Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/132

104 NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. v. FEB. 10, 191-2. this i has not been accounted for. It is obvious that it cannot be derived from castra, or castrum.

The West-Saxon ceaster is explained Dr. Joseph Wright in his 'Old English Grammar' (1908), a work which no student of our place-names can dispense with. The e after c denotes the palatal, and Dr. Wright derives the form ceaster from castra, through *ceæster=cæster. But this, as we have seen already, is merely the caestir of Bede. Again, whence comes this ĭ?

Now Latin ē, ǣ, in early loan-word became ī in O.E. For instance: 1. Mono-syllabic stems—sēta, "sīde," silk; cēpa, "cīpe," onion; pæna, "pīn," torture. 2. Poly-syllables—Lēcocētum (MSS. lecto-c., eto-c.), "Liccidfeld," Lichfield; Cunētio, "Cynet" (=*Cynĭt, *Cunit), Kint-bury; monēta, "mynet" (=mynĭt, *munit), money, mint. Hence caestĭr, *caestīr, postulate Latin castēr, castǣr. No such forms are known, and it would not seem easy to proceed. It struck me, however, some time ago, that perhaps the Latin castra was treated in the fifth century as a feminine singular with a new plural in ē, ǣ. In my difficulty I applied to Prof. W. M. Lindsay, a great authority on Latin flexions, and he immediately gave substance to my conjecture and informed me that numerous examples of late Latin castra (fem. sing.) occur. Now the form castrǣ, castrē, would normally become *caestrī in O.E., and, after correption of ī and metathesis of r, caestir would result. Hence the uninfected West-Saxon form ceaster, as well as the Anglian and Kentish umlauted form cester, and the Northumbrian uninfected one caestir, are all derived from the Low Latin castrǣ, through *caestrī and *caestīr.

1883 Mark Pattison, who was an acknowledged authority on Milton, edited the poet's sonnets with an introduction and notes (Kegan Paul & Co.). A model of its kind, the little book is a distinct and permanent contribution to the literature of expository criticism. One note is less satisfactory than it might easily have been made if the editor's investigations had gone further than they seem to have done. This is concerned with a passage in the sonnet 'On the Detraction which followed upon my writing Certain Treatises.' The poet complains that critics had boggled at his title 'Tetrachordon,' and then exclaims:—

For the explanation of the Northern names in these lines the editor trusts to Prof. Masson, from whom he quotes this note:—

Annotating the "Scotch what-d'ye-call" in the later sonnet 'On the New Forcers of Conscience,' Pattison mentions that the Westminster Assembly commissioners from Scotland were Alexander Henderson, George Gillespie, Robert Baillie, and Samuel Rutherford. It is surprising that this reference to Gillespie did not recall the "Galasp" of the earlier lyric and prompt an addition to Masson's deliverance, for it is almost certain that it was this divine whom the poet sought to pillory under a fairly obvious travesty of his surname. This view has the advantage of enjoying the sovereign support of Sir Walter Scott. In chap. xv. of 'A Legend of Montrose,' after saying that the name of Colkitto appears in a sonnet "to the great embarrassment of Milton's commentators," he quotes in a note the lines given above, and writes as follows:—

Scott explains that Colkitto was by birth a Scottish islesman, that he was related to the Earl of Antrim, and that it was to this nobleman's influence he owed his command of the Irish troops under Montrose. He calls him variously "Alaster M'Donald" and "Alister or Alexander M'Donnell" but nowhere indicates that he was ever known by the fantastic name of Galasp. The Rev. George Gillespie (1613-48) substanially assisted the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in 1643 "in preparing the Catechisms, the Directory for Worship, the Confession of Faith, and other standards of