Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/206

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vi. MAY i, 1920.

-concerned with the treasonable utterances, suicidal mania, and religious melancholy of Thomas Baschurch, who was evidently living at Chevening, and to whom Cranmer refers as " Thomas Baschurche, priest, some- time secretary unto the Bishop of Canter- bury, my predecessor, whom I suppose your Grace doth know."

Any further particulars about this man would be welcome, and especially informa- tion about the Prebend at Llandaff.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

A GAI/LICIAN INSCRIPTION. In Alfred Holder's 'Celtische Sprachschatz ' the word lieved to be a Celtic word. The late Kuno Meyer informed me on Feb. 21, 1910, that jit was " apparently the name of a divinity." I presumed to think that it was Alemannic
 * ' Crougintoudadigoe " appears. It is be-

- or Suevic, and the matter was submitted by Prof. Meyer to Prof. Kluge of Berlin, who

. gave Meyer to understand that he thought that I was wrong and it was asked : What could such words mean ?

The inscription is to be found in Gallicia, the Spanish region overrun by the Suevi -after A.D. 409, under their king Hermeneric. Spanish archaeologists assign the inscription to the early part of the fifth century for ^reasons of style, workmanship, and Latinity, only. Those readers of 'N. & Q.' who are -interested would do well to refer to the Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia, article ' Lapidas Romanas de Mosteiro de Ribeira,' 1911. Therein the difficulties that beset my path at the outset, and which were smoothed away by Mr. Hastings Medhurst

(H.M.'s Consul-General at Corunna), by MR. E. S. DODGSON (who happened to be in

Gallicia at the time), and by Padre Fidel Fita of Madrid, are set forth.

Why Alfred Holder chose to make a conglomeration of the words of the inscrip- tion I do not know. Emil Hiibner, in his -the lettering correctly, line for line, thus :
 * Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum,' printed

CEOVGIN TOVDA DIGOE RVFONIA SEVER i.e., Crougin toud a digoe Rufonia Sever[a~|.

In this inscription we get : (1, 2) the very rare Western diphthong ou twice; (3) we get -in, the Old High Dutch possessive of weak names of men in 6 (4) -de, the ending of the first (and third) person, singular -number, of the present subjunctive of weak

verbs in O.H.D. ; (5, 6) we have O.H.D. ou postulating West Germanic an, O.E. ea, O.S. o, in toud (>*dauth, dea\>, doth); (7) -t for O.E. d in dea]> ; (8, 9) d in toud and in digoe, for O.E. ]> in dea]> and \icgan ; (10) the particle a of negative force which appears in O.H.D. occasionally : e.g., d-kust, badness, fault ; d-swih, hindrance ; and d-deilo, one who takes no part in; (11) Croug-, which presents the unshifted stem of Creac-, O.H.D. Crouc-, in the "Croucingo " of the seventh- century anonymous geographer of Ravenna ; (12) the unshifted O.H.D. Croug-, which postulates O.E. Creag-, and which we find in its correct Kentish form, Crecg- in. " Crecgan- ford," A.S. Chron., annal 457.

For these reasons I regard the Gallician inscription as the oldest monument of the Suevic dialect of Old High Dutch, and date it about A.D. 410-420. The meaning is : " Crougo's death may Rufonia Severa not desire."

It will, of course, be asked : How is it possible that Teutonic masters of linguistic science can have overlooked this inscription ? I would answer : Perhaps they have not done so, and moreover, perhaps they are fully aware of its existence, and of the effect that it ought to have upon their chronological theories. ALFRED ANSCOMBE.

HISTORICAL INACCURACIES. It is well known that in the controversy that took place about Quietism in the reign of Louis XIV. Fenelon wrote ' Les Maximes des Saints sur la vie interieure.' His enemies sent the book to Rome in the hope that the Pope would condemn it, and the Pope, flaef ore giving a decision, submitted it to the judgment of a committee. Of the com- position of this committee Voltairo says :

"La congregation du Saint-office nomma, pour instruire le proces, un dominicain, un jesuite, un benedictin, deux cordeliers, un feuillant et un augustin. C'est ce qu'on appelle a Rome les con-

sulteurs Les consulteurs examinerent pendant

trente-sept conferences, trente-sept propositions, les jugerent erronees (Sieclede Louis XIV)."

Michelet says :

'' Le 12 octobre 97, le pape nomme une commission pour Fenelon, laquelle toute uue annee, reste en suspena, ne resout rien, et n'obtient nulle majorite ; toujours six contre six ('Histoire de France' vol. xvi. chap. 8)." Martin says :

"Les commissaires que le pape avait charges d'examiner le livre de Fenelon s'etant partages, cinq pour et cinq contre. le livre cut du ebre absous suivant la coutume ( ' Histoire de France' vol. xiv p. 320)."

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