Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/107

 10 s. XL JAN. so, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

French, in which " de " is a sign of good birth, &c., as " le " is a sign of common origin. But it is commonly said that Robert Montgomery assumed the aristocratic prefix " mont " (D.N.B.), though this had been denied years before by Cyrus Jay in his ' Recollections,' 1859, p. 200.

Ascetonym. The name of a saint used as a proper name.

Example : Saint-Jean (la mere Angelique de) [i.e. Angelique d'Arnauld d'Andilly], S.L.D.

Asterism or asteronym. One or more asterisks or stars used as a name : see stigmonym. Asterism has been in use since 1598, see O.E.D.

Examples : ' The Collegian's Guide ' by 'Poetical Trifles,' by *** **** **** [Sir John Moore], the second edition, Bath, 1778.
 * ****** [James Pycroft],1845,H.p. 191 :

I have not found the word asterism used by Querard, though he has several pages of asterisms in the S.L.D. vol. v. But he has asteronym in the title of his second edition of the S.L.D. Asterism is used as a title in H. p. 189, in 1868.

Autonym, autonymous. Book published with the author's real name or literary name. In O.E.D. vol. i. p. 575, and O. Hamst quoted.

This word has come into use : we have " The Pseudonym Library " and this was followed in imitation of it by " The Autonym Library," published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1894, see ' The English Catalogue,' vol. v. 1890-97, p. 1116; and ' N. & Q.,' 22 Oct., 1898. It is necessary to be careful that antonym is not used for autonym.

Boustrophedon. Same as ananym, which is a less cumbersome word. Boustrophedon is in O.E.D. vol. i. p. 1027, with " Dralloc " quoted from O. Hamst.

Chronogram. "A chronogram is pro- perly a [name] sentence or a verse, wherein certain letters express a date, while the sentence itself is descriptive of, or allusive to, the event to which it belongs " (James Hilton in ' Chronograms,' 1895, iii. 2). In the index under " author " he has references to authors' names in chronograms, so that the above description should include the word " name " I have added in brackets.

In vol. i. 1882, p. 9, Hilton gives the follow- ing instance : " Hugo Grotius his sompho- paneas, or Joseph a tragedy, with annota- tions by franCIs goLDsMIth (i.e., 1652)," the letters forming the date being indicated by capitals.

Chronogram is in O.E.D. vol. ii. p. 396,. with an example of the date 1666 expressed in this way : LorD haVe MerCIe Vpon Vs.

I have no instance of a chronogram pseudonym, but I have kept the word in this, as it was in my original list, and is in all the other lists.

Cryptonym, cryptonymous. The name of an author that is hidden : a book that has the author's name, but hidden in some- manner. Peignot describes cryptonym as- an author who disguises his name, but more- particularly he who disguises himself by only transposing the letters of his name, so as to form another name, which is an anagram of the real name (' Dictionnaire/ 1802, i. 199). But he then gives an ananym as an example which I should never call cryptonym, as Telliamed reversed makes Demaillet. Pierquin and Littre both follow Peignot as to a cryptonym being anagram- matic : there is nothing in this, as all dic- tionary-makers copy one another. It is- better that cryptonym and anagram should have distinct meanings. If a pseudonym is an anagram, better call it so than crypto- nym.

Examples of cryptonym : ' Fifty-one- original fables,' by [here is a monogram of the letters ATORBJCNH interwoven, from which it would be almost impossible to guess the name of the author] Jonathan Birch^ It was published in London, 1833 : the pre- face is signed Job Crithannah, which is an anagram of the author's name.

'The Wandering Jew,' by the Rev. T^ Clark, 1820, is cryptonymous, and most difficult is it to find out the author's name. In ' The Literary Life of John Gait,' vol. i. p. 222, he says he wrote it under the name of the " Rev. Mr. Clarke," in order to conceal the use he had made of his former works in compilation. Oddly enough, he does not reveal the cryptonym ; and that the initial letters of each sentence of the '' Conclusion ' r from p. 435 to p. 438 make up the words " This book was written by John Gait."

There is a cryptical title in H. p. 29, under C.C.. i.e. Clark.

The following phraseonym is a crypto- nimic ananym : ' Scripture Interpretations,' by A. Namyal, vicar of Ecalpon. London^ 1854. RALPH THOMAS.

(To te continued.)

I am not sure that I agree with my friend MB. WHEATLEY in his objection to the use of the word "anonym " in the sense of "a book without an author's name," although I fully see his point, and would prefer the