Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/271

 us. vii. APRIL 5, i9i3.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

267

I shall be very glad if any one can giv me references to English, patristic, or Jewisl books concerning these signs. It will b very interesting if MB. BBESLAB or anj other learned correspondent can show" tc what Hebrew books St. Jerome was in clebted, or where that famous Father anc Doctor mentions the signs.

I have found what there is in * Curso 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 abov 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 h spent his time in lining and ornamenting disused match, cigar, cigarette, and other small boxes with pictures which he cut oul 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. HABBIS STONE.

" GOOD FBIDAY " IN WELSH AND IBISH. 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. quoestio, according to Al. Macbain's ' Gaelic Ety- mological Dictionary,' Inverness, 1896.

Cf. also Rev. Patrick S. Dinneeh's ' Foc- I6ir Gsedilge 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 Remains '). See Le Gonidec, ' Dic- tionnaire Breton-Francais,' 4to, Saint-Brieux, 1850. H. KBEBS.

VIBGINIA. 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 Bplton-le-Sands in Lanca- shire the following burial entry occurs : " 1701, 17th Sepr. Jacobus Mason a Virgina hue migratus."

W. H. CHIPPINDALL, 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 Hth."

Rule 6 (g) provides :

'Before disallowing any application, the

parochial authority shall give 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 [&o.]."

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

anguage does not already contain such a

noun with the termination -ance, -ation,

ition (or the like) ; or whether, alternatively,


 * he verb may be used as it stands, because

t is identical in form with a noun that

already implies action, as, for example,

eview, and many others. It is clearly too

nuch to ask a ready writer to search his

nemory (or a dictionary perish the

nought !) for a Latin or French Word that

Would give him a clue to what ought to be

he English form.

I shall be glad to know whether I am right n an impression that twenty or thirty years igo such coinages in -al were more common n Scotland than in England, and specially ommon in legal and commercial terms.

Q. V.