Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/265

 12 S. III. MARCH 31, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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WALL STREET, NEW YORK (12 S. iii. 30). The wall or palisade (for such it was) from which Wall Street obtained its name was built as a protection not against Indians, but against the English. Its construction was ordered by the burgomasters and schepens on March 13, 1653, and it was finished within a few weeks, lasting until 1699. See ' Records of New Amsterdam,' i. 65-7, 72-4, 90. MR. LANDFEAR LUCAS should consult Mr. O. G. Villard's article on ' The Early History of Wall Street, 1653- 1789,' in the first series of ' Historic New York' (1897), pp. 77-118. New Amster- dam was captured by the English in 1664, was recaptured by the Dutch in 1673, and was turned over to the English in 1674.

ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

FOLK-LORE : THE ANGELICA (12 S. iii. 51).

According to the old writers its German name was " Holy Ghost." Fuchsius says its roots worn suspended round the neck would guard against witches and enchantments. Therefore when Olaf met his wife, who was in a bad temper, he brought the plants to counteract what would be to him enchant- ment. The result in story we know. MB. HOOPER may be correct in writing that these poems of Longfellow's are little known, but how many people know that the " Musician " is supposed to be Ole Bull, a Swede ? The Waysiders were a fortunate company.

S. L. PETTY. Ulverston.

It is said that the roots of angelica had the power to dispel evil spirits see Friend's ' Flowers and Flower Lore,' vol. ii. p. 544 (Sonnenschein) ; and Cole, in his ' Art of Simpling,' says that " the roots of Angelica doe likewise availe much in the same case [i.e., to dispel evil spirits] if a man carry them about him, as Fuchsius saith." For it was held that

Contagious aire ingendring Pestilence

Infects not those that in their mouth have ta'en

Angelica, that happy counterbane

Sent down from heav'n by some celestial scout,

As well the name and nature both avowt.

If angelica were so virtuous, what must archangelica be ? Why the plant or plants received these names at first is not altogether certain, but the popular explanation is that they were so called from their well-known good qualities. Perhaps the latter name refers to St. Michael the Archangel, whose day falls on May 8 (old style), when the

flower would be in bloom, and might conse- quently be supposed to be a preservative- against witchcraft, evil spirits, and such diseases in cattle as the elfshot, or Hexen- schuss (hag-shot), as the Germans call it. ARCHIBALD SPARKE. Bolton.

JACOB OR JAMES (12 S. iii. 147). Having- for some years studied I fear in a dilettante- fashion, but with great interest the different forms of the name James or Jacobus, I was- much interested in the query of your ccyrre- spondent. I have collected about thirty modern forms of the name, all in common- use, and no doubt there are many more~ With reference to your correspondent's statement that the James form finds no> equivalent in other languages (than Scottish or English), surely he has overlooked the- Spanish form. Jaime, which has grown up with the commoner form lago. I am myself inclined to think that this Spanish form is earlier than the Scottish Hamish,. and that this latter was derived from it at the time of the loss of the Spanish Armada r certain ships of which were traditionally wrecked off the coast of Scotland, though most did not get beyond the coast of Corn- wall and other southern English counties. The ground on which I base this theory is the otherwise unaccountable introduction. into the name of the aspirate " H," which would naturally result from the corruption of the Spanish jota, which is less guttural and more aspirate than the equivalent sound in German, and might easily become an ".h " on the lips of Scotsmen hearing the name for the first time from foreign survivors of the Spanish fleet.

I do not suggest that the form Hamish is older than James : my theory is that the two have grown up side by side from the fact that in the Jaime of the Spaniards, the Scotsmen did not recognize their own James. AMARYLLIS.

THE SIGHT OF SAVAGES (12 S. ii. 410, 536; iii. 16). The keen sense of sight possessed by the natives of the Pelew Islands is really wonderful. Even a little- one can see a diminutive boat at the dis- tance of three ri, and a very petty bird about one ri off the shore, which feats no Japanese can do, one Japanese ri bein# equal to about 2*440 English miles. So I was told by a lady who had only recently returned after two years' residence there.

KTJMAGUStr MlNAKATA.

Tanabe, Kii, Japan.