Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/275

 n a vil Aran. 5,1M3.1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 267 I shall be very glad if any one can give me references to English, patristic, or Jewish books concerning these signs. It will be very interesting if Mb. Breslar or any other learned correspondent can show to what Hebrew books St. Jerome was in- debted, or where that famous Father and Doctor mentions the signs. I have found what there is in ' Cursor Mundi,' E.E.T.S., 1284 ff., and 1616. J. T. F. An Old Man's Hobby. (See 11 S. v. 518.) — In a contribution at the above reference I mentioned the antiquary Mr. Sutton of Surbiton. He died on 19 Feb., 1913, having been born on 29 May, 1829. His collection of the early editions of the works of Quarles was unique. He was for many years confined to his chair, and he spent his time in lining and ornamenting disused match, cigar, cigarette, and other small boxes with pictures which he cut out of illustrated journals and magazines. His daughter, Mrs. Gibbs, with whom he lived, tells me he thus lined, filled with sweets, and distributed to various institutions for chil- dren over 8,000 of these boxes a year; and as he was engaged at the charitable work for ten years at least, he personally prepared more than 80,000. During the January preceding his death he pasted up 800. I thought it worth while to record these interesting facts. J. Harris Stone. " Good Friday " in Welsh and Irish. —It may deserve to be recorded what name is given in Welsh and Irish to " Good Friday," and to explain its original meaning. 1. Welsh : Dydd Gwener y Croglith—i.e., Dies Veneris, Crucis lectio (?). 2. Irish: Aoine an Ceasda—i.e., jejunium. Fast-day of Quest or Trial (?). Gaelic and Old Irish Ceisd (a question), from L. qucestio, according to Al. Macbain's ' Gaelic Ety- mological Dictionary,' Inverness, 1896. Cf. also Rev. Patrick S. Dinneen's ' Foc- loir Gffidilge agus Bearla,' i.e., ' Vocabulary, Gaelic or Irish and English,' Dublin, 1904. Let me add an important Breton-Celtic dialect cognate of the Cymric-Welsh name of " Good Friday," which renders more evident the primary sense of " Dydd Gwener y Croglith," viz., " Gwener ar groaz "—i.e., literally, " le Vendredi de la Croix," the ordinary name of Friday in ' Breton, " Gwener," being identical with that in Cymric or Welsh, " Gwener." The fuller Welsh name of Friday, " Dydd Gwener," answers too that of Breton, Di-Gwener," instead of original " Deiz-Gwener "—i.e., " Dies Veneris, jour de Venus " (' Les Noms des Jours de la Semaine nous sont venus des Romains'). See Le Gonidec, ' Dic- tionnaire Breton-Francais,' 4to, Saint-Brieux, 1850. H. Krebs. Virginia. — As many Americans are searching for their English ancestors, it may be of use to record in ' N. & Q.' the fact that in the recently published Parish Register of Bolton-le-Sands in Lanca- shire the following burial entry occurs : " 1701, 17th Sepr. Jacobus Mason a Virgina hue migratus." W. H. Chippindaix, Col. Kirkby Lonsdale. " -al," Noun-Suffix : " Disallowal," " Disallowance." — The Quarterly Chro- nicle of the Church Reform League for 24 Jan., 1913, contains what purport to be the "rules as to the representation of the laity agreed to by the Canterbury and York Houses of Laymen at their joint meeting on November 13th and 14th." Rule 6 (g) provides :— "Before disallowing any application, the parochial authority shall Rive notice to the appli- cant that he may appear to show cause against such disallowal.' Rule 14 provides :— " Any protest against the allowance or disallow- ance of enrolment on the electoral roll or of a vote shall be considered [&c.]." I hope this is a misprint. If not, I venture to suggest that the rules should speedily be reformed by the same word being used in both places. It seems opportune to protest against the growing habit of coining nouns of action by merely adding -al to any verb ending in a stressed syllable, instead of considering whether, in fact, the language does not already contain such a noun with the termination -ance, -alien, -ition (or the like); or whether, alternatively, the verb may be used as it stands, because it is identical in form with a noun that already implies action, as, for example, review, and many others. It is clearly too much to ask a ready writer to search his memory (or a dictionary — perish the thought !) for a Latin or French word that Would give him a clue to what ought to be the English form. I shall be glad to know whether I am right in an impression that twenty or thirty years ago such coinages in -al were more common in Scotland than in England, and specially common in legal and commercial terms. Q. V.