Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/38

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [* s. ni. JAN. u,

itself. Where these rents are numerous and payable at a given date the ringing of a bell eems reasonable. W. C. B.

PATRONYMICS (9 th S. ii. 445)." The Irish need not detain us long," says ME. PLATT in his light-hearted descent upon rather a weighty subject. It is quite true that need not detain us long in relation to pure patro- nymics ; but MR. PLATT'S dismissal of it is liable to misconstruction, as if it were, as many people suppose it to be, an abbreviation of the English "of," indicating " son of." Of course it is nothing of the sort ; but it may be useful to remind general readers that names like O'Donnel, O'Neil, and O'Connell are not, strictly speaking, patronymics like Mac- donald, Macneil, and McConnel. The prefix indicates the Irish ua, the family or sept. Innumerable passages from Irish writings might be quoted to show the distinction between ua and mac. Here are two taken at random from the Four Masters.

Anno 1588 :

"Ro dail ua Domhnaill Aodh mac Maghnusa i ccomhdhail an iarla."

" Hugh O'Donnell, the son of Manus (Mac Manus), came to join the earl."

Here Mac Manus is a true patronymic, but O'Donnell is the name of the sept or clan. Anno 1551 :

" Murchadh mac Toirrdhealbhaigh, mic Taidhcc, mic Toirrdhealbhaigh ui Briain, iarla Tuadmuman a hucht Gall agxis an righ, o Briain e do ghnath Gaioidheal."

"Murrough, the son of Turlough, the son of Tigue, the son of Turlough O'Brien, (called) Earl of Thomond by the English and the King, but (called) O'Brien after the manner of the Gael.

The tribal ua seems never to have become general in Celtic Scotland, although in Gal- loway, the part of Scotland nearest to Ireland, it used to be represented in certain surnames by the prefix A. Thus Hannay, the name of one of the few remaining Celtic landowners in Galloway, used to be written Ahanna ; and the Adairs, who ceased to be landowners within the present century, but have left their name common in the district, owned a cognomen which is written Ua Daighre in the Four Masters. HERBERT MAXWELL.

ARCHITECTURAL NICHES POSSIBLY INTENDED FOR NESTS (9 th S. ii. 409). Has care been taken to ascertain that these are not in any instance the putlog holes of the masons? Such may often be seen of similar size.

ED. MARSHALL.

Though, apparently, too small for pigeons, these recesses, considered as architectural openings, seem to be identical with the so-

called columbaria, which in French are known as trous de boulin, in German as Rustlocher^. and in English architectural language as putlog holes, viz., quadrilateral openings within the walls of a building, in which the putlogs of the scaffold were placed, and which are often omitted to be closed. X.

"LYNX-EYED" (7 th S. xi. 7, 210, 251, 438 ; xii. 94). Hector Boece says it has passed into a proverb that kings' eyes are keener than those of the lynx :

" Verum enim est quod fertur proverbium regum oculos vel lynceis acutiores esse omnesque Midse- aures circumferre." 'Scotorum Historise' (ed. 1574),, lib. xii. fo. 252, verso.

Possibly when we are at it we might verify Hectors citation. GEO. NEILSON.

LENDING MONEY BY MEASURE IN DEVON- SHIRE (9 th S. ii. 367, 492). The idea of money represented by "pots of gold" is, I should expect, an "old ditty" in most counties. At all events, I have met with not a few of the old folks here and there who saved in pots,, jars, old teapots, " chimbley ornements," and other likely handy places about the house. One old widow lady I knew, whose husband had left her " wi' a bit o' brass," and a regular "fortin" (= income) yearly, used to put her spending money in one pot on the chimney- piece, and her savings in another. The ex- pression on the death of a man of some means was often "Key's left a pot o' money," or " Hey 's saved pots full." Folks often spoke of people lending " pots o' money," or losing " pots o' money," as the case might be ; all this tending to show that in the days of the forefathers (mothers too) of some of us saving, money in pots was an extremely common matter. I also know of cases where persons, having saved a "pot o' money," started a business with it. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

INACCURACIES IN MARRIAGE REGISTERS (9 th S. ii. 488). There is, I think, a superstition connected with the really odd sort of practice mentioned by MR. HEMS. It is that when persons are illiterate they do not know how to spell. C.

" MAILLS " (9^8. ii. 469). This is a Scotch law term denoting the rents of an estate, whether in money or in grain. Hence an action for the rents, or for an assignation of them, is called an action of M. and D. (Duties) (' Oracle Encyclopaedia '). Annandale, in his ' Dictionary,' explains that " Maille " is a piece of money, a term given to several coins of different denominations, and that "Maile- noble" was the half-noble of the reign of