Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/159

ii s. VIIL AUG. 23,1913.] NOTES AND QQEEIES.

153 United Kingdom by some 6,000 square miles. I may also mention that to my knowledge the journey from Budapest to Vienna was then considered wonderfully rapid if it took no more than fifteen hours. A friend of mine told me the other day that it took him a day and a half, or over thirty hours, from Berlin to Paris in 1859, and I venture to think that no letter, and certainly no newspaper, could have come from Budapest to London under five days. I can remember myself the time when letters took four days, and newspapers have only recently attained to the speed of letters. For many years papers came about twelve hours later than letters.

AN AMBIGUOUS POSSESSIVE CASE (11 S. viii. 25, 91, 135).—Mr. J. C. Nesfield devotes section 304 of his ' Modern English Grammar,' 1912, to a discussion of this subject. He says:—

Of followed by a Possessive. This occurs in such phrases as 'that book of James's,' 'that handsome face of my father's,' 'that book of yours.'

"Three explanations have been offered all conceivable:—

"(1) 'Of my father's' is an ellipse for 'of my father's faces.' Here 'faces' is the Object to 'of' used in a Partitive sense. This is good grammar, but it makes nonsense, since 'my father' cannot have more than one face. But it is defensible on grounds of analogy with instances where it makes sense, as in "That book of my father's (books).'

"(2) 'Of my father's' is a Double Possessive. This explanation is the most natural, and seems to be the right one.

"(3) The 'of' merely denotes apposition, as in 'the continent of Asia,' which means 'the continent, namely Asia.' Similarly, the phrase 'that face of my father's' can mean 'that face, namely my father's (face).' This explanation is the least satisfactory.

"Note.—The ambiguity of the preposition 'of' is sometimes removed by placing a Possessive noun after it. Thus, 'a picture of the Queen' means a picture consisting of a likeness of the Queen. But 'a picture of the Queen's' means a picture of which the Queen is owner.

"The construction by which 'of' is placed before a Possessive is not a modern idiom, but is frequently met with so far back as Chaucer, and has continued in constant use up to the present day:—

The last paragraph indicates that this use of the possessive is older than thought. Both and  show (ante, p. 91), as does Mr. Nesfield in his "Note" quoted above, that the construction is really useful as expressing a definite shade of meaning; and this construction is defended grammatically in Mr. Nesfield's first explanation, viz., that of is used in a partitive sense. But this explanation also shows that the construction may be wrongly used, and it seems to me regrettable that the author of a Grammar for use in schools should prove that a particular sentence is logically nonsense, and then state that it is "defensible on grounds of analogy" with another sentence which makes good sense. Surely Mr. Nesfield ought to have told young students that they should avoid the construction in those instances where it leads to nonsense.

1. The construction to which objects is not modern; it is at least as old as Shakespere:—

2. The expression "of mine," "of thine," &c., may be used in cases where the plural of the word preceding of cannot possibly be taken as understood:—

Lycidas had no other head than the one that was sunk.

A SHOVEL CALLED A BECKET (11 S. viii. 87). Halliwell gives " Becket " in his ' Archaic Dictionary,' his definition being " A kind of spade used in digging turf. East." Some etymologists tentatively asso- ciate the term with A.-S. becca, pickaxe or mattock, and with Old Eng. becke, a beak. The word suggests also the nautical " beckets," the hook used for confining loose ropes, &c. The shovel becket is apparently the implement which in Scotland is called " flauchter-spade." This too, as Jamieson says in the ' Scottish Dictionary,' is "a long two-handed instrument for casting turfs. " The name in this case appears to have been given, not from the appearance of the article, but from its use, The derivation proposed for " flauchter " is " from Dan. flag-er, deglubere ; the earth being, as it were, flayed." Cf. " flag," a piece of greensward cast with a spade, and Lancashire " flaight," which is said to denote a light turf. THOMAS BAYNE.

[MR. TOM JONES also thanked for reply.]

THEATRE LIT BY GAS (11 S. vii. 469; viii. 10, 96). At the second reference MR. MAYCOCK mentions an " Aeropyric Branch." This mode of illumination was also known as the "Philosophical Fire- works," and was the invention of one