Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/115

 io* 8. v. FEB. 3, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Breitmann's Barty, and other Ballads,' by the same author (John Camden Hotten, 1869). Leland says in his introduction, p. 6 :-

" Pidgin, it may be observed, is now the generally accepted spelling of the word in the Anglo-Chinese newspapers."

With one more quotation I end :

"The word pidgin, if derived, as is generally supposed, from the English word business, indicates the difficulty with which Chinese master our pro- nunciation. It is also characteristic of the jargon, from the incredible variety of meanings which it assumes. As the term uxulah in Hindu, and that of engro in Rommany, are applicable to any kind of active agent, so pidgin is with great ingenuity made expressive of every variety of calling, occupation, or affair. As business or commerce is the great bond of union between the Chinese and foreign residents, it is not remarkable that this should be the chief and ever-recurriyg word, and give its name to the language formed in its service." P. 3.

" Pidgin English " has not much literature, but Leland is its poet-laureate.

JOHN T. CURRY.

" BROWN BESS" AS APPLIED TO A MUSKET (10 th S. v. 21). This note is interesting, but it is an error to suppose that the word bus signifies the barrel, for it expresses the gun , itself. Bus is the early Low Countries' equi- valent for a gun, quite irrespective of size, as Diichse means the same thing in mediaeval German.

A very early mention of the word bus, buss, or bussen occurs in a Low Countries' record of anno 1313, concerning which I give a copy of a passage in a treatise of my own, * Early Ordnance in Europe,' published in Archceo- logia sEliana, 1903 :

"It is reported that the city of Ghent was in possession of ordnance anno 1313, a date somewhat anterior to the legendary discovery of gunpowder by Schwarz ; and that the magistrates of the town gave to their ambassadors going to England bussen mtt Isruyt* or donderbussen ;t but this statement, made in a work published in 1843,t has not been authenticated, and the city archives have been searched since with a view to rinding the passage, but without success. It is incredible, however, that a statement so precise as this, made by a writer of repute, could be a pure invention, and really there is no reason for doubting his good faith."

During the second quarter of the four- teenth century this word bus, as applied to a gun, frequently appears in Low Country records. 11. COLTMAN CLEPHAN.


 * Kruyt, gunpowder.

t Our designation '"blunderbuss" conies pro- bably from this word.

^ Reynard, Tresor National,' t. ii. p. 35 (Liege, 1843).

Surely " British troops " (p. 22) to be his- torical, should be " English troops." This mistake is being constantly made by writers in the press. KALPH THOMAS.

"PHOTOGRAPHY" (10 th S. iv. 367, 435, 450, 490 ; v. 37). With reference to the process named " photo -zincography," I think the extract given below establishes the date of the discovery, and, as it is rather earlier than that given at the last reference by MR. JAGGARD, it may be worth insertion in your valuable paper.

The extract is from the introduction to 'Domesday Book, Facsimile of the Part relat- ing to Cheshire,' Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, 1861, written by Col. Sir H. James, R.E. F.R S., and is as follows :

" In 1859 we improved the chromo-carbon process to our requirements in such a way that the photo- graphs could be at once transferred to the wax sur- face of a copperplate to guide the engraver, or to plates of zinc or stone for printing as by the ordinary methods ; and as we generally use zinc plates, I named this art photo-zincography. To Capt. A. de C. Scott, R.E., who has charge of this branch of the work, we are chiefly indebted for this success. In an interview with the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer, he asked my opinion as to the applicability of this art to the copying of some of our ancient MS. records, and I at once ex- pressed my belief that we could produce facsimiles of them at a very trifling cost. But with the view of testing this, I had a small deed of the time of Edward I. copied and printed by this process, and with the sanction of the Right Hon. Lord Herbert of Lea, Secretary of State for War, copies of it were bound up with my Annual Report of the pro- gress of the Ordnance Survey to the 31st December, 1859, which has been presented to both Houses of Parliament."

A. H. ARKLE.

STEVENSON AND SCOTT : " HEBDOMADARY " (10 th S. v. 44). The word " hebdomadary " seems also to have had a fascination for Charles Lamb. Writing to Gary (13 April, 1831), he says :

" I ani daily tor this week expecting Wordsworth, who will not name a day. I have been expecting him by months and by weeks ; but he has reduced the hope within seven fractions hebdomadal of this hebdoma."

S. BUTTERWORTH.

TWIZZLE- TWIGS (10 th S. iv. 507; v. 53).- Ttvizzle is here the M.E. twisel, double. MR. T. W. HALL mentions Wigtwizzle, near Sheffield, and tells us that in 1280 it was spelt Wygestwysell. This place-name, hitherto known only in later forms, has been explained by reference to A.-S. iveg-tivisluny, branching of roads, or to a hypothetical iveg-twisla, of the same meaning. But if the first s in Wygestwysell is not a mere clerical error,