Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/428

 352

NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii 8. vi. NOV. 2, 1912.

C. M. Pleyte) and J. J. Altheer in the ' Natuur- kundig Tijdschrift van Nederlandsch Indie ' (xi. and xiii.), as quoted in the ' Enc. v. N. I.'

J. F. SCHELTEMA.

This is not an uncommon practice, I believe, among savage races when men are obliged to go without food for a long time, as on hunting expeditions when there is a lack of game. It is usually some form of clay which is swallowed. It allays the gnawing pangs of hunger by causing a secretion of the gastric juice, but is, of course, absolutely useless as food. Others arrive at a similar result by tying boards by bands round the body, so as to compress the walls of the stomach.

J. FOSTER PALMER.

8, Eoyal Avenue, S.W.

The habit is common in the Sudan. It has been suggested that sometimes there is iron in the soil, which has been useful as a tonic, but for the most part the habit is harmful. A good paper on the subject has been written by Dr. Christopherson : address, The Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan. GEORGE WHERRY.

Cambridge.

"ACCORDING TO COCKER" (US. vi. 90, 176, 236). In ' A Catalogue of English Heads,' by Joseph Ames, 1748, p. 50, are cited two portraits of Edward Cocker, both by R. Gaywood. With the second are these lines :

Behold rare Cocker's Life resembling Shade, Whom Envy's Clouds have more illustrious made ; Whose Pen and Graver have display'd his Name, With Virtuoso's, in the Book of Fame.

On p. 92, concerning Humphrey Johnson, writing-master, we read : Hodder and Cocker, in their Times, did well, But Johnson's newer Thoughts do now excel. What, unimprov'd, from antient Rules they

taught, Is by his Judgment to Perfection brought.

On p. 83 (repeated p. 88) are six lines in praise of James Hodder, writing-master, in which, however, neither Cocker nor Johnson is mentioned.

For other verses concerning Cocker see Allibpne's ' Dictionary of English Litera- ture.' ROBERT PIERPOINT.

SAMUEL FAVELL (11 S. vi. 129). If there is any likelihood that the above-named was a kinsman of Capt. Samuel Favell of the 61st Regiment, the school friend of Charles

Lamb, the F of ' Christ's Hosptali

Five and Thirty Years Ago,' and the W

of ' Poor Relations,' who fell at the battle

of Salamanca and is commemorated on a tablet in Great St. Andrew's Church, Cam- bridge, I would suggest an application to the representatives of the firm of Messrs. Favell & Ellis, St. Andrew's Street, Cambridge.

EDWAR BENSLY.

" YELVER " IN PLACE-NAMES (11 S. vi. 191, 218, 297). The suggestion made at the last reference is of particular significance, because its lamented author was always averse from explaining place-names by means of proper names when a common- place interpretation would serve.

" Geld -frith," the name suggested, does not occur in Searle's ' Onomasticon ' ; but both its themes may be found therein in other combinations. The prototheme ap- pears appropriately as that of a moneyer under King Alfred, namely, Gelda. It also occurs in " Geldwine," the name of one or more officers who performed a like duty in the eleventh century.

Whether *Geldfrith is the true etymon of Yelver- can only be established by producing an appropriate eleventh- or twelfth-century form. It is not quite easy to perceive how a resultant *Yelfry could become Yelver-. If, however, the prototheme were Gelf-, the known resultant might ensue.

Daniel H. Haigh gave " Gelf rat " as the etymon of Yelver- in the Norfolk and North- amptonshire village names (' The Anglo- Saxon Sagas,' 1861, p. 140). The name of Gelfrat occurs in the ' Nibelungen Noth ' and in ' Biterolf ' ('Die Deutsche Helden- sage,' by Wilhelm Grimm, 1829, p. 139). The O.E. form of this name might be by metathesis, and that would become
 * Gelf-rsed, which might yield *Gelf-serd
 * Gelf-aer-(tun). ALFRED ANSCOMBE.

It is sadly hard to realize that p. 297 contains the final contribution of the late PROF. SKEAT to ' N. & Q.' The reply may well persuade our German friends of the difficulty of foreigners treading safely in the frequently tortuous paths of English place-name etymology. PROF. SKEAT wrote : " It is more likely that it [Yelver] refers to some proper name that is not recorded " ; and he hazarded a hypothetic Geldfrith. In all. human probability (direct evidence seems to be wanting) our Yelver- place- names, which extend from Norfolk to Devon, are to be referred to the very well-known A.-S. personal name ^Elfhere, found in Domesday Book as Elfer, with the common dialectal prevocalic Y-. Instances of this prothetic practice are easy to give. With