Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/434

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XIL OCT. so, im

which the author states is " moulded in plaster," but which is really limewood, and was then placed in the centre over the Communion table : it is still there, but the centre of the new and somewhat ornate reredos, picked out in gold and colour ; and (3) the eastern window of the church, which is here stated to be "as remarkable for its history as for its grandeur of colour- ing." The staves get about a page of de- scription, the altar " pannel " (sic) rather more than a page, and the window gets just about six pages. The whole is signed " J. R.," and dated March, 1834, so that it would appear as if three years must have elapsed between its being written and pub- lished.

I have also a broadside printed by " J. B. Nichols & Son, 25, Parliament Street, West- minster " ; but that may be the one MB. ABRAHAMS has before him. Should he like to see the pamphlet, I shall have pleasure in lending it to him for perusal.

Is anything known of H. Sutherland's private press ? W. E. HABLAND-OXLEY.

Westminster.

OREGON (10 S. xii. 169, 258). Writing in The Magazine of American History for January, 1879, the late J. Hammond Trum- bull said :

"The name is the accurate translation of

the name by which, as Carver had reasons for believing, 'the Great River of the West' was designated by the tribes that lived near it. It is the Mohegan ivauregan, the Abnaki owrighen, the Delaware wuliexen, the Massachusetts wunnegan, signifying in all dialects 'good,' 'fair,' 'fine.'" Vol. iii. p. 37.

Mr. Trumbull was one of the most noted authorities in his day on Indian languages, and his opinion must always be received with respect. Yet he had made no special investigation into the history of the word Oregon, and the above statement is open to serious objections. So far as the present writer is aware, the only thorough investiga- tion of the word Oregon is to be found in a little book of which only one hundred copies were printed in 1888, the late Prof. Josiah D. Whitney's ' Names and Places,' pp. 28-75. The article, which is called ' Oregon and Pend' Oreilles,' is much too long to reproduce here ; but the rarity of the book will warrant a long extract :

" The name ' Oregon ' is unquestionably the Spanish Orejon, as we will now proceed to show.

The question arises, then, What does Orejon

mean, and how is it applicable to this river [the Columbia]? Orejon is the regularly formed aug- mentative from oreja, 'ear' orejon, 'big ear.' This is the original meaning ; and if it is not found

with that meaning in dictionaries of the present time, this only shows that, like many other words,, it has lost in part its original signification. An orejon at present is a slice, or ' big ear,' of a peach

or some other fruit cut off and dried in the sun

If, however, we look in a Spanish dictionary two- or three hundred years ago, we find ' Orejon, one- that hath large eares ' (Minsheu's ' Dictionarie in Spanish and English,' London, 1599).

" Whence comes it that big ears have anything to do with the river called the ' Big-Ear River,' or, as it undoubtedly was in the original Spanish, ' Rio de los Orejones,' or Oregones, the River of the Big Ears?

"The Big-Ears are the Indians called by the Spanish explorers and traders in the region drained by the Columbia River the ' Orejones,' a word which would be more likely to be written by English- speaking travellers with a g than with a.?', the first- named letter more nearly representing the sound of the Spanish j." Pp. 57, 59, 60.

ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

" NOLI ALTTJM SAPERE " (10 S. xii. 168,

216). Robert Stephens, the printer, the friend of Calvin, had for his device an olive tree, some of the branches of which had been cut off, and the words " Noli altum sapere " (" Be not high-minded ").

CHARLES JERDAN.

LORRAINE OR TOURAINE (10 S. xii. 309). In the reprint of 1889 Touraine is correctly substituted for the misprint " Lorraine."

A. R. BAYLEY.

MONUMENTS TO AMERICAN INDIANS (10 S. xii. 87, 230). The monument to Miantonomo is in Norwich, Conn., not far from the city. It is on the site of the battle-field where he was captured, but probably not near where he was slain, though so supposed.

FORREST MORGAN.

Hartford, Conn.

NEWSPAPERS IN 1680 (10 S. xii. 243, 314). See also Nichols, * Lit. Anec.,' 4, pp. 64-9, Timperley's book, spoken of so highly by MR. WELFORD, is a useful one to have, but a dangerous one to use without testing its statements. W. ROBERTS.

I am obliged to MR. WELFOBD for his reference to Timperley, whose book, I may perhaps be allowed to add, I have known and used for many years. But if MB. WELFOBD pursues his researches, he will find that there are many things he cannot learn from Timperley, and others which he will afterwards have to unlearn.

There are, of course, other writers on the subject of the history of the press, and a good bibliography of them would be of interest. One of great importance for O\L