Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/553

 ns.v.jcNE8,i9i2.j NOTES AND QUERIES.

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the same way. I cannot think of a name ending in -nium which is converted into -gne. Such a word as dominium became domaine. Nor is Brachet's rule a constant one, for the town of Brignoles in Provence (Dep. du Var) always appears in the charters as Brinonia. This may, perhaps, be due to Provencal influence. Nevertheless, it is hard to accept the dictum that Londinium would be *Londigne in French.

It is also difficult to believe that the French Londres was in existence when Londinium was a living word. Unless evidence to that effect is forthcoming, we must assume that Londres was formed from an O.E. name, such as Lunden, whence Londres would be normal. The final s would, as MB. ANSCOMBE observes, arise from the French tendency to add that letter to proper names. The English tendency is somewhat in the same direction. The French Lyon and Marseille are invariably converted by us into Lyons and Marseilles.

In a review of some books on London which appeared in The Times Literary Supplement for 25 April, I was surprised to read the following passage :

" Modern London has been formed by the amalgamation of many smaller outlying com- munities with the original owner of the name, which in all probability stands for Llyndin the stronghold by the water and was given by Celtic immigrants to the hill where St. Paul's now stands. It was preserved with little change, partly because the Saxon ' don,' a hill, was closely akin both in meaning and in sound to ' din ' (the Welsh ' dinas '), a strong place on a hill, so that the transition was easy."

I was under the impression that this old notion had been exploded long ago. Mr. Bradley has shown its impossibility.

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

MODERN PRONUNCIATION : " IDEA " (11 S. "v. 367). There has recently been a corre- spondence in The Spectator on the ' C.O.D.'s ' ruling with regard to the pronunciation of idea, in which the compilers of the Dictionary took part. If my memory serves, these gentlemen do not regard ider as exactly equal to idear, as they do not give r the sound-value that it has in our Northern Bounties. It is true that the ' O.E.D.' does not countenance the pronunciation ider, supposing it to be equal to idear. We are there told, under R, that

" by southern speakers r is frequently introduced in hiatus, esp. in the phrase the idea(r) of ; in vulgar speech it is heard even in such forms as draw(r)ing."

This accounts, probably, for the adoption of ider as a guide to the current pronuncia-

tion, but it also seems to show its infelicity. Not only in what is ordinarily considered vulgar speech, but in the speech of well- educated Londoners, I frequently hear > at the end of such words as " law " and " saw." If we are to adopt the ' C.O. O.'s ' ruling, as it will be generally understood. Keats only anticipated us a little in making " ear " rime with " Cytherea."

C. C. B.

THE JENNINGS CASE (11 S. v. 49, 175, 310). I had seen the detail regarding the Ber- minghams in a book entitled ' Memorials of Old Warwickshire,' but I was not convinced. Nor can the derivation of Jennings, sug- gested by another correspondent, hold, as the name has for root Jern. In fact, the seal of I. Jernengs, of the thirteenth century, has the name so : SIGILI,. i. JEBNENGS.

I think the Breton name is from another source.

I can prove nothing beyond the time of John Jennens, although there ia material for further investigation in Warwickshire. He lived at Nether Whitacre, and the familv vault is under the chancel of the church there, and is ancient. When I was there, I was told that Lord Howe, trustee, &c., of the church, had had a drain cut through the vault, and that the inscribed stone had been taken away, and only a plain stone put in its place.

I should think MR. PEARSON has made a mistake, and confused the Warwickshire Jennens with the Bloxwich branch, one of whom might have married an ironmaster's daughter. The pedigree I possess gives the wives' names, but no details as to their fathers' families. John Jennens' s home in Birmingham was burnt down at the time of Prince Rupert's raid on Birmingham.

Perhaps I ought to have said that the Jennens family helped to increase the prosperity and the iron trade of Birming- ham, as they must have been the largest ironfounders of that time. Charles Jennens of Gopsall Hall, called Solyman the Magni- ficent, derived mosf^ of his income from foundries, and Gopsall Hall itself cost 100,000/.

No doubt the relics of the Jennenses prior to John are preserved by Lord Howe at Gopsall Hall.

I do not know whether the family tradi- tion was based on Weever's story. If he merely invented it, it must have been at the instigation of some member of the Jennens family for their own glorification. Yet it dates before his time, 1631, as Robert