Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/285

 us. vi. SEPT. 21, 1912.] .NOTES AND QUERIES.

233

THIRD PENNIES (11 S. vi. 170). This subject was discussed by Dr. Round in his ' Geoffrey de Mandeville,' pp. 287-96 (Ap- pendix H). Briefly, he showed that the term " tertius denarius " was used in two different senses.

1. The " tertius denarius placitoruni comi- tatus," or third penny of the pleas of the county ; sometimes described in error as the third of the revenues of the county (p. 287). Domesday shows that

" whether ' the third penny of the pleas ' be that of the whole shire or only of a single hundred, it is always attached, under the Confessor, to the possession of some manor. We find the ' tercius denarius' of one, of two, of three, or even six hundreds so annexed." P. 291.

But another system (which is not explained) seems to have existed in the Danish districts (pp. 289, 292-3). After the Conquest this third penny was often granted to the earl of the county. The only surviving Pipe Roll of Henry I. shows that it was then received by the Earl of Gloucester (p. 292). In the early years of Henry II. the third penny was apparently received by less than half the earls (p. 293). The earliest known grant is in the charter of the Empress Maud conferring the earldom of Essex upon Geoffrey de Mandeville in 1141 (p. 292; cp. p. 89). Geoffrey had previously been created Earl of Essex by Stephen, but that charter has no reference to the third penny (pp. 51-2, 292). The third penny was a fixed sum, i.e., it did not vary from year to year with the amount of the pleas, but was a third of the sum for which the sheriff farmed the pleas, the annual sum paid to the earls, temp. Henry II., ranging from 13Z. 6s. 8d. (Sussex) to 40Z. 10s. lOrf. (Essex) pp. 294-5.

2. The " tertius denarius redditus burgi," or third penny of the revenue of the town (p. 287). This " is in Domesday absolutely erratic " (p. 289). It was held in various towns by the king, the sheriff, the earl, or the bishop, whilst at Ipswich it had been annexed, together with the third penny of the pleas of two hundreds, to an estate held by the local earl (pp. 289-90).

I hope that other contributors will throw light on the later history of the " third penny." I think that at a later date earls received a fixed stim of 201. per annum from the revenues of their counties instead of the third penny of the pleas, but that this was still supposed to represent the third penny. Thus under Henry II. the third penny of Wiltshire received by the earl amounted to 221. 16s. Id. (ibid., p. 295); but when Richard II. created Sir William

le Scrope Earl of Wiltes he granted to him and his heirs 201. , to be received every year out of the issues of the county of Wiltes by the hands of the sheriff of that county (Metcalfe, ' A Great Historic Peerage,' p. 7). G. H. WHITE.

St. Cross, Harleston, Norfolk.

Jacob's ' Law Dictionary,' under the title ' Denarius tertius Comitatus,' states :

" Of the fines and other profits of the County Courts, originally when those Courts had superior jurisdiction before other Courts were erected, two parts were reserved to the King, and a Third Part or Penny to the Earl of the County ; who- either received it in Specie at the Assises and Trials, or had an equivalent Composition for it out of the Exchequer."

Further information on the point may be found in Selden's ' Titles of Honor,' third edition, pp. 527-9, and Madox, ' Baronia Anglica,' p. 138. C. E. A. BED WELL.

Middle Temple Library.

THE WORD "BROKER" (11 S. vi. 126). There is a good deal to be said in favour of MR. A. L. MAYHEW'S hypothesis with regard to the Oriental origin of this word, although it has not received the imprimatur of the ' N.E.D.' It is not, however, necessary to bring in the Jews in connexion with it, as neither the Moors of Spain nor the Moors of Provence spoke Hebrew, but Arabic. The Spanish alboroque is the natural equivalent of the Arabic barakah, which originally signified a blessing, and in non-classical times a gift. The root of this Semitic word has the signification of " knee." Thence the verb baraka came to mean "he knelt like a camel." Every one who has been in the East knows that a kneeling camel would require the greatest force to be moved from its position. Baraka, therefore, in its second or intensive form,* came to signify "he is strong or sound." The verbal noun barakah brings this meaning into the form of blessing, that is, wishing a person to be sound or strong. The sense of gratitude is not common ; in fact, I remember to have only once encountered it, and that was in the case of an Arab fisher-boy to whom I had done some service ; but I have often been wished by an Arab, Allah yebarra- kak ! " May God bless you ! " Before meals an Arab will say, Allah yebarrak 'old at- to 1 dm! "May God send a blessing on the food!" Orientals, it is well known, love to do things through the agency of others.

consonant of the triliteral root being mushaddad or doubled ; thus baraka becomes barraka.
 * This second form is indicated by the middle