Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/94

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. JAN. 29, '98.

Now, in both the places where the word cross occurs in the above extract the original has cm. This, of course, is not a Dutch word ; and Fellowes seems to have taken it as a mis- print for cruis. He apparently overlooked the fact that the unfortunate king had never

Erofessed Christianity, and was not, there- 3re, likely to have worn a cross. Moreover, had he refered to the work of Baldseus, from which Valentyn has in this as in many other cases merely paraphrased, he would have there found a graphic, though imaginary representation of the murder, in which the Portuguese captain is depicted with the kns in his hand. (Baldaeus spells it krits ; and the English translator in Churchill's col- lection, who made his translation from the German version, and bungled terribly here and there, turns the weapon into a "scy- meter.") In the article "Crease, Cris," in Yule and Burnell's * Hobson-Jobson,' the strange mistake in Fellowes's book is not noted. I have, therefore, thought it worth while to call attention to it.

DONALD FERGUSON. Croydon.

BOOK INSCRIPTION. In the January part of the English Historical Review (p. 138) Miss Mary Bateson copies from a paper contri- buted by M. Dupont-Ferrier to the ' Biblio- theque ae la Faculte des Lettres ' the following "delightful curse on the book-thief":

Qui che livre emblera

A gibet de Paris pendu sera,

Et, si n'est pendu, il noiera,

Et, si ne noie, il ardera,

Et, si n'aert pitte fin fera.

The last line ought, it seems to me, to read, conformably with the structure of the pre- ceding lines,

Et, si n'art, pire fin fera.

Miss Bateson, however, writes to me that she has reproduced the line exactly as M. Dupont- Ferrier prints it, and would seek sense by taking pitte as pitte' for piti-6 and subject of the verb aert (third sing, of aherdre). But the line so construed makes such queer French, and yields so feeble a conclusion, that I cannot but regard it as erroneous. Besides, I think. I have seen the same " curse " else- where either in English or in Latin. Perhaps some of your readers may have a copy of it from another source. The French seems to be of the fifteenth century. F. ADAMS.

106A, Albany Road, Camberwell.

VERBS ENDING IN "-ISH." Richardson says these "are formed upon the French parti- ciple," and some later lexicographers have adopted that derivation. The editor of the

'H. E. D.' is more cautious, for under "Abolish" we find, " Aboliss-, lengthened stem of abolir" and no mention of the parti- ciple. I venture to suggest that these verbs, as well as some others from the French, are formed not upon the participle, but upon the third pers. sing, of the pres. subjunctive. Many French words were probably introduced into English through the medium of legal documents, and as these deal largely with contingencies the use of the subjunctive would be frequent. Even in ordinary French the use of the subjunctive is more frequent than in English, as may be illustrated by the French Qm vive ? a question we should never dream of putting in the subjunctive in English. The participle derivation is not well supported by the form of some other verbs from the French, such, for instance, as receive ; but if in this case the Norman ei be substituted for modern French oi in the third pers. sing. pres. subjunctive of recevoir, we get our verb just as it stands, and this, of course, applies to all verbs ending in -ceive. Destroy may at first sight offer some difficul- ties, but these are certainly not less for the participle derivation than for the subjunctive. The Norman forms ei and p*, where modern French has respectively oi and ui, are, of course, very well known ; but, should proof be wanted, the following verse from the * Roman de Rou ' (Toynbee's 'Specimens of Old French,' p. 81, lines 42-45) will serve :

En treis (trois) conipaignes se partirent E treis compaignes d'armes firent. Li premiers e li segunt yint E pois (puis) li tierz, qui plus gent tint.

Possibly this matter of verbs derived from the French has been fully threshed out already ; if so, I shall be glad of a reference.

H. RAYMENT. Sidcup, Kent.

"PROSPECTI." This word, kindred informa- tion with omnibi, apparata, &c., appears in the advertisement of a stockbroker sent to Clifton Society. J. T. K.

THE WALTHAM ABBEY MEDIEVAL WALL PAINTING. This interesting sixteenth - cen- tury mural painting may now be seen by antiquaries at Messrs. Henry Sotheran & Co.'s in Piccadilly. It was discovered in 1892, during the demolition of some houses in High Bridge Street, Waltham Abbey, represents Jonah being cast into the sea, is 6 ft. 9 in. by 3 ft. 5 in., and is executed in tempera. The colours, it will be seen, are still brilliant, and the subject has been declared by an authority to be absolutely unique, no other instance of it occurring on church walls or the walls of