Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/399

 10 s. x. OCT. 24, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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mates that scon better represents the old pronunciation.

I see no reason for doubting that scon represents the Mid. Dan. skon-roggen, which Kalkar explains as a bun or cake of bolted flour. This is not a true Danish word, but borrowed from the Low G. schoon-roggen, called in Hamburg schon-roggen, where it meant a three-cornered loaf or bun ; lit. " fine rye," from schoon, schdn, fine, and roggen, rye. The interesting point is that the true scon is three-cornered still. It is also still schdn. WALTER W. SKEAT.

DICKENS' s SURNAMES : GUPPY. In con- nexion with the discussion on the manner in which Dickens discovered names for characters in ' The Pickwick Papers ' (10 S. ix. 427 ; x. 10, 52, 113, 216), it may interest your readers to know that some time ago a correspondent of The Daily Graphic con- tended that Dickens procured the name of Guppy, which he gave to the lawyer's clerk in ' Bleak House,' in the following manner. Dickens and Macready were walking along the main street of Sherborne in Dorsetshire when they passed a door bearing the name of Guppy on a brass plate. Dickens entered the name in his notebook, and not long after- wards it appeared in the celebrated novel just mentioned.

As a descendant of the Guppys of Wiltshire (my grandmother having been a Guppy), I may mention that it is a Walloon name, and was originally spelt Goupe. Dr. Smiles in his ' Huguenots in England and Ireland ' says : " The Walloon Goupes, who settled in Wiltshire as clothmakers more than 300 years since, are still known there as the Guppys."

EDWARD JB. WORTLEY MOXHAM.

Hounslow.

OWL FOLK-LORE IN INDIA. The following extract from The Zoologist of 1848 may interest those of your readers who study the folk-lore of birds or popular medicine. It is signed S. C. Malan :

"About the middle of February, 1839, one of my servants brought me a nest of five owlets, apparently two or three days old, which had been found by men at work in the house I then occupied in the

neighbourhood of Calcutta. The native while

bringing me the owlets, begged my leave to keep them. His request surprised me the more as I was aware of the superstitious dread with which owls are looked upon by the natives of India; and I asked him what he could do with them. ' I shall pound them, sir,' was his answer. ' Pound them ! what for ? ' ' Why, sir, to make a plaister of them : it is good against sickness.'" First Series, vol. vi. p. 2140.

A. O. V. P.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

' PUNCH ' EXHIBITION. The proprietors of Punch are making arrangements for holding at the beginning of next year in London an exhibition which will be entirely devoted to Punch from its commencement in 1841 to the present day. In order to make this exhibition as complete and interesting as possible, they are anxious to obtain the ban of

1. Original drawings by Punch artists, especially those whose work is over.

2. Prints, lithographs, coloured plates, &c., of Punch work.

3. Documents and autograph letters relat- ing to Punch.

4. MSS. of Punch articles.

5. Objects of interest that have been in the possession of Punch men, and indeed anything that is in any way connected with Punch.

I shall be very grateful if those of your readers who are able and willing to help in the manner indicated will be kind enough to communicate with me at the Punch office,

, Bouverie Street, E.G.

W. LAWRENCE BRADBURY.

BRITISH ENVOY AT WARSAW IN 1774. I have seen in some German book a mention of an interesting letter written by the British envoy at Warsaw in 1774, but without any reference, and even without the name of the envoy. I wish to know his name, and the work or series in which his letters, dispatches, or reports have been published.

H. GAIDOZ.

22, Rue Servandoni, Paris (VI e ).

MISSING WORD. There is an English word which has escaped my memory. Owing to its striking significance, it is well worth remembering, and I have set my heart upon recovering it, regardless of any amount of trouble, and ask for help from your readers.

The word in question fits the following description : a compound noun, consisting of two or three words, having two meanings : a literal and a figurative one. Literally it means killing, a shot, a freebooter, or some- thing like it anyhow a bad character ; figuratively it denotes a " person little or unknown." I came across the word in a periodical, and have actually seen it in my big dictionary. It is by its literal meaning