Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/354

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th 8. X. Nov. 1, 19C2.

of Savoy, in reference to his undaunted de fence of Rhodes against the assaults of the Turks in the thirteenth century.

By the way, it is much to be desired that writers and printers would spell the name Amedeus in the way just given, and not, as it is so commonly and erroneously spelt, " Amadeus," a form not only unknown to the house of Savoy, but also destructive of the significance and etymology of the name.

But, to return to the three cryptic words, I may mention that flippant young Italians, Florentine "mashers," and others of that kidney occasionally make merry with a jocular interpretation of the four letters composing them, which they will gravely tell the inquiring stranger mean nothing else than " Femina erit ruina tua " (A woman shall be thy ruin) a drollery akin to that of the London alderman who, being asked by a lady to explain the meaning of the letters S.P.Q.R., which figured conspicuously at a civic entertainment, promptly replied, " Oh, madam, that 's the short for small profits and quick returns." PATRICK MAXWELL.

Bath.

" CINQUE PACE AND MEASURES." "It is only in dauncing the cinque pace and mea- sures, that men stand [?] numbring their paces " (' Life of St. Elizabeth,' by H. A. [Henry Hawkins], sine loco, 1632). For " cinque pace," cf. the ' N.E D.' L. L. K.

CHICAGO : ITS ETYMOLOGY. The late Canon Taylor, in his ' Nmes and their Histories,' states that Chicago was so called " because frequented by skunks (cikak, plural cika- kong)." This is hardly satisfactory. He does not specify to what language cikakong be- longs, and he makes a serious error in describ- ing it as " plural." The Odjibwa -ong, Cree -ok, is the termination of the locative singular. Odjibwa cikak, Cree chikak or sikak, means "skunk." while Odjibwa Cikakong, Cree Chikakok, literally " at the place of the skunk," denotes the city of Chicago. These words cikak, sikak, bear much the same rela- tion to the Abenaki form " skunk" that Scotch drucken bears to English drunken i.e., the difference is dialectal, and consists chiefly in the loss of the nasal. The forms without the nasal have yielded English seecawk, a synonym for " skunk " little known to the general reader, but employed by many naturalists, and to be found in all the larger English dic- tionaries. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

CARTERET STREET, WESTMINSTER. The origin of this name does not seem to have been accounted for by any Westminster topo-

grapher. The Rev. Mackenzie Walcott, the historian of St. Margaret's, and Mr. J. E. Smith, the historian of St. John's, are both silent with regard to it. It is a small and unimportant street, and no one has probably thought its history worth investigating. We first hear of it in Hatton's ' New View of London,' 1708, when it is described as "a new street by Park Street on the N. side of Tuthil Street." Later on it was frequently cor- rupted into Cartwright Street, under which designation it figures in such an important compilation as Horwood's map, as well as in Lockie's 'Topography of London.' One's first disposition would be to connect the street with the distinguished family of Carteret, and especially with that eminent Cavalier Sir George Carteret, Treasurer of the Navy in the time of Charles II., the friend and patron of Samuel Pepys, and the great-grandfather of the celebrated states- man of George II. 's days. After searching every available source of information, I have been unable to discover any connexion between this family and the district in which the street is situated. But I now think the name may have had a somewhat lowlier origin. In the Ancestor, part 3, October, p. 63, there is the entry of a Chancery suit in which, under date 15 June, 1646, William Cartrett, of Westminster, co. Middlesex, brewer, filed a bill of complaint against Peter Cooke (a near neighbour of the complainant), Sense his wife, and Edward Bond, concerning water supplied to the complainant for brew- ing. I think it possible therefore that Cartrett's brewery may have stood on or near the site of the street, and that the latter may have derived its name from it. At any rate, the fact which I have recorded may afford a clue for further local investigation.

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT. What is the mean- ing of the circumflex still frequently used in French for thedtre and its derivatives ? Is it not based on some mistaken analogy 1 No letter is omitted, and the derivation from Greek and Latin seems plain. H. T.

CLAW. Persons of this name resided in Portsmouth from about the year 1804 to about 1817, according to the records in