Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/427

 ios. HI. MAY 6, 1905.1 NOTES AND QUERIES.

351

the, and has nothing whatever to do with the word to. For if archdeacon means " to archdeacon," then it follows that "I gave it to t' archdeacon " means "I gave it to to archdeacon," which is absurd.

I am quite astonished, moreover, to find such an extraordinary inability to under- stand my reference to " to with the inflected infinitive." The point is, of course, that when to preceded the infinitive in Anglo-Saxon, the infinitive ending was not only retained, as is correctly assumed in the reply to me, but obtained an additional and extra in- flection which it would not otherwise have had. The ordinary suffix was not " -en, as in German," but -an, as in Old High German and Gothic ; as in bind-an, to bind. But if to preceded, then it was bind-anne, with -ne superadded. It is too bad that I should have to explain so elementary a fact. I doubt if any other of " my disciples " need any further argument. Surely to let does not mean the let. WALTER W. SKEAT.

TWITCHEL (10 th S. Hi. 289). This term for a path bounded on either side by a hedge is, I believe, not uncommon in Hertfordshire. One is well known in Ware in connexion with the grounds of Amwell House, formerly the home of John Scott, the poet and friend of Dr. Samuel Johnson. May not the word be derived from tioitch,to pinch? thus a pinched or narrow passage. A Hertfordshire glossary will probably give the etymology.

ROBERT WALTERS.

Ware Priory.

This term is not uncommon in Derbyshire for a narrow lane, e.g., "The Twitchell" at Repton. I have heard it used in Yorkshire with the significance of a courtyard entered by a narrow alley. Halliwell, vol. ii. p. 898, gives both these meanings for the word.

GEORGE A. AUDEN.

There is a place-name Twitchel- Field in St. Stephen's parish, St. Albans. See 7 th S. xii. 383.

Dr. Wright, in the 'E.D.D.,' says it is "a narrow footpath between hedges ; a narrow passage ; a blind alley ; a short cut."

EDWARD PEACOCK.

The Lancashire word twitchel (sub.) is a short wooden lever with a loop of rope fastened to one end ; the rope is put round the lower jaw of an unruly horse, and the stick is twisted round so as to get a tight hold of the jaw and subdue the horse. Twitchel (v.), to pinch, to nip ; more correctly to get into a noose. The name may have been given to the pathway from its being a

lovers' lane or walk, or from its being the nearest way to the church, where many couples have got into the noose and paid the penalty. JOHN RADCLIFFE.

Here and in other places a path such as described is called a "twitchel" by some, but the more general name is " bawk." "To twitchel" means to beat; one lad will "twitchel" another, and a man will " twitchel " his dog, or in other words give a "good hiding." The cruel sport of tying an old tin to a dog's tail is called " twitchel- ling " it. There does not seem to be much connexion between " twitchel" = a narrow path and " twitchel"=a beating.

THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

Twitchels is the name of a row of cottages in the parish of Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks, in the lane leading from the village to Jordans. R. PHIPPS, Col. late R.A.

[MR. E. H. COLEMAN and H. J. B. are also thanked for replies. ]

ARMORIAL (10 th S. iii. 289). The College of Arms has record of grants of arms ; but iu many cases this information can be got from books such as 'A Display of Heraldry,' by John Guillim. Grants and certificates of arms are now being printed in The Genea- logist. In the British Museum the manu- script numbered Add. 35,336 gives selections of grants between 1478 and 1743.

GERALD FOTHERGILL.

11, Brussels Road, New Wandsworth, S. W.

As no family or year is stated in the query, and I do not think R. G. H., will get the book he requires, the following may be of some use. A list of printed grants of arms, supporters, and crests is given in The Genealogist, 1879, vol. iii. pp. 188, 211, 379; vol. iii. N.S., 1886, p. 86, which mentions the name, date, and the book where the grant will be found. In the same work and in Miscellanea Genea- logica et Heraldica, from the last date to the present issues, some are printed. The ' Guide to Printed Books and Manuscripts relating to Heraldry,' 1892, by George Gatfield, gives grants of arms in the British Museum and other libraries, but does not give names or dates. The Heralds' College should be the storehouse for heraldic matters; but fees would probably have to be paid. JONRAD.

QUEEN'S SURNAME (10 th S. ii. 529 ; iii. 114, 174). Plantagenet, as MR. BAYLEY suggests, was no doubt a nickname. But are not all surnames originally nicknames'? It was, perhaps, a nickname as applied to Geoffrey of Anjou, but by the time it reached his son Henry II. it had become a surname, was