Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/455

 I.NOV.5.19M.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

375

family." John Le Keux had a son, born <;. 1812, named John Henry, who was also an engraver. In the ' Dictionary of Bio- graphy and Mythology,' by J. Thomas, the pronunciation of the name is given thus leh-kooks. CHR. WATSON.

[MR. HARRY HEMS also refers to the engravers Le Keux.]

CURIOUS CHRISTIAN NAMES (10 th S. i. 26, 170, 214, 235). MR. PLATT may like to know, with reference to his statement at the last reference that Fagundes is not a Christian name, but a patronymic, that I have found in the register of Cornell University these two names Euclides Fagundes and Fagundes Fagundes. In the latter case it is evidently used both as a patronymic and as a Christian name in the same manner as the English James James and Thomas Thomas.

CHARLES BUNDY WILSON.

The State University of Iowa, Iowa City.

In a church in Worcestershire is a tablet erected by Apollonia ; and in the churchyard adjoining a stone to the memory of a Melita. In St. Mary's Church, Shrewsbury, on a tablet of the seventeenth century, Josima is mentioned. In my own village there lived A Marinda, whom I believe to have been a transmogrified Miranda. HELGA.

These are from the register of St. Leonard's, Bridgnorth. Males: Abdon, 1748; Mungo, 1750; Prince Charles, 1749 ; Nebuchadnezzar, 1747 ; Doctor, 1753 ; Hughkin, 1759 ; Dodo, 1789; Neptune, 1789. Females: Mullina, 1745; Athania, 1746; Antilles, 1749; Bethia,

1777 ; Hallelujah, 1786.

From the register of Shifnal, Salop, are Epinetus, 1742, and Marsilla, 1745.

G. S. PARRY, Lieut.-Col.

I may add two unusual names in our family, namely, Unity, as a female name, which has more than once occurred, and Justly (originally, I believe, Deal Justly), still existent in it.

In 1854 twins born on board Mr. R. Green's ship Nile (Capt. E. P. Nisbet) were chris- tened Nisbet Nile and Jessie Nilena Thomp- son. T. AWDRY.

Church House, Salisbury.

[We cannot devote more space at present to this subject]

STORMING OF FORT MORO (10 th S. i. 448, 514 ; 11. 93, 175, 256, 313). Looking into an Army List of 1791, I find at p. 316 an Ensign James Wiggins among officers of the 90th

Regiment on the English half -pay list. This regiment took part in the storming of Fort Moro, and was disbanded in 1763. I find also, at p. 377, among officers of the 73rd Foot on the Irish half-pay list, Lieut. Charles Higgins ; and at p. 390 Lieut. Hugh Higgins, of the Marine Forces, on half-pay. The 73rd Regiment was disbanded in 1763. W. S.

ISABELLINE AS A COLOUR (10 th S. i. 487 ;

ii. 75, 253). There are five mistakes in the last article on this subject :

1. The Port, word is not zibellino, but zebelina.

2. The Span, word is not zibellino, but cebellina.

3. The letter i cannot be prefixed to a mere z ; and it is not a F. prefix, but an Italian one.

4. The prefix * or e in Italian, or e (not i) in French, is only used before a double con- sonant, of which the former is s : chiefly before sc, sp, st, str. The use of the prefix is euphonic, because these sounds are difficult. There is no difficulty about initial s or z immediately followed by a vowel.

5. The chronology is wrong, as shown in the 'New English Dictionary,' which has been neglected yet once more, as usual. For " Isabella-colour " occurs in July, 1600, before the siege of Ostend, whereas the earliest quotation for Isabelline is dated 1859 ! The Latin Isabellinus goes back to 1835.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

Since sending my last letter, I have come across zebelah as a variant of Isabella colour in a catalogue of the dresses belonging to the wife of Endyinion Porter, the well- known courtier of Charles I., dating from about 1626, and printed in 'Home Life under the Stuarts ': "a gown of zebela colour." I see 4 N.E.D.' pronounces the story of the Arch- duchess Isabella to be chronologically im- possible, as "a gown of Isabella colour " is mentioned in an inventory of Queen Eliza- beth's wardrobe dating from July, 1600, and the siege of Ostend lasted 1601-4. This story is also denied in Littre's French dictionary, where the first quotation given for "Isabelle" (worn at a tournament at Turin) is dated 1619. In view of the fact that orange was the colour of pur own Parlia- mentarians during the Civil War, it is interesting to note that Littre mentions that Isabella- coloured scarves were worn by the partisans of Conde during the Fronde in 1651, as his liveries were of that colour : "Isabelle, c'est ce qu'aujourd'hui nous appelons Ventre de biche" (Retz, 'Mem./ livre iv. p. 14). Have these facts any con-