Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/241

 10'" S. V. MARCH 10, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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as required. The same name reappears in Madehurst, Sussex, i.e., " Mada's hurst," and in Madingley, Cambs, u the lea of the sons of Mada." But Maidford is " the ford of maids,' i.e., a ford that even girls could cross. WALTER W. SKEAT.

JERVIS FAMILY OF BIRMINGHAM (10 th S. v. 149). It may be of interest to MR. JERVIS- READ to know that others of his name have lived in county Southampton, one Richard Jervys being on the manor jury of Bitterne in 1625 (Court Roll in P.R O, 95/7).

I have some references to old Jervis law- suits. If they will be of any use, I will forward them direct.

GERALD FOTHERGILL.

11, Brussels Road, New Wandsworth, S W.

CHARING AND CHARING CROSS (10 th S. v. 146). The fact that there is another Charing in Kent has not been overlooked, and Mr. Holden MacMichael specifically mentions it at p. 3 of his recent book, ' The Story of Charing Cross and its Immediate Neighbour- hood.' At 9 th S. iii. 405 I gave reasons for identifying the name with the Anglo-Saxon ctrrung or cerring, a turning, a signification to which both the Kentish and the Middlesex Charings topographically answer ; and I showed that in the earliest records the definite article was used with the word, as in the instances of "St. Margaret atte Cherring," ' l Le Chering," and " La Charring," which was cited by HERMENTRUDE at 7 th S. viii. 507. The use of the word chare, which is employed in a somewhat similar sense in the north of England, was dealt with at 7 th S. viii. 307, 417, 455. On the other hand, the late Canon Isaac Taylor stated that the name was derived from the Cerrings, "a widely spread Saxon family"; and PROF. SKEAT asserts that " the Charings were alike named from the Cerringas or Ceorringas, the name of a tribe or family, lit. * the sons of Ceorra.'" In the course of a somewhat extended reading I have never come across the family of the Cerrings or Ceorringas, nor do I know whence Canon Taylor derived the notion that they were 41 widely spread." As for Ceorra, the sup- posed ancestor of the family, he seems to have been a worthy deacon in the diocese of Worcester, who may or may not have founded a family ; but as he apparently lived about the year 802, the charter of 799, which is cited by PROF. SKEAT, and mentions Charing in Kent, can scarcely prove that that place was earned after his descendants. Of course, there may have been some other Ceorra, but his- tory contains no record of him. On the

whole, the probability seems to be that "The Cherring " simply denoted the place where the road or river made a turn, as it does both in Middlesex and Kent. Mr. J. H. Round's remarks on the suffix -ing in place-names may be read with great advantage (see 'The Settlement of the South and East-Saxons' in 'The Commune of London,' pp. 1-27).

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

"VENDIUM" (10 th S. v. 148). This is a Tamil word. In Percival's 'Tamil Dic- tionary, 3 Madras, 1861, p. 305, I find it given as " Ventaiyam, a plant Trigonella fcenum grcecum" It is the fenugreek, a vegetable cultivated in India as a pot-herb, considered very wholesome, and for its seeds, which are used medicinally. It imparts a strong odour and taste to curries. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

I offer the conjecture that vendium is Tamil vendayam, fenugreek, Trigonella fcenum grcecum, the aromatic and stimulant seeds of which are used in making curry.

EMERITUS.

"POGROM" (10 th S. v. 149). This is the technical term for the attacking and looting of Russian Jewries by mobs. In military use the verb porjromit means to sack a city. The derivation is no doubt from grom, literally "lightning," but with the idea of blasting or devastation.

JAS. PLATT, Jun.

Russian pogrom^ with stress on the final syllable, is a substantive meaning devasta- tion, destruction, desolation. A verb formed from the same root means " to pillage." Groin means thunder, noise, din. MR. PIER- POINT may be interested to know that the vowel in the first syllable of pogrom being unstressed, should be pronounced like short a. FRED. G. ACKERLEY.

Grindleton Vicarage, Clitheroe.

LACONIC LETTERS (10 th S. v. 108, 153, 171). In ' Random Recollections of the Midland Circuit,' by Robert Walton, Second Series, 1873, p. 90, is the following :

" ' The shortest letter from an attorney on record.' This saying in Lincolnshire had its origin from the following circumstances. An action was being tried at Lincoln for the recovery of a certain amount of money. Mr. Macaulay opened the case for the plaintiff, expressing his surprise that the case should have found its way into court, &c. ; but on proceeding with his opening he thought tit to read the letter of the plaintiff's attorney, demand- ing the payment of the alleged debt. This letter, instead of being one of those short notes generally written on such occasions, was extremely lengthy. It began by stating the writer was instructed by his client to demand such and such a sum ; that ifc was a debt long standing, was lawfully due, and