Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/509

 11 S. XL JUNE 26, 1915. J NOTES AND QUERIES.

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story, which was printed by Knapp ; also that ' The Pilgrim/ a version of the * Peregrine,' " miserably abridged, is very bad." It may be of interest to note that a copy of this (No. 242) as item No. 467 :
 * Pilgrim ' figured in Dobell's May catalogue

" The Pilgrim, translated from the Spanish of Lopez de Vega ; and Diana, translated from the Spanish of Montemayor (abridged). .. .1738."

H. O.

A somewhat unsatisfying version of this story was given by Knapp in his ' Life of George Borrow.' EDWARD BENSLY.

SPON : SPOON (US. xi. 431).

"Spon, Spoon, E., from spona, a chip or splinter of wood. The word is applied by Bede to the fragments of the 'true cross,' and hence probably points out places where these relics were deposited. Ex.: Spon-don or Spoon-don (Derb.), relic hill." Edmunds, ' Traces of History in the Names of Places,' 1869, p. 259.

S. A. GRUNDY-NEWMAN.

The High-Dutch spin means a chip, a splinter. It is also spelt spahn. It postu- lates West-Saxon *spcen and Anglian and Kentish *spen. These should be represented in modern English by speen. That occurs in place-names and in the provincial " spean," a slip of wood such as is used to bar a gate. But West-Germanic a before n and m is expected to become 6 in O.E. Hence span and mano become spon and mono,, our "*' spoon " and " moon."

In O.E. spon meant a chip, a shaving, a thin plank. A chip of wood twists upon itself, and may become more or less spoon- like ; this suggested primarily the name for the culinary spon, our " spoon," and the word attracted to itself the secondary mean- ing of " silver."

The Swedish " span " means a chip, and also the thin boards wherewith houses are covered which we call shingles. In Ice- landic spon-thck is a thatch of shingles, .a.nd spdnn, spo.in, shingles for thatching. The East-Friesic spon has exactly the same original meaning and secondary application.

O.E. spo:i makes *sponi> spine in the plural, and that would appear to govern the meaning in Speenham, the Shingle Home ; cp. the remarks made by Prof. Skeat, who regarded the form as adjectival ( ' The Place-Names of Berkshire/ 1911, pp. 112, 113). Prof. Skeat, to whom, with Sievers and Dr. Joseph Wright, I owe the facts I am reproducing, -enables me to add Spondon, Derby, and the O.E. Spon-w^lle and Spon-ford, to the local names already given by MR. SPOONER, whose family name is equivalent to Shingler. In

the ' Feudal Aids,' ann. 1316, " Speen " is " Spene cum Woodspene et Spenhamlonde." By this date it is clear that spene had become ambiguous in meaning.

ALFRED ANSCOMBE.

LEVANT MERCHANTS IN CYPRUS : ENGLISH TOMBSTONES IN LARNACA (US. xi. 263). On comparing the inscriptions given by MR. JEFFERY, in his interesting note, with the same as they appear in the late Mr. Claude Delaval Cobham's ' Excerpta Cypria,' Nico- sia, 1895, p. 4, I find some discrepancies which are, perhaps, worth noting. ' Ex- cerpta Cypria ' appeared originally from time to time as a supplement to The Oiul, published at Nicosia. The part containing the inscriptions is dated 1892.

In what follows J=MR. JEFFERY ; (7=Mr. Cobham ; the numbers being those given by MR. JEFFERY, ante, p. 263. 3. J. ad meliorem patram . . . . longeab

C. ad meliorem patriam .... Longe ab 5. J. in the parish of C. in ye Parish of

0. J. EN THAB TH | NHSft HMEPA C. EN THAE TH NHS12 | HMEPA

7. J. 16th of July C. 15th July

8. J. xii. MDCCXXXIX C. xii .... MDCCXXXIX

9. J. cujus memoriae | dilectissimse* conjux C. cujus memoriae | Dilectissima conjux

10. J. James Lilburn 2nd son of I Capn. Wm. C. James Lilburn 2nd son | of | Capn. \Vra.

Between "Aged 40 years" and "If great integrity," Mr. Cobham gives : This tablet | is placed by his | deeply afflicted widow. |

J. long honourably remembered.

C. long honorably remembered.

11. J. Her Brittanic [sic] Majestey's [sic] Consul C. Her Britannic Majesty's Consul

J. Maria Lcuisa C. Louisa Maria

At the end of this epitaph Mr. Cobham gives :

If envy in my soul could dwell,

Child ! I could envy thee,

Ere sin its iron chain had forg'd,

The captive was set free.

Then shed no tears on such a grave,

No mourning vigil keep

Man is not so supremely blest,

To need for angel weep !

12. J. M. S Petri Bowen [the rest illegible]

C. M. S. | Petri Bowen (9 lines illegible)

At the end of his note MR. JEFFERY men- tions the tombstone of Capt. Peter Dare, 1685 " (very illegible)." Probably the in- scription has almost vanished since Mr.

and verification impossible, decided in favour of this reading.
 * The Editor, being in doubt which was meant,