Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/420

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. x. NOV. 22, 1902.

may, indeed, and often does, make use of a seal on which is engraven a device of a more or less heraldic nature (commonly the arms of an ancient overlord), but it does not bear them as a coat of arms., A number of persons incorporated cannot together bear one heraldic achievement. Even the members of one family must difference from the head of the house. It is irrational to regard a corpora- tion as armigerous, and still more so to attri- bute to it the right to use a helmet and crest. I am sorry to see that Abergavenny has lately abandoned her ancient user of the Nevill arms and got a brand-new " coat " from the heralds. This is to waste public money with the sole result of obliterating ancient landmarks of the local history. Mr. Fox- Da vies has done good service in de- nouncing unauthorized coats of arms ; but he does as much harm by supporting some equally ridiculous fabrications of the Heralds' College. JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS.

Town Hall, Cardiff.

"TRANCE" (9 th S. x. 326).-! think that trance should rather be trants. I take it to be short for trantser. The base trants- occurs in the West Flemish trantselen (De Bo), formed from and used in the same sense as trantelen. The latter is M.Du. trantelen or tranten, " to goe lazely, softly, or a soft pace" (Hexham). Hexham also has the sb. trant, " a march, a pace, or a stepp," from which all the verbs are derived.

Halliwell gives "tranter, a carrier," as occurring in various dialects ; see, for ex- ample, Hardy's novels. It seems likely that a tranter was so called because he walked at a very sober pace beside his horse ; hence it meant a carrier or a carman, who in the old times often walked more than he rode. Then it clearly came to mean any rider in a carrier's cart, or a market-cart of any kind. The point was that he got a lift, but had no right to expect to go faster than the horse could walk. I have been a trance myself, but I only "assisted the carman" by paying for the accommodation. Trant seems to be a variant of tramp (Franck). WALTER W. SKEAT.

''PEACE, RETRENCHMENT, AND REFORM" (9 th S. x. 348). Much the same question was asked and answered at 9 th S. iii. 287, 334.

C. S. WARD.

" FERT, FERT, FERT " (9 th S. x. 345). I should like to ask GENERAL MAXWELL two ques- tions. (1) What ground has he for the opinion that the name commonly spelt Amadeus should correctly be spelt Amedeus ? (2) What proof can he bring forward in sup-

port of his assertion that the form Amadeus is "destructive of the significance and ety- mology of the name "?

I believe it is a fact that the Latin Amadeus and the Italian Amadeo are extensively used as forms for the well-known princely and royal name of the house of Savoy by his- torians, except by those who write in French, who of course use the form Ame'dee. I have before me a book, 4 Sabaudise Respublica et Historia,' 1634, in which the word Amadeus is constantly occurring. The etymology of the name is very doubtful. It is uncertain whether it is of Latin or German origin. Some think it is derived from Latin Ama- + Deus, meaning " Whom God loves," others that it is the equivalent of an O.H.G. Hamadeo, a form found as early as the eighth century. (See Forstemann, ' Personennamen,' s.v. ' Ham ').

COMESTOR OXONIENSIS.

" Fert " in the arms of Savoy has been dis- cussed in 3 rd S. ix. 323, 401, 476 ; x. 18, 453 ; xi. 81, 282 j 4 th S. vi. 461 ; vii. 22, 104 ; xi. 328 ; 5 th S. ii. 315 ; 7 th S. iii. 308, 378. W. C. B.

"THE POLICY OF PIN-PRICKS "(9 th S. iii. 46, 115, 238 ; x. 372). The phrase " coups d'epingle " was not invented by Alphonse Daudet, as your correspondent suggests, or by any modern writer. It is a classical expression in French. It was used by a writer born more than a hundred years before Daudet, Jacques Delille (1738-1813), the Virgilian poet who was protected by Voltaire. In his poem ' La Conversation ' he wrote : J'airue a rever, mais ne veux pas Qu'a coups d'epingle on me reveille.

There are probably earlier examples of its use. J. E. C. BODLEY.

If Napoleon did not originate this meta- phor there is evidence to show that he em- ployed it in describing his grievances. Lady Malcolm, in ' A Diary of St. Helena,' writes, under date 19 June, Bonaparte said, "It was possible to live under the regulations estab- lished by Sir George [Cockburn], but now we are tortured to death by pin - point wounds." B. D. MOSELEY.

In 1824 Scott described the chase of a hare by terriers, who " would have stuck to the chase till they had killed the hare, which would have been like being pricked to death with pins" (Lockhart, 'Life of Scott,' 1845, p. 517). W. C. B.

SHAKESPEARE'S SEVENTY - SIXTH SONNET (9 th S. x. 125, 274). MR. STRONACH deviates from the subject of this note : perhaps I may be allowed to follow him on the question of