Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/20

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[11 S. V. JAN. 6, 1912.

MISTLETOE (11 S. iv. 502). I remember once reading somewhere that there were (? at that time) only thirteen oak trees in England on which the mistletoe was known to grow. May it not be that the exceeding rareness of this conjunction was such as to make the oak (on which mistletoe grew) a sacred tree ?

In the Californian forests the mistletoe grows freely on certain trees I forget which. But while most unmistakably a mistletoe, it is not the same as ours : it grows in a large and compact bush, almost solid with leaves. DOUGLAS OWEN.

In his article on this plant MB. TOM JONES states that " sculptured sprays and berries with leaves of mistletoe fill the spandrels of the tomb of one of the Berkeleys in Bristol Cathedral." This is an often-repeated mis- take. There is no mistletoe represented in Bristol Cathedral, and the original mis- statement arose from the fact that the straight-winged samara fruit of the maple amongst its foliage, bordering one of the eight stellated arches, has a remote resem- blance to the twin leaves and sessile berries of the mistletoe. IDA M. ROPER.

Bristol.

"SALAMANDER," A HEAVY BLOW (11 S. iv. 427). It need scarcely be said that Benvenuto Cellini's story of his father showing him a salamander enjoying itself in the hottest part of a wood fire lighted in the wash-house was probably based on a torpid lizard or newt having been brought in with the wood. Similar events would, in early times, confirm the idea that fire, as well as earth, air, and water, must contain life of some kind ; and the immunity of the salamander to heat was attributed to its fireproof wool. Asbestos was con- sidered to be this wool (' N.E.D.' quotations).

The common land newt, supposed to be the salamander, thus became an uncanny reptile ; in the South of France, probably in other countries, it is believed to be venomous, blind, and deaf. The reasons for this belief form a curious piece of folk-lore, interesting to me as long familiar with the fallacies believed about snakes and other reptiles, and possibly interesting to others, inasmuch as it rests largely on the fallacies of word- resemblance, and affords some curious in- stances of the mutation of words in that central language of the Latin nations, Provengal and its kindred dialects.

The peculiarities attributed to the newt have given rise to a number of sayings, such as "verinous coume uno blando," venomous

as a newt ; and it is known a^ " lou brenous," the venomous, and " la sourdo," the deaf. Its blindness, coupled with the proverbial deafness of the adder, its own venom, and its power of darting on its prey, is shown in :

Se la blando i& vesi^ E la vip&ro i' entendi Debalarien un cavalte.

If the newt could see, and the viper hear, they could pull a man down from horseback (Mistral, 'Tresor d'ou Felibrige '). Whence come these ideas of blindness and of venom? I find the explanation in the mutation of Provengal consonants, of 6, m, v, of r, I, n.

The word " salamandra," passing from Greek through Latin to Provengal, became escamandre, figuratively for a hideous crea- ture, and talabrando, alabrando, for the newt. The latter word then became alabreno ; and the adjectives talabrena, alabrena, mean speckled like the newt and some of the lizards. Another change was dropping the first part of the name, which became blando, blendo, even blounde. Variants of the rime are given in Mistral's ' Tresor ' ; in these the blind reptile is arguei, ourguei, agutoun, all from L. anguis, the Fr. orvet, meaning the blindworm or slowworm. In one of these rimes it is nadiuel, " has no eyes." The blindness of this snake-like lizard appears, through these rimes, to have passed to the newt, our witch's "eye of newt" not- withstanding. And once it was confounded with a snake, the attribute of venom would be a natural consequence. Indeed, the deafness of the viper passes to it in the name la sourdo. But how could a newt or a blindworm attack a horseman, even with good sight ? The explanation seems to be this : aguloun also means a dart, sting, or goad (L. aculeus) ; so to the harmless blindworm was probably attributed the power of darting at man, like the jaculi of Lucan and Dante, our " wyvern," and the harmless " eye-snake " of India, whose long, pointed nose was evidently meant to dart at men's eyes. The newt which re- placed the blindworm in the rimes also acquired the power of darting and using with fatal effect the " blind worm's sting " of Macbeth's witches. I may say that no one who has not had opportunities of observing and studying snakes scientifically, who has not heard the stories told, and believed, about them, especially in India, can have any idea of the credulity, even among educated Englishmen, about them or reptiles resembling them. As Sir Arthur Helps said, " a good sound prejudice is not to be contradicted by mere eyesight and