Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/246

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

s. n. SEPT. 17,

numerous ; I need only quote Abbas and Bender Abbas, Abdurrahman and A'yesha, Eblis and Idrisi.

9. The Marquis Tseng (well remembered in London diplomatic circles) never pronounced his name as Smith has it ; I know his son, so can vouch for it that Smith has been deceived by Wade's orthography, in which e is used for the vowel Morrison wrote u. Tsung (rliy ming with hung) represents the Nankinese pronunciation, but the family call it Chung, Pekin fashion.

10. Malintzin, the most romantic figure in all the magic pages of Prescott, is not accented upon the final, but upon the penultimate. I venture to refer to some previous remarks of mine in these columns (8 th S. xii. 432), and the principle I there laid down is supported by the Spanish form of this name, Malinche.

11. The name for God in Finnish (Jumala) is accented upon the first and not upon the second syllable. It may be heard a hundred times any Sunday afternoon in the Finnish Church in Princes Square.

12. The Hungarian name Gaal, like Soos and some others with double vowels, is one syllable. Many years ago Punch asked whether the national name Magyar rhymed with swagger or "flog yer"; Smith naturally does not give it either of these sounds, but he does give it two entirely different pronun- ciations according to whether it is a surname or the name of a race ; which is absurd. Only -one of his pronunciations is correct, of course but in this, as in other cases where he gives alternative pronunciations (e.g., Harun a' Rashid, Himalaya, Vladimir), although only one of them is correct, and the other a mere vulgarism, he never discriminates between them. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

CECIL (9 th S. ii. 168). As a guide to th pronunciation of the name, it is worth whil to notice that about 1548 it was spellec " Sysell." Mrs. Cheke, grandmother o Thomas, afterwards Earl of Exeter, be queathed her "new bed with bolster anc hangings " to him, to be kept by her exe cutors in trust " untill the said Thomas shal come to school to Cambridge." See ' D.N.B under Cecil, William. ARTHUR MAYALL.

TRADE ROUTES (9 th S. ii. 167). Prof Beazley's fascinating book 'The Dawn o Modern Geography ' deals with geographica movements in Christendom during the earlj Middle Ages, and concludes with an accoun of the adventures of various Chinamen wh penetrated into Hindoostan by the mountai passes, and returned home over the water The book stops at about 900 A.D. For th

eriod of the Crusades any standard work on subject must necessarily contain much nformation as to the different routes con- ecting East and West Europe. Perhaps the xplorations of the Vikings on the North merican coast have not much to do with tie subject, although furs reached Rome from Greenland in mediaeval times. In the 'Geo- raphie Universelle ' of Reclus there is a hapter summarizing the exploits of these nteresting heroes. T. P. ARMSTRONG.

"MODESTEST" (9 th S. i. 488; ii. 91). Dr. ohrison says in his ' Grammar of the English 'ongue': "The comparison of adjectives is ery uncertain, and, being much regulated y comrnodiousness of utterance, is not easily educed to rules." Then he quotes passages rom ' Paradise Lost ' in which these words

are found, " virtuousest," " powerfullest," and > passage from 'Samson Agonistes' which
 * on tains the word "famousest." Surely

Milton had an ear. E. YARDLEY.

THE "SCOURING" OF LAND (9 th S. i. 286, 411 ; ii. 78). I have never heard the word scour used here in the present day in the sense instanced by MR. T. RATCLIFFE, although it was undoubtedly in vogue a century ago. I have just been examining an old book containing the accounts of the Charity Estate of West Haddon, embracing the years 1773-1850. Under date 17 Aug., 1 776, is the following entry : " Paid Richard Worster seven days' work, cutting thorns and scowering and stoping of gaps, 10s. 6d." The term " scouring the ditch " is used on 8 Jan., 1781, and appears many times after this date, the last instance being on 28 April, 1820.

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. Imperial Africa. By Major A. F. Mockler-Ferry-

man, F.R.G.S. Vol. I. British West Africa.

(Imperial Press.)

IT is in the nature of things in the case of books dealing with an empire developing by leaps and bounds that they shall run a risk of growing out of date even while they are passing through the presk. In the first volume of his 'Imperial Africa' Major Mockler - Ferryman has, however, succeeded in bringing matters up to date. His book will accord- ingly be of great assistance to those who seek to understand the scramble for African territory among the European powers, which is one of the most striking signs of the times. The Major is well qualified for the task he has undertaken, having published in 1892 ' Up the Niger,' an account of the mission of Major (now Sir) Claude Macdonald, the British Minister at Pekin. Sir Claude was Special