Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/466

 458

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[11 8. I. JUNE 4, 1910.

the least sense of humour could call it dull entertainment. It is true that h serious expression so impressed the audienc that at first they were unable, for a few minutes, to grasp the humour of his remarks but when they did, it was a constant succes sion of a few words followed by roars o laughter (during which he always stoppec speaking) for the remaining hour and a ha or two hours of the lecture.

J. FOSTER PALMER. 8, Royal Avenue, S.W.

[Several other correspondents thanked for replies.

" GALLEY IN PLACE-NAMES (11 S. i 389). The term " gaily, "- i.e., abounding in " galls,' 1 is common in many dialects, anc is fully explained in the ' E.D.D. 1 A ' ' gall ' is ''a barren or unfertile spot in a field wet, spongy land." Also "waste land, strip by the side of the road ; the plura is applied to spots of land in a field where the crop has failed.' 1 The adj. "gaily, as applied to crops, means " thin and poor having defective spots " ; and as appliec coppice, " scanty, having gaps this may explain some of the

to a

Perhaps

examples.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

Perhaps the following from William Baxter's ' Glossarium Antiquitatum Bri- tannicarum, 1 2nd ed., 1733, p. 61, may afford a clue to the meaning of galley : ' ' nam & Galai vel Clai Britannis est pro Luto (quod

& Persis est Caly) n It is possible,

therefore, that ' ' galley " in the combinations mentioned may mean " clay.' 1

An acquaintance with the localities re- ferred to by E. H. A. S. might determine the accuracy or otherwise of this conjecture. JOHN HODGKIN.

I would suggest that this word is a variant of " gallows,' 1 and that place-names in which it occurs represent the sites of gibbets, of which the severity of the law in olden days rendered many necessary. There is in Edgefield, a village in Norfolk, a field called the Gallows Field, and local tradition attributes the name to the above-men- tioned source. " Gallows " is derived from A.-S. galga, M.E. galwes, and among other forms of the word the 'N.E.D.' gives "gall(e)y." C. E. LOMAX,

"WORTH' 1 IN PLACE-NAMES (11 S. i. 389). Edmund Gibson gives in his edition of 'The Saxon Chronicle 1 (Oxford, 1692) an appendix containing ' Regulse Generales de Nominibus Locorum,' and therein he

states: Werth, Weorth, Wyrth. Syllabi Worth, weorth, wyrth, sive initiales sive finales, profluunt a S. peonc5i x, prcedium, platea, Curia, villa. 11 JOHN HODGKIN.

The meaning of " worth ?1 as a termination of a place-name is best conceived from its derivation. It comes from the Anglo- Saxon weorthig, via worthig, wurthig, worth. A weorthig is an enclosure a close, a field, or even an estate. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon wdrian, to ward or defend to guard. Thus we get a protected place, as Wandsworth, the estate by the Wandle, or Tamworth, the estate by the Tame ; it is understood that the estates are protected, or fenced off from the surrounding country.

THOMAS WM. HTJCK. Saffron Walden.

This means an enclosed homestead or farm. Vide Skeat's * Place-Names of Hert- fordshire,' 1904, p. 54. W. B. GERISH.

[MB. TOM JONES also thanked for reply.]

MESOPOTAMIA: "THAT BLESSED WORD MESOPOTAMIA" (11 S. i. 369). It is told of the celebrated Methodist preacher George Whitefield that he, so persuasive was his eloquence, could reduce his hearers to tears merely by uttering the word Mesopotamia. ?his, at all events, is the version commonly urrent in religious circles. The genesis of
 * he story was indicated several years ago
 * >y Mr. Francis Jacox. Garrick, who greatly

admired Whitefield's preaching, was, it eems, responsible for its introduction into eligious literature. Whitefield's voice, says Jacox, was so wonderfully modulated that Garrick said "he could make men either augh or cry by pronouncing the word Mesopotamia." No reference is given to

Garrick's writings, or vhen he used the words.

hrase " that blessed do not know.

information as to Who first used the

word Mesopotamia W. SCOTT.

Brewer's * Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ' has :

The true 'Mesopotamia' ring (London Review) . something high-sounding and pleasing, but holly past comprehension. The allusion is to the -ory of an old woman who told her pastor that le ' found great support in that comfortable word .esopotamia.' "

I have also heard a story of "Mesopo- tamia n being a milestone in a portentously ong extemporary prayer : " When he gets to Mesopotamia he is nearly half way through.' 1 W. A. H.