Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/231

 10'" S. I. MARCH 5, 1901] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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that yet the Bible not being written for one Age or People only, but for the whole People of God, consisting of persons of all Ages, Nations, Sexes, Complexions and Conditions, it was fit it should be written in such a way, as that none of all these might be quite excluded from the advantages designed them in it. Therefore were these Sacred Books so wisely as well as eo graciously temper'd, that their Variety so comprehends the several abilities and dispositions of men, that (as some Pictures seem to have their eyes directly fix'd on every one that looks on them, from what part soever of the room he eyes them), there is scarce any frame of spirit a man can be of, or any Condition he can be in, to which some passage of Scripture is not as patty applicable as if it were meant for him, or said to him, as Nathan once said to David, Thou art the man." From " Some Considerations touch- ing the Style of the H. Scriptures, by the Honorable Robert Boyle, Esq.," MDCLXI., pp. 21, 22.

J. H. WARD. Silverton Rectory, Exeter.

JAPANESE NAMES- It has been suggested to me that many readers of ' N. & Q.' might be glad of a few hints as to the pronunciation of those Japanese place and personal names now so prominently figuring in our magazines and papers. There is little difficulty in pro- nouncing Japanese correctly, since the vowels are all sounded as in Italian, and the con- sonants as in English. It is worthy of remark, however, that although theoretically sh should be sounded as in English, some of j the best Japanese speakers reduce it to simple ] s. Hence we get Sikoku for the island of Shikoku, and Tsussima for the island of Tsushima. The reduction of ts to s is, on the other hand, merely a blunder of our jour- nalists, some of whom the other day degraded Tsushima into Susima, just as some maps degrade the Tsugaru Strait into Sugaru. The stress generally falls upon the penulti- mate : Himeji, Osaka, Hakodate, Nagasaki, Yokohama, Shimonoseki, Utsunomiya. There are exceptions, such as O'gawa, Kanagawa, O'shima, Hiroshima, Matsushima, Katsura, Kutnura, Satsuina. Most of these exceptions have in their penultimate the vowels i or u, which are always short in Japanese, and in many words and names are omitted altogether colloquially. The samurai, or Japanese army officer, is popularly pronounced sdm'rai. There are two Japanese loan-words in English which have been naturalized in their shorter form, minus the silent u, viz., the familiar mousme (Jap. musume), and the botanical term moxa (Jap. mfa/iisa). In Japanese orthography the full forms alone are employed. From this it happens that several names written with four syllables e.g., Shi- inotsuke, Yokosuka are spoken with three, Shimotake, Yokos'ka. A good example is

the name of the reigning emperor, Mutsuhito. In its termination hito the h is excessively palatalized, so that, the i disappearing, it sounds like skto, and the name is heard as a trisyllable, Mutsiish'to. En revanche, the English reader is often in danger of taking for three syllables a name which really has four, e.g., Inouye, Niigata, Terauchi. The secret is that each vowel must be sepa- rately enunciated, I-no-ii-ye, Ni-i-ga-ta, Te-ra-ii-chi. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

GENEALOGY : NEW SOURCES. The class lists (catalogues) of the contents of the Public Record Office are constantly yielding fresh materials of importance in pedigree research. The books of apprentices of merchant seamen give the parish of the sailor, and so enable his birth and family to be traced. These records commence in 1740.

GERALD MARSHALL.

80, Chancery Lane, W.C.

"AUNCELL." In 1458 the Dean and Chap- ter of St. Paul's made a visitation of some of the parishes belonging to that cathedral. Two women were found to be offenders because each of them had " vnurn auncellum" (Camd. Soc., N.S., Iv. pp. 69, 80). Canon Sparrow Simpson guesses it to be "auinu- cella," a little almuce. But the auncell was a weight, the use of which had been forbidden by Archbishop Chicheley (1414-43) under pain of excommunication. See it in Cowel's ' Law Dictionary.' W. C. B.

HOCKDAY : POTTAGE CALLED HOK. Having been investigating the subject of Hockday lately, I have wondered whether any con- nexion, however remote, could be traced between that feast and the name "hok" for a certain pottage of mallow referred to in the chartulary of Crich Parish Church, Derbyshire (see Ancestor, July, 1903). The calendar is interspersed with notes as to lucky or unlucky days for use of or absti- nence from specific articles of diet, among which occurs : " Feb. Potagium de malua vocatum hok' non comedatur." On my calling the attention of Sir John Phear to this item he remarked : " The survival of the word in 'hollyhock,' taken in connexion with your ' potagium de malva,' ought to have some evidential value." ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.

MRS. GASKELL'S 'SYLVIA'S LOVERS.' In connexion with such a charming story as 1 Sylvia's Lovers ' small matters are often worth recording. The ' Dictionary of National Biography ' states that when Mrs. Gaskell was engaged in collecting information for