Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/12

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. II. JULY 2, '98.

former minister, has written a history. To their credit, the present possessors of the chapel are very solicitous with regard to its old associations, and some relics of Wesley and his early followers are preserved with care. Lastly, I may mention St. Giles's Church, with its churchyard, where lie buried George Chapman, the translator of Homer, in a tomb which, once fast falling to decay, has been recently " mended " by the parish authorities; and Richard Pendrell, "preserver and conductor to His Sacred Majesty King Charles the Second of Great Britain, after his escape from Worcester Fight in 1651." These are out specimens of the interesting and varied associations of the neighbourhood.

R. CLARK. Walthamstow.

GARY'S NOTES TO HIS TRANSLATION OF DANTE. Has notice ever been taken in ' N. & Q.' of Gary's strange mistakes as to the Hebrew method of computing the hours of day ? In a note to ' Hell,' canto xxi. 1. 109, he speaks of the ninth hour of the Hebrews as corresponding to our sixth ; and in a note to ' Hell,' canto xxxiv. 1. 89, he says, " The poet uses the Hebrew manner of computing the day, according to which the third hour answers to our twelve o'clock at noon." The edition from which I quote is that published by Bohn in 1847.

With the Hebrews the hours of day were numbered from sunrise to sunset. The num- ber of hours was uniformly twelve (St. John xi. 9), but the length" of what was called an hour varied with the season of the year. Only at the equinoxes, when the sun rises at 6 A.M. and sets at 6 P.M., was the length of the Hebrew hour the same as ours. At the summer solstice, for instance, when the sun in Palestine rises about 5 A.M. and sets about 7 P.M., the Hebrew 12 hours were equal to 14 of ours, and consequently the Hebrew hour, at that season, consisted not of 60 minutes, but of 70. At the winter solstice, again, when the sun in Palestine rises about 7 A.M. and sets about 5 P.M., the Hebrew 12 hours equalled 10 of ours, and the hour consisted of 60 minutes. The hours of principal note were the third, the sixth, and the ninth. The sixth hour all the year round was 12 noon, but only at the equinoxes did the third and the ninth hour correspond exactly to our 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. As it was necessary that the third, as the hour of morning, and the ninth, as the hour of evening sacrifice, should be determined as exactly as possible, the clepsydra was so adjusted as to measure, according to the season, three (Hebrew) hours

from sunrise, and three (Hebrew) hours from noon. Thus at the summer solstice the third hour from sunrise at 5 A.M. (70' x 3 = 210'= 3 h 30') was our 8.30 A.M., and the ninth hour our 3.30 P.M. At the winter solstice, again, the third hour from sunrise at 7 A.M. (50' X 3 =150'=2 h 30') was our 9.30 A.M., and the ninth hour was our 2.30 P.M.

R. M. SPENCE, M.A. Manse of Arbutlmott, N.B.

KINGSTON -UPON -THAMES. Kingston is in A.-S. Cyningestiin, Cyngestun, or Cinyes tun. It was called the " King's tun " because it was a royal manor. MR. GARBETT'S derivation (9 th S. i. 475) from " King stone " is supported by no evidence. It is merely a plausible folk-etymology suggested by the venerable coronation stone in the centre of the town, seated upon which seven of the Saxon kings are said to have been crowned. What actual evidence is there for this legend ? " Si non e vero e ben trovato." ISAAC TAYLOR.

" HERON." Under the heading 'To Sue,' 9 th S. i. 477, we are asked for the etymology of heron. Surely all the dictionaries give it. See Diez, Littre, Brachet, Webster, or even my ' Concise Dictionary.' I copy the article by Diez in full, as it is short :

"Aghirone, it., pr. aigron, cat. agro, */;. airon, altfr. hairon, nfr. heron (h axp.), in Berry egron ; em vogel, reiher; dimin. fr. aigrette (mit abgestossenem hauchlaut), kleiner weisser reiher ; nicht vom gr. tpuSioQ; es ist vom ahd. heigir, heigro, wozu alle laute passen."

That is, it comes from the O.H.G. name heiqir, of uncertain origin. Perhaps it was meant to be imitative. There is a parallel O.H.G. name spelt hreiyir (answering to A.-S. hragra), whence the mod. G. Reiher. As to the supposed imitative origin, see Franck's account of the Du. reiger in his ' Etymological Dutch Dictionary.' WALTER W. SKEAT.

OAKAPPLE DAY. The following paragraphs relating to " Oakapple Day " appeared in the Hull Times of June 4 :

" Oakapple Day was not very much observed in Brigg, and only a few boys kept up the old custom of assaulting any lad who does not wear oak on 29 May."

"People have arrived at the conclusion that the seasons must have changed very much, since the oak trees were sufficiently covered with foliage at this time of year to afford shelter for a kin- or anybody else."

Brigg is a small country town in Lincoln- shire, and doubtless these paragraphs were forwarded by some one resident in or near the place ; but .they must have escaped editorial revision, one would suppose. The