Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/283

 ii s. iv. SEPT. so, Mil.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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magistri Galfridi anglici." The reading "crura puellae " is more in keeping than " brachia nymphae " with the explanation of " perichelides " ( " periscelides " ) by "quasi circa cmra " given in the ' Expositio ' of Galfridus Anglicus (Geoffrey the Gram- marian). These four lines are not to be found in the text of the ' Synonyma ' printed in Migne's ' Patrologia,' vol. cl. Mr. C. L. Kingsford remarks in his life of Johannes de Garlandia in the 'D.N.B.' :

" No doubt they [i.e. the 'Synonyma' and the ' ^Ecquivoea '] were revised from time to time by teachers, and in their existing form may be by Matthew of Vendome, to whom they are ascribed in some manuscripts."

EDWAKD BENSLY.

" SCAMMEL "=TO TREAD ON (11 S. iv.

229.) This is merely a form of the verb " to scamble," and means to push, shove, and trample on. " Scamble," as a dialect word, is still used in these senses in Worces- tershire, Berks, and other counties.

" Doan't scamble the osses ower the plough." " Now then, don't scamble that straw about now I've put it up together."

" They pegs have abin in an' skammeled awl awver my flower-nat."

The last quotation is Devonian.

The word is used two or three times by Shakspeare with precisely the same mean- ing :

" Scambling, out-facing boys." ' Much Ado,'

" The scambling and unquiet time." ' Henry

" England now is left to tug and scamble." ' K. John,' IV. iii.

The word is nearly allied to " scramble."

WALTER B. KINGSFORD. United University Club.

There is a reference in the ' English Dialect Dictionary ' to " scammel," one meaning of which is to trample upon.

W. B. GERISH.

In Sussex we have a very similar word in " spannel," which W. D. Parish in his ' Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect ' defined as to make dirty footmarks about a floor, as a spaniel does. The likeness between the words is so great that one is inclined to doubt whether ^Parish's derivation of the word from the dog is the right one.

PERCEVAL LUCAS.

I have heard " scammel " used in East Sussex and also in West Cornwall.

It is doubtless a variant of "scamble." 4 The Century Dictionary ' gives the deriva-

tion of "scamble" as from the Middle English " scamlen " (as verbal noun " scam- ling ") ; origin unknown.

R. VAUGHAN GOWER. Ferndale Lodge, Tunbridge Wells.

" Scammel," used in Scotland and pro- vincial dialects, is the same as "scamble," which is of obscure origin ('N.E.D.') ; the meaning is to move awkwardly. It includes the sense of such words as " scramble," "shamble," "stumble," "trample," and so tread upon. TOM JONES.

OVERING SURNAME (11 S. iv. 89, 178, 216). In his reply at the last reference MR. H. B. ELLIS has confused two persons. Charles Overing of Carey Lane (a small thoroughfare connecting Gutter Lane and Foster Lane, now bounded on its north side entirely by Goldsmith's Hall) was a gold- smith who carried on business in the locality from c. 1693 to 1708 only, his death occurring in the latter year.

His relative James Overing, also a gold- smith, was a ratepayer in respect of a neigh- bouring (but not adjoining) house from 1698 to 1727, his widow being assessed in 1728. The cup which MR. ELLIS possesses is doubtless of his manufacture.

Further information in regard to the Overings will appear in my ' Records.'

WILLIAM MCMURRAY.

The surname Overing is certainly rare. There are few surnames which are not to be found in the Catalogue of the British Museum Library, but the only entry under this is a sermon published in 1670 by John Overing, M.A. (on 2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25), with the title ' Hadadrimmon ; or, Josiah's Lamentation.' A. RHODES.

HENRY FIELDING AND THE CIVIL POWER (US. iii. 486; iv. 58). F. B. M. advises me to " see ' D.N.B.' " in regard to my note on this point ; and, having done so, I am wondering whether he had taken that step before seeking to make a correction. In October, 1751 the date of the incident to which I called attention Henry Fielding was exercising his full magisterial powers in London, while his half brother Sir John Fielding, who had been his assistant for some years, became his successor on his death in 1754. All this is in ' D.N.B.' ; and, as I previously noted, " Henry Fielding, Esq.," is given specifically in the newspapers of October, 1751, as the name of the most active of all London justices.

ALFRED F. ROBBINS.