, born at Muchalstone, co.
Stafforde, Sheriff of London, 1591, Citizen and Haberdasher,
Lord Mayor, 1600. Will dated 1 Nov., and proved 9 Nov.
1610, 8 Jas. I. (94 Wood); buried at Low Layton, Essex, &c.
Sir William married Elizabeth, da. of R. Stone, of Helme,
co. Norfolk; by whom he had, besides other children and
descendants, Mary daughter and coheiress, who married Sir
Thomas Lake, of Canons, Middlesex, from whose issue descended
Viscount Lake."
S.S.
_Pokership_ (No. 12. p. 185., and No. 14. p. 218.).--It is to be
regretted that no information has been supplied respecting the meaning
of this remarkable word, either from local sources or from the surveys
of crown lands in the Exchequer or Land Revenue offices. In one or the
other of these quarters we should surely find something which would
dispense with further conjecture. In the meantime the following facts,
obtained from records easily accessible, will probably be sufficient
to dispose of the explanations hitherto suggested, and to show that
the _poker_ of Bringwood forest was neither a _parker_ nor a _purser_.
The offices conveyed to Sir R. Harley by James I. had been, before
his reign, the subject of crown grants, after the honor of Wigmore had
become vested in the crown by the merger of the earldom of March in
the crown. Hence, I find that in the act 13 Edward IV. (A.D. 1473),
for the resumption of royal grants, there is a saving of a prior grant
of the "office of keeper of oure forest or chace of Boryngwode,"
and of the fees for the "kepyng of the Dikes within oure counte of
Hereford, parcelles of oure seid forest." (6 _Rot. Parl._ p. 94.)
In a similar act of resumption, 1 Henry VII., there is a like saving
in favour of Thomas Grove, to whom had been granted the keepership of
Boryngwood chase in "Wigmoresland," and "the _pokershipp_ and keping
of the diche of the same." The _parkership_ of Wigmore Park is saved
in the same act. (6 _Rot. Parl._ p. 353 and 383.)
In the first year of Henry VIII. there is a Receiver's Account of
Wigmore, in which I observe the following deductions claimed in
respect of the fees and salaries of officers:-
"In feodo Thomae Grove, forestarii de Bringewod,
6l. 1s. 6d.
-- ejusdem Thomae, fossat'de Prestwode dych,
18d.
-- Edm. Sharp, parcarii parci de Wiggemour,
6l. 1s. 6d.
-- Thomae Grove, pocar' omnium boscorum
in Wiggemourslonde 30s. 4d."
There is another like account rendered in 23 & 24 Hen. VII. These,
and no doubt many other accounts and documents respecting the honor of
Wigmore and its appartenances, are among the Exchequer records, and
we are entitled to infer from them, firstly, that a _parcarius_ and a
_pocarius_ are two different offices; secondly, that, whether the duty
of the latter was performed on the dikes or in the woods of Boringwood
chase, the theory of Mr. Bolton Corney (pace cl. viri dixerim) is
very deficient in probability. If the above authorities had not fallen
under my notice, I should have confidently adopted the conjecture
of the noble Querist, who first drew attention to the word, and,
so far from considering the substitution of "poker" for "parker"
an improbable blunder of the copyist, I should have pronounced it
fortunate for the house of Harley that their founder had not been
converted into a porcarius or pig-driver.
E. SMIRKE.
_Pokership_.--I had flattered myself that _Parkership_ was the real
interpretation of the above word, but I have once more doubts on
the subject. I this morning accidentally stumbled upon the word
"Porcellagium," which is interpreted in Ducange's _Glossary_,
"Tributum ex porcis seu porcellis."
_Porcarius_ also occurs as _Porcorum custos_, and mention is made
of "Porcorum servitium quo quis porcos domini sui pascentes servare
tenetur."
Now, considering how much value was formerly attached to the right
of turning out swine in wooded wastes, during the acorn season, it
seems probable that Sir R. Harley might be the king's "Porcarius,"
or receiver of the money paid for an annual license to depasture hogs
in the royal forests; and, after all, _Porkership_ is as like to
_Pokership_ as _Parkership_, and one mistake would be as easily made
as the other.
BRAYBROOKE.
Audley End, Feb. 16.
[We are enabled to confirm the accuracy of Lord Braybrooke's
conjecture as to _Pokership_ being the office conferred
upon Sir Robert Harley, inasmuch as we are in expectation of
receiving an account of the various forms of its name from
a gentleman who has not only the ability, but also peculiar
facilities for illustrating this and similar obscure terms.]
_Havior--Heavier or Hever_.-Supposed etymology of _Havior, Heavier_,
and _Hever_, as applied by park-keepers to an emasculated male
deer.--"NOTES AND QUERIES," (No. 15. p. 230.)
Pennant, in his _British Zoology_, 8vo. edition, 1776, vol. i. p.
38., and 8vo. edition, 1812, vol. i. p. 45., under the article,
"Goat" says:--
"The meat of a castrated goat of six or seven years old,
(which is called _Hyfr_,) is reckoned the best; being
generally very sweet and fat. This makes an excellent pasty,
goes under the name of rock venison, and is little inferior
to that of the deer."
As Pennant was a Welchman, a scholar and a {270} naturalist, he will
probably be considered good authority; and _Hyfr_, the most likely
origin of the altered terms of the deer park-keepers.
The word occurs twice in page 61. vol. ii. of the _Sportsman's
Cabinet_, in the article on the Stag or Red Deer, where it is printed
_Heavier_; and it will be found also as _Hever_, in Mr. Jesse's
_Scenes and Tales of Country Life_, at page 349.
WM. YARRELL.
Ryder Street, St. James, Feb. 11. 1850.
Mr. Halliwell gives the words _haver_ and _havering_, in the same
sense as _havior_. Are not these words identical with _aver, averium_,
in the sense of cattle, tame beasts? _Averium_, from the old French,
_aveir_, i.e. _avoir_, originally meant any personal property; but
like _catalla_, chattels, it came to signify more particularly the
most important part of a peasant's possessions--namely, his live
stock. Thus, in the laws of William the Conqueror (Thorpe's _Ancient
Laws_, vol. ii. p. 469.), we find:--
"Si praepositus hundredi equos aut boves aut oves aut porcos
vel cujuscumque generis averia vagancia restare fecerit," &c.
The word may naturally enough have been applied to deer reduced to the
state of tame and domesticated cattle.
C.W.G.
[TREBOR furnishes us with a reference to _Pegge's Anonymiana_,
who endeavours to show that the proper term is "halfer;" on
the same principle that an entire horse is spoken of, the word
being pronounced "haver" by those who call half "hafe," while
those who pronounce half with the open _a_ say "hauver:" while
J. Westby Gibson suggests that Havior is _Evir_, from the
Latin "_Eviro, Eviratus, Eviratio_," but admits that he can
give no authority for the use of _Evir_.]
_Sir W. Hamilton_ (No. 14. p. 216.).--Douglas says, that this Sir W.
Hamilton was not _son_, but grandson and brother of the 1st and 2nd
earls of Abercorn, his father having died _vita patris_. I therefore
doubt that the inscription has been miscopied. "He was," Douglas says,
"resident at Rome, on the part of the Queen Dowager;" but this could
hardly be the service alluded to.
C.
_Dr. Johnson's Library_ (no. 14. p. 214.).--I have a copy of Dr.
Johnson's Sale Catalogue. The title is as follows:
"A catalogue of the valuable Library of Books of the late
learned Samuel Johnson, Esq., LL.D., deceased, which will be
sold by auction (by Order of the Executors) by Mr. Christie,
at his Great Room in Pall Mall, on Wednesday, February 16.
1785. and three following Days. To be viewed on Monday and
Tuesday preceding the Sale, which will begin each Day at 12
o'Clock. Catalogues may be had as above."
It is a Catalogue of 28 pages and 662 lots, of which 650 are books.
The twelve last are prints, chiefly "framed and glazed." The Catalogue
is very rare; there is not a copy in the British Museum, and Messrs.
Christie and Manson are without one. I may add, as your correspondent
is curious about Johnson's Library, that I have the presentation copy
to the Doctor of Twiss's _Travels in Spain_, with "the gift of the
Author" in Johnson's handwriting, immediately beneath Twiss's MS.
presentation. The Twiss was in Lot 284.
PETER CUNNINGHAM.
* * * * *
MISCELLANIES.
_Etymology of "News_."--The word "news" is not derived, as many
suppose, from the adjective new, but from a practice that obtained
in newspapers of an early date, of prefixing to the title the letters
expressive of the cardinal points, thus:--
N.
E. W.
S.
meaning that their intelligence was derived from all quarters of the
globe. This must, at any rate, be allowed as ingenious etymology.
J.U.G. GUTCH.
THE GOLDEN AGE.
(_FROM THE LATIN_.)
Why "golden," when that age alone, we're told,
Was blest with happy ignorance of gold--
More justly we our venal times might call
"The Golden Age," for gold is all in all.
RUFUS.
* * * * *
NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
Messrs. Sotheby and Co. will sell on Monday next two collections of
Autographs; the first consisting of Autograph Letters, the property
of a gentleman; which will be immediately followed by that belonging
to the late Mr. Rodd, and the extensive Correspondence of the late
William Upcott, Esq., comprising several thousand Autograph Letters.
Mr. Rodd's collection comprises many letters of great historical and
literary interest.
Messrs. Puttick and Simpson will sell by auction on Friday, March the
8th, and seven following days, the extensive and very important Stock
of Books of Mr. James Carpenter, of Bond Street, who is retiring from
business. The characteristics of this fine collection are the numerous
books of prints and illustrated works which it contains, such as the
matchless Series of Piranesi's Works, being the dedication copy to
the king of Sweden: a copy of Boswell's _Life of Johnson_, in 8 vols.
{271} folio, illustrated with nearly six hundred Portraits and Views.
We heard some time since that the long-established and
highly-respectable house of Payne and Foss, of Pall Mall, had
succeeded the late Mr. Rodd in the agency of purchasing for the
British Museum. The rumour proved to be unfounded, and now receives
a formal contradiction by the announcement that Messrs. Payne and
Foss are retiring from business, and that the first portion of their
extensive and valuable Stock of Books will be sold by auction by
Messrs. Sotheby and Co.; the first division in a ten days' sale,
commencing on the 18th and terminating on the 28th March; which will
be followed by the second division, which will also occupy ten days,
and commence on Monday the 8th April. The lovers of choice copies of
fine editions of first-class books will have, on this occasion, such
an opportunity of enriching their collections as rarely presents
itself.
We have received the following Catalogues:--
"Number Two, for 1850, of John Miller's Catalogue of Books,
old and new, on sale at 43. Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square."
"Catalogue of curious and rare Books, recently purchased, now
on sale by George Bumstead, 205. High Holborn."
"Catalogue (No. 5.) of Books, Theological and Miscellaneous,
and Catalogue (No. 6.) of Books, consisting chiefly of Foreign
Literature and Theology, on sale by Andrew Clark, No. 4. City
Road."
"Cheap List of useful and curious Books relating to
Ecclesiastical History, Councils, Ceremonies, the Puritans,
&c., on sale by S. and I. Palmer, 24. Red Lion Street,
Holborn."
"A List of Books, chiefly curious ones, now selling by Thomas
Kerslake, Bookseller, at No. 3. Park Street, Bristol."
* * * * *
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.
(_IN CONTINUATION OF LISTS IN FORMER NOS._)
HIERONYMUS MAGIUS DE TINTINABILIS. 12mo. 1608 and 1664.
A. STOCKFLEET DE CAMPANARUM USU.
REIMANU'S DISSERTATIO DE CAMPANIS.
NICOL. EGGER'S DISSERTATIO DE ORIGINE ET NOMINE CAMPANARUM. EJUSDEM
DISSERTATIO DE CAMPANARUM MATERIA ET FORMA.
PACICHELLI DE TINTINABULO NOTANO LUCUBRATIO.
WALLERI DISSERTATIO DE CAMPANIS ET PRAECIPUIS EARUM USIBUS.
HILCHER DE CAMPANIS TEMPLORUM.
ARNOLDUS DE CAMPANARUM USU. 12mo. 1665.
ROCCHA DE CAMPANIS COMMENTARIUS. 1612.
THIERS, TRAITE DES CLOCHES.
MITZLER DE CAMPANIS. ESCHENWECKER DE EO QUOD IUSTUM EST CIRCA
CAMPANIS.
PINGRE'S ACCOUNT OF HIS VOYAGE TO RODRIGUEZ, published (?) at Paris
about 1762.
DUDLEY RYDER's REPORT ON THE PETITION OF BERKELEY SEYMOUR, ESQ.,
CLAIMING THE BARONY OF SEYMOUR AND DUKEDOM OF SOMERSET. Published
1750, pp. 15. folio.
PRIVATE ACT, 12 WM 3., FOR THE SALE OF THE ESTATES OF ARTHUR LACY,
ESQ., CO. SOMERSET.