Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/61

 n s. i. JAN. io, i9io.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

There are (according to 'Whitaker') 3,771,843 acres in Yorkshire, and there are 3,556,680 letters in the Bible. Consequently the acres outnumber the letters by 215,163.

D. K. T.

WALSH SURNAME (10 S. xii. 446). At 10 S. xii. 233 I stated that, under certain conditions, gutturals and velars became modified into palatals and fricatives, and I promised to contribute a note on this sub- ject. Curiously enough, in one particular MR. JAS. PLATT has anticipated me. The pronunciation of gh as sh is said by him to be " one of the most interesting phenomena in the whole range of English phonetics." As a matter of fact, this is not confined to English phonetics, but extends through the whole of the Aryan group of languages.

My own view is that the original Indo- European contained the sounds kh and gh (pronounced like Arabic khe and ghain respectively) ; and that in some languages, particularly the Sanskrit, these gutturales verce became modified, under certain con- ditions, to the palatal sh ; in others, as in Latin, they became merely k or g, with or without labialization ; while in Persian they became either sh or h, if they did not remain unchanged. I have not yet completed my study of the conditions under which these changes occurred, but I shall give two or three examples to illustrate them. It is necessary to remember that Greek x should be pronounced like kh, or German ch, and not merely as k ; and that English gh must be taken to be equivalent to a true guttural

gh.

I. Eng. ei#7zt=Germ. ac7it = O. Ir. ocht = Latin octo = Gk. dxTw = Sans. asAta=O. Pers. has/it.

II. Gk. SK<x=Lat. decem = Sans. das/ia = Pers. da&a.

III. Lat. equus ( = ^vos)= Gael. e&ch = Sans. as/iva=O. Pers. aspa.

IV. Gk. ^ VT s = Lat. clutus = Sans.

In the case of the word " daughter," how- ever, Sanskrit replaces the guttural by h, probably because the accent in the original word fell upon the syllable following the guttural :

Eng. dau#7iter=Germ. toc/iter=Pers. dufc&tar=Sans. duAitra.

The inference to be drawn from such examples is that in the Indo-Aryan group the gutturals kh and gh became very early modified into sh or h ; and the important point with regard to this is that the sh

sound is not cerebral, but palatal. The palatal sh and the cerebral sh are represented in Sanskrit by two distinct symbols, but they are not distinguished in the European languages. Nevertheless, when a German pronounces ich as ish, my ear perceives very clearly the palatal nature of the -sh ; and in the word Milch, I being palatal, there is no doubt that the softening of the guttural makes it a palatal.

In fact, when -halgh is pronounced as -halsh in English, or Milch as milsh in German, the same phonetic change takes place in our own day, as occurred very early when akht became as/ita in Sanskrit or has/it in Persian.

This palatal sh is not the sh of the English word shame, and it is difficult to show that the sound exists in English at all. But I have heard a great many English people pronounce the words " this year " as though they were " thish year," and I am inclined to think that the position of the tongue in pronouncing the s is determined by the rapidly succeeding palatal y, and that there- fore the sound heard is a true palatal sh.

V. CHATTOPADHYlYA.

51, Ladbroke Road, W.

[Are the words with x correct ?]

THOMAS PAINE (10 S. xii. 44, 118, 197). In my note at the first reference I incident- ally referred to a prevalent belief in this country that Paine was joint author of the Declaration of Independence. In so writing I followed not only Conway and Sedgwick, but public utterances (unquestioned till now) made in England during the centenary celebrations by men of probity, familiar with the writings and career of the great Revolutionist. Moreover, in the rare pam- phlet to which I previously referred (pub- lished by J. P. Watson), Cobbett had gone much further in identifying Paine with the historic Declaration. In the light of the valuable article by MR. ALBERT MATTHEWS at 10 S. xii. 441, the claim made for Paine's collaboration can, in my opinion, no longer be sustained.

My main purpose, however, is to draw attention to the lit tie -known fact that the major portion of Paine' s desecrated grave- stone has remained in the continuous custody of a Liverpool family for nearly 100 years. Concerted investigation on the part of English and American friends imme- diately followed publication, with the result that the genuineness of the Liverpool fragment has been fully established. Those who desire to possess details of the evidence