Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/301

 9 th S. II. OCT. 8, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

293

work on mediaeval and modern chronology has come into my hands. As Herr Riihl is Professor of History in the University of Konigsberg, and as his book, which was pub- lished only last year, presents the latest fruit of German scholarship and research, I believe that C. G. and other readers of ' N. & Q.' might be glad to have his judgment on the main point on which ME. STEVENSON and I differ reproduced in his own words. Prof. Riihl says, p. 199 :

"Mit der Ostertafel des Dionysius brachte S. Augustinus auch seine Aera nach Britannien, und bei den Angelsachsen ist sie zuerst praktisch ange- wandt worden."

A. ANSCOMBE.

READE OR READ FAMILY (9 th S. ii. 168). In Pembrokeshire the name of Reed was, and I suppose is, not uncommon. It was doubtless taken from rhyd, Welsh for a ford in a river. The most important family of the name I know of was Rede (sometimes Read) of Boar- stall. I can give the querist seven genera- tions. They bore Az., three pheasant cocks or. The Reades of Ipsden are, I think, of the same family, coming from Barton, near Abingdon. Chief Justice Sir Robert Rede, one of the executors of Henry VIII., bore on a bend wavy three spoonbills ; he seems to have grant of masses at Waltham St. Cross, 18 Henry VII.

1538, John Rede, son of Will. Rede, an in- fant, had grant of Tandridge Priory, Surrey.

There were Reeds of Darlington, 1753 ; Read of King's Lynn, 1727 ; Reade of Suf- folk ; Reed of Taunton, 1740 ; Rede of Nor- wich, died 1577; Sir Ric. Rede, died 1560, buried at Redburn. T. W.

Aston Clinton.

Canon Bardsley, in his 'English Surnames,' says : " Our Reeds, Reids, and Reads are all but forms of the old ' rede ' or red, once so pronounced " ; and in the index he gives a Roger le Rede from the ' Calendarium Rotu- lorum Patentium in Turri Londinensi,' and Adam le Rede from the Rolls of Parliament. Dr. George Marshall, Rouge Croix, in his valuable ' Genealogist's Guide,' mentions the chief sources of information concerning this widespread and not uncommon surname.

A. R. BAYLEY.

This name is not uncommon in Cheshire. Mr. Henry Lister Reade, the courteous Clerk of Indictments and Deputy Clerk of Assize of the North Wales and Chester Circuit, is a solicitor in practice at Congleton. There was a doctor of this name (since deceased) in Chester when I was a boy (say twenty-five years ago). T. CANN HUGHES, M.A.

SOME ARTHURIAN PUZZLES (9 th S. ii. 226). I am curious to know, since there is no q in the Welsh alphabet, whence comes the form Quenhyvar for Gwenhwyvar, the name of each of Arthur's three wives. The fact that Arthur is credited with three wives is attributed by Lady Charlotte Guest to the blending of the more ancient legends of Britain with those of the Round Table.

I am afraid it is idle to speculate as to who " Lucius Tiberius " was. Who was Bocchus, King of Media, or Micipsa, King of Babylon, or Alifatima, King of Spain 1 All these, with other potentates equally fabulous, were joined with Lucius against Arthur.

C. C. B.

FACSIMILE OF SIGNATURE AS MARK OP OWNERSHIP (9 th S. ii. 108). I have a copy of the Countess of Pembroke's 'Arcadia' (folio, 1674) with Robert Harley's signature stamped in gold letters on the title-page, and on the back of the title-page his large and very fine book-plate. The binding is, however, modern. The signature is evidently a facsimile.

ROBERT F. S. COLVILL.

Costock House, co. Dublin.

HERON (9 th S. ii. 4, 96, 254). I should like to add a few words to my former note. The English name heron is unoriginal, and bor- rowed from French. The French hfron is unoriginal, and borrowed from Teutonic, with a Latin suffix. The Teutonic names I have already cited. The original sense of these names is unknown. Consequently there is no more to be said. Thousands of names are in the same condition, so that there is nothing uncommon in the matter. When I cited Webster's 'Dictionary,' I did not intend to refer to the old edition, but to the new one. In the new edition my etymology* of heronshaw is duly given, and the old rubbish about site, meaning to pursue, has disappeared.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

ALGERNON (9 th S. ii. 248). Miss Yonge (' History of Christian Names,' vol. ii. p. 424) traces, I believe correctly, the curious origin of this unique name. It was originally a nickname, given in the first instance to Wil- liam de Albini, because he wore moustachios, which the Normans called gernons ; hence his usual appellation was William als Gernons. He was an ancestor of the Howards and of the Percys, from whom the name came to Alger-

my larger 'Etymological Dictionary' in 1882, at p. 792. But its discoverer was Mr. H. Nicol, whose early death was a sad loss, as his knowledge of French etymologies was most minute and accurate.
 * I call it mine because it was first published in