Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/502

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. JUNE is, 1910.

verse, of a visit to England in 1652 of Eric Rosekrantsii et Petrie Reedtsii. They visited Raidsister (Rochester) and Kjethom (Chat- ham) and other places, including one very appropriate to this subject, on a most significant date : they were at Enstone, Woodstock, on 21 June, where the rustics were celebrating games " quos sua lingua Rabben hiit [Robin Hood] vocabant " (Forty-Fifth Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records, Appendix, ii. 62).

There are place-names of which Robin Hood forms a part where the pseudo-Earl of Huntingdon never could have been. I have a list of about fifty such names, and an analysis, especially with regard to orientation, would tend to show that they were sites of pagan sanctity. A. RHODES.

" SCRIBBLE " (11 S. i. 447). The Barbar- ous Latin word " scribillo, as,'' is given in the fourth volume of Facciolati and For- cellini, 1805 ed., amongst those words " Sparsa in Lexicis Calepini, Passeratii, Basilii Fabri, Junckeri, et aliorum, a nobis improbata, & expulsa." Possibly a refer- ence to the dictionaries mentioned would supply a quotation.

Francis Holyoke, in the second edition of ' Rider's Dictionary,' Oxonise, 1612, gives the word in the second part, containing the Barbarous Latin words :

" Scribello, vet. vsi sunt pro scribo &, quo compos, conscribello." The latter word is given as

" Conscribillo, as, & conscribello, Cat. : to write together."

Littleton, 4th ed., 1715, gives it thus :

" f Scribillo, as, Act. a scribo. Var. : To scribble."

According to Du Cange (edition of Ade- lung, vol. vi., 1784), the word scripula, signifying epistola, occurs in the Glossary of Isidorus.

It would seem from the above that the word actually existed, and therefore might not require the addition of an asterisk to denote its hypothetical existence.

JOHN HODGKIN.

PETER WILCOCK (11 S. i. 347, 418, 455). The Rev. Peter Wilcock, the translator of Bede's ' Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow,' was a Roman Catholic priest of Sunderland, where he published his book in 1819. At a time when the priests and adherents of the Roman Catholic faith were looked upon with suspicion, the Rev. Peter Wilcock was held in great esteem by the best f amiMes in Sunder- land and the neighbourhood. He was a

strong advocate of popular education ; he established day schools for the children of his own Church, and was ever willing to in- struct students in Latin.

JOHN ROBINSON. Delaval House, Sunderland.

"CHEMINOTS" (11 S. i. 446). The word is " slang,"- unlikely to last, as it has the same sound as a more venerable slang term. The older word covers both ' ' tramps n and the respectable " compagnons du Tour-de- France." Here is actual dialogue: " Un Chemineau ? " " Un Tour-de-France." D.

" POSTIERS " (11 S. i. 447). The more usual slang is " les P.T.T.," pronounced rapidly "les petetes.' 4 The Postmaster- General (Minister, or Under Secretary) is "Le Grand Petete," head of the depart- ment, " Postes, Telegraphs, Telephones. 5 ' But, in the men's union, ' ' postiers -'-* means, as a rule, those directly employed by "les Postes," with the exception of the country postmen, " les facteurs ruraux."' D.

MODERN NAMES DERIVED FROM LATIN- IZED FORMS: GALFRID (11 S. i. 186, 338, 436). Far be it from me, as Rector of Thorndon, Suffolk, to deny the soft impeach- ment attributing exceptional learning and Latin to this parish, but the Latinized names of the parishioners found their fons et origo in the parson. In my transcript of the registers I translated the Latin, but left the names to a great extent in their original form.

The early entries being in Latin, the parson naturally had to Latinize the names also, but those named therein neither called nor signed themselves by these Latinized names : Elizeus signs himself Ellis ; Fides is buried as Fayth or Faith, Gratia as Grace, &c.

Galfrid Pearle is buried as "Jephery" Pearle ; and Maria Pearle, baptized as the daughter of Galfrid Pearle, is buried as the daughter of " Jephery n Pearle. Galfrid, Gaffry, Jeffery, Godfrey, &c., are all adapta- tions, corruptions, or translations of the original for God peace. H. A. HARRIS.

Thorndon Bectory, Eye, Suffolk.

WILLIAM KELLY (11 S. i. 429). He was an adventurous Irishman who visited most of the newly discovered goldfields of the world in the fifties, and wrote vivaciously gossiping books about them. Among them are 'Across the Rocky Mountains from New York to California, 1 * A Stroll through the Diggings of California,' and ' Life in Victoria 5 ' (two volumes). The last-named