Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/95

 10 s. xi. JAN. 23, 1909.J NOTES AND QUERIES.

MB. PLATT says, the French pronunciation is the correct one, then why should we not say Gand instead of Ghent ? In Belgium the Flemish names of these two towns are those most generally used, but in this country we have become accustomed to using the method easier to us. A. LIONEL ISAACS.

The French word has of course only one pronunciation " Briizh " ; in the Flemish Brugge both the vowels have the sound of u in " but," while the g is guttural, as in our " ugh " or " lough." It is far better to say " broo-geez " than affect a French pronunciation if one does not know it ; but the true English name of the city is Brug, identical, in fact, with the old name of Brfdgnorth, and that is by far the best

we have near Birmingham the place Bicken- hill ; and Bicknell is a not very uncommon surname in the district. There is a bonehill near Tamworth, from which (or from some

may be derived.

W. F. CABTEB.

PIMLICO : EYEBBIQHT (10 S. x. 401, 547, 514). I cannot accept responsibility for statements made by other correspondents of ' N. & Q.' At the same time, I may be permitted to point out that the writer referred to by me did not state that there was " now " an island in the West Indies called Pimlico. The date of his note (6 S. ix. 148) was 1884 ; but if an island of that name was then in existence, I see no reason why there should not have been " such an

to adopt, just as Gaunt is the English name island before 1650 Unfortunately, he 01 the town called in r lemish Gent and in French Gand. The common Ghent like Scheldt for Schelde, Ley den for Leiden, and many others is merely a misspelling. E. A. PHIPSON.

SUBNAMES ENDING IN -NELL (10 S. xi. 8). I do not understand the name Dartnell.

not specify the map in which it appears as a " mere dot of a thing." I should be glad if some one interested in London topo- graphy, and possessed of the necessary leisure, could settle the matter by consulting the old maps and Admiralty charts in the British Museum. Nor did I state that the

it an open question " whether the bird derived ite name from the island, or the island from the bird," though personally I incline to the former view. No doubt Ben


 * -* A*w MU*A*7&0VCUU UlJLf XiC*XXJ.^> JL^OrJL U11OJX. I i, .. , jt t 1 T 1 ti.

But as to Bonell, it is tolerably certain that ***** Sf^f JJJLSS? ^J^^ Vv^ v!SS

the true suffix is not -nell, as supposed,

but simply -ell ; for, as Bardsley remarks,

Bonell, Bonnell, and Bonhill are all known

Staffordshire variants of the place-name ,-,.

Bonehill. And further, as Mr. Duignan J?^ ',, 11 such a P erso p

says in his 'Place-Names of Staffordshire,' 4 BuU Tu W ff *

the old speUing of Bonehill was BoUen-hulle. ! mentionedby DB. RIMBAULT wasataverner

This Middle -English form represents an of Hoxton but he may nevertheless have

i <-i o^T.-tTQ^ -IT. 4-V.o \KTftai- TviHioc! in Viia ottTlior rtttTTH

Anglo-Saxon Bollan - hylle, ^.e. Bolla s

V-.-T11 '' T>_n *_ j_i_ * * ( T- 11

to

hill." Bollan is the genitive case of Bolla, a.n A.-S. name of which there are several examples. The A.-S. hylle is represented in M.E. by hulle, hille, and helle, afterwards shortened to htdl, hill, and hell. The use of u, i, and e was due to the difficulty of representing the sound of the A.-S. y, which had the sound of the modern French u in

WALTEB W. SKEAT.

served in the West Indies in his earlier days. Pimlico was certainly not an English word, and it is not found before the time when the shipmates of Drake and Ralegh began to return homewards from their voyages in the Spanish Main. MB. MATTHEWS further says that if I had consulted the ' N.E.D.' under " pemblicp," I should have seen whence the West Indian

bird derived its name. As a matter of fact, I did consult the 'N.E.D.,' as might have

The query, as worded, must be futile, been inferred from the last sentence of my for the -nell of the second example quoted, note. I am the proud possessor of that

Bonell, is part of two words, " bone " and "hill" (Bardsley). The diminutive -ell is of course common, and is seen in Cock-er- ell ; probably also in Penn-ell and Parn-eU, from Lat. Petronilla. Usually, however, -n-ett denotes "hill," "hall," "hale," as shown by Bardsley, s.w. Bicknell, Bagnell, Darnell, Fernell, &c. H. P. L.

In surnames or it should rather be in place-names the termination -nell, in most, if not all, cases, represents " enhill." Thus

invaluable work as far as it has been pub- lished, though for obvious reasons I cannot include it amongst my luggage on Swiss and Italian railways. I am unable to accept the quotation from the anonymous and undated ' Hist. Bermudaes ' as a final settle- ment of the question. The story of the " Alebanters of London " sending over a bird whose note put the sailors in mind of a place beloved by them, and which they therefore " tearmed pimplico," seems to me rather a far-fetched yarn. If it was sent