Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/316

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vi. MAY 20, 1920.

Hofler, ' Volksmedizinische Botanik der Germanen ' (' Quellen und Forschungen zur deutschen Volkskunde,' v. 1908) ; Schiiz, ' Alemannia,' iv. (1877), 273; Zingerle and Meier, ' Zeitschrift fur deutsehe Mytho- logie,' i. (1853), 236, 326, 335, 446 ; Stracker- jan, ' Aberglavibe und Sagen aus dem Herzogtum Oldenburg,' 2nd ed., 1909, ii. 122 ; and various writers in the ' Zeit- schrift des Vereins fur Volkskunde,' i. (1890), 212 ; iv. (1894), 80, 450 ; viii. (1898), 442; xxii. (1912), 179-180. For other countries see Kolbuzowski, ' Lud,' Lem- berg, 1895 ; Jones and Kropf, ' Skekely Folk-Medicine,' F oik-Lore Journal, ii. (1884), 98, 103 ; A. Andersen, ' Overtroiske fore- stillinger nsermest vedrrende dyr og planter,' ' Historisk arkiv,' vols. xvii and xviii. SAGITTARIUS.

TORPHICHEN : TORFECKAN (12 S. vi. 207).

In answer to MR. PIERPOINT, there is not likely to be any connexion between a Hospital of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in Scotland and a house of Canons Regular in Ireland. The only connexion is in the place-names which are antecedent to either of these religious foundations. Tor- phichen or Torfeckan may be, as suggested, " the sanctuary of St. Fechin " (tearmunn- fechan), or " the well of St. Fechin " (tobar- fechan), or " the hill of St. Fechin " (torr- fechan). Or as torr means also " a body of men," a congregation, it may denote a community founded by the Saint. } ,

St. Fechin was one of the greatest of the Irish Saints. He founded the Abbey of Cong in 626 ; also the Abbey of Fore (anciently Fobhar) in West Meath. In. the latter house he ruled over 300 monks. His life was written by his contemporary St. Aileran, " the Wise," professor in the school of Clonard. Both of them died in 664 of the great Yellow Plague which swept off four kings and nearly two -thirds of the popula- tion of Ireland. St. Fechin was buried at Fore. Several villages and churches in Ireland take their name from him, also an island off the west coast, Ardilaun of St. Fechin.

In Scotland there is Ecclefechan " the church of St. Fechin " described in the mediaeval charters as Ecdesia Sancti Fechani, but themore common form of the saint's name i.i that country is Vigean. His connexion with Scotland is not clear, but he appears to have spent some time there from the remains which bear his name. There is a parish of St. Vigean in Forfarshire ; and a

heimitage at Conan near Arbroath is pointed out as his residence ; near by is St. Vigean's well. A fair was held annually at Arbroath on St. Vigean's fdast (Jan. 20), up to the eighteenth century.

RORY FLETCHER, j

MONKSHOOD (12 S. vi. 13, 72, 216). Aconitum and Napellus do not appear to have been used in apposition as a name for monkshood until comparatively recent times.. Littleton (1693), under Aconitum, says: " : Tis known by its head, and the root like a little turnep, therefore by our forefathers called Napellus." Lyte calls the plant Lycoctonum Cceruleum maius, with Napellus vents as an alternative name ; Gerard styles it Napellus verus cceruleus ; Caspar and Johann Bauhin (quoted by Lemery), Aconi- tum Caruleum, sen Napellus, and Aconitum magnum purpureus pore, vulgo Napellus,. respectively. When the two names were first used together as at present I cannot say, but the herb was introduced into our pharmacopoeia as Aconitum Napellus in 1788, having been used in medicine for the first time by Storck of Vienna about twenty- six years earlier. It was at first thought his aconittim was the A. Cammarum of Linnaeus but this misunderstanding Storck himself corrected. Ramesej T, in his Treatise ' Of Poysons ' (1660), credits Matthiolus with the discovery that Xapellus "is a kind of Aconite." For the name Napellus Avicen is cited by Lyte : Napellus, quasi paruus Napus. C. C. B.

There are numerous plants and animals for which the Roman peasant possessed native names, the classical language taking; over the corresponding terms from the Greek. The Latin vernacular was fond of diminutives and also of metaphor. Napellus, a diminutive of napus, signifies " a little turnip " and refers to the swollen part at the base of the stem of monkshood. In^the- same way the almond tree (classical amygdala) was called in the vernacular nucicla, "little nut." In my copy of Mattiolis, ' Commentary on the Materia Medica of Dioscorides,' printed in 1598 (original edition, 1544), there is a detailed and accurate description and illustration of Napellus. In this he says: " radice- nititur turbinata, vulgaris rapunculi modo." Eapuncuhis = a little turnip : cf. Horace ('Sat.,' II. ii. 43) rapulum. Mattioli gives napellus=Italian napello.

RORY FLETCHER.