Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/99

 11 8. VI. JULY 27, 1912.J NOTES AND QUERIES.

79

qualities of character and habits, the original meaning, illustrated here by passages from ' Beowulf,' Alfred, and the Lindisfarne Gospels, being " usage " or " practice," i.e., O.E. \>eaw. Connected with this seems to be the curious word " thieveless," first found in Ramsay, and meaning aimless, ineffectual, or of the weather neither good nor bad. Another " thew," known before 1250, of obscure etymology, but perhaps coming from O.E. \>ytoan, to squeeze, is the name of an instrument of punishment for women, serving instead of the pillory. " Thick " fur- nishes a dozen columns full of instruction and entertainment drawn from many sources. Rout- ledge's 'Every Boy's Annual ' for 1869 contributes the phrase " We soon grew as thick as inkle- weavers," requiring some further localization, which might easily have been provided by a refer- ence to our General Indexes. Under " Thick " = thicket is quoted Leigh Hunt's oddly felicitous description, "The lusty bee .... dances in the bloomy thicks with darksome antheming." Fur- ther on we come to the frightful "Journalese" of "(thick-and-thinner," "thick-and-thinnite," which, since the last date noted is 1900, we trust are now, even in political slang, defunct. Another terrible phenomenon which is introduced as if now accepted is the use of " thorough-bred " for bicycles and motor-cars.

The Dictionary gives us the passages from specimen forms in official regulations which have supplied " Thomas Atkins " with his name. These go back to 1815, but the first example of the use of the nickname comes from The Times of 1890. Another interesting word is that which at first sight appears a perplexing designa- tion for the peace-officer of a tithing, or a petty con- stable Tbirdborough. The latest instance of its use, otherwise than quoted as a more or less archaic term, is taken from the Court Leet Records of Castle Donington. Prof. Skeat tells us it is probably a M.E. corruption of fridborgh, which, through corruption along another line frid or fri being mistakenly connected with free was turned into the Anglo-Fr. frankpledge. The word " thorp " is the subject of a short, but in- structive entry which winds up with two examples from Tennyson, for one of which might well have been substituted one of the two or three lines in Browning's ' Grammarian's Funeral ' where this word occurs. We resist the temptation to enlarge upon " thimble," " thistle-tack," " thirlpoll," and some half-dozen other entries hardly less full of story and suggestion. Among curious words prac- tically aira.% xVyo^eva we noticed " thwarteous," attributed in the first instance to Mr. Robert Bridges. Where did he find it ?

Of the words derived from the Greek, the group which first arrests attention is, of course, that of compounds of Theo-. Particularly valuable is the editor's note on "theology," referring to Varro's explanation of it -Stoic in origin as being mythical, natural, and civil, and, again, to the use of #0X076? as "to attribute deity to," whence 6fo\oyla came to mean specifically the doctrine of the divine nature of Christ in contra- distinction to oiKovofjda, which was the doctrine of His human nature. Another good note elucidates " theosophy." Several of these com- pounds of " theo " present a strange assemblage of words and ideas such are " theophilan-

thropist," " theo - cpllectivist," " theo - rnani- monist," " theomicrist." Under "Theodicy" Rosmini might have been brought in ; just as, to turn to a word of quite different origin, under " Theatine " Scupoli's name might well have appeared. " Theban (B.) " is explained merely as " a native or inhabitant of Boeotian Thebes, a Boaotian " ; and then we are given two illustra- tions which imply the identification of "Bceotian" with "stupid' and "brutish," without further explanation. The compounds of " thermo," good, bad, or indifferent, are for the most part so new that "thermometer" has among them a romantic and historical appearance, the first quotation Van Etten going back to 1624. So " up to date" is the Dictionary that the " thermos " flask is- given a place in it. On the next leaf we see- that in 1881 The Athenceum had the courage to- declare that somebody " was invariably to be- found in his thesaurarial chair at the evening- meetings." We must not omit to notice the one or two references made to our own columns r e.g., a writer in 1865 tried, hardly with success, to- show that by " setting the Thames on fire " not the river, but tenise, a sieve, was originally meant, a notion which here, under " Thames, is dis- approved.

Of the articles on the demonstratives we- will only say that, as the most casual inspection, will show, they represent a formidable amount of work work successfully accomplished. " The "' and " That " are the longest, the one eleven, the latter thirteen columns in length, but others run them very close. The total of words treated in this section is no fewer than 4,069.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. JULY.

MESSRS. MAGOS have sent us their Catalogues 290 and 291. The first contains ' Napoleonica,' that is portraits of Napoleon and his family, as well as of his generals, political allies, and adversaries ; a large number of caricatures, sundry views, and pictures of battles. The portraits of himself, of which there are 71, form a singularly interesting collection, several departing widely in form of face and in expression from those to which we are generally accustomed. Thus Hodges's engraving after Appiani's portrait date about 1796 for which 100 guineas is asked, seems to explain, better than any later ones do, the magic exercised by Napoleon's personality, apart from his military and political genius. Two portraits belonging to the First Consulship an engraving by Moret after Appiani. c. 1799, and an oil painting attributed, with some doubtfulness, to Appiani, c. 1800 are curiously different both from that and from one another": the former, for which 40 guineas is aaked, has, in a marked degree, the typical look of the " intel- lectual " or artist belonging to the turn of the nineteenth century ; the latter, a very handsome young head, is beginning to approximate to the ordinary appearance, 52Z. 10s. Of the portraits as Emperor there are two or three in which we have Napoleon laurel-crowned, and draped in the robe with the bees the best an engraving by P. M. Alix, after Garnerey, c. 1810, 40Z. ; and there is a good engraving in colours by Levachez^. after Vernet, of Napoleon on horseback riding in front of his generals, of the same date, for which, 50?. is asked.