Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/122

 214 NOTES AND QUERIES. p- s. iv. SEPT. 9, m a Dutchman whose importance seemed to •warrant a longer appellative than "Jan," a comprehensive term forScandinavians,Danes, and Dutchmen. "Pasha" has been used for a Musselman ; but I fancy that usually a Turk's a Turk for all that— never an " In- fidel." A Chinaman is a " Chow," a negro a "Sambo." "Brother Jonathan" is common enough for an American, but " Uncle Sam " is almost as common ; while an Australian is a " Cornstalk." Nicknames like these exist in scores—out of books • but to collect them would require time and trouble out of all proportion to their value. GEORGE MARSHALL. Sefton Park, Liverpool. THE MEANING OF " LURID " (9th S. iv. 28,93). —The line occurs in 'Ovid':— Lurida terribiles miscent aconita novercse. •Met,,'i. 147. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge. TONGHES (9th S. iv. 28, 96).-There is the substitution of I for b in E. Q. L.'s reply. Tong is near Albrighton, not Allrighton. ARTHUR MAYALL. AN ARCHAOLOGICAL RARITY (9th S. iv. 69, 134).—Much light may be thrown upon this inquiry by careful examination of the 'Notitia Utraquc Dignitatum,' «tc., of Guido Pan- ciroli (the writer's edition is " Venetiis, MDCII."). In the Bodleian is the unique MS. copy of this valuable book with completely coloured plates (Canon. Misc. 378), snowing that colour was as important a factor in Roman insignia as it is to-day in modern heraldry. This, moreover, is abundantly proved in the text. I have looked through all the plates, hoping to find one exactly answering the description by A. M., but without success. I find many suns represented by two or more concentric circles surrounded by a star of 5, 7, 8, 9, and many points, but there is only one 6-pointed star in the book. This will be found on p. 33 as the badge of the * Balistarii Theodosiaci." It is, however, placed above, and not behind the sun. On p. 30 the badge of the " Felices Theodociani" has a rayecT face for the sun above the moon, which latter is represented in the well-known appearance called "the old moon in the arms of the new." This phase is also very commonly to be seen in the Egyptian decorations placed upon the head of Isis. The vast majority of the Roman insignia had the sun as the important object upon them ; sometimes it was in combination with a star or group of stars (p. 33), sometimes with the moon and stars, as on p. 36 (" Thanni" and " Panoniciam iuniores "), and very often with birds, animals, or serpents. Perhaps it may be interesting to point out that many devices represent the sun in the centre of a shield, no fewer than four on one page (33), and the speculation at once suggests itself, Were not some of these devices brought from the East ? The legions represented were those of the Eastern empire, so that the remarkable connexion of the sun with the shield in Psalm Ixxxiv. 11 must have a mean- ing and cannot be a mere figure of speech. On the whole, I venture to submit that the "archaeological rarity " is most probably Roman, that it was a phalera coloured white (argent), and may have been a badge of distinction for a soldier, precisely like a modern medal. Of the ultimate design or object of these devices we have no certain knowledge ; but they are all manifestly sym- bolic, and were worn on the person or painted on the shield of each legionary, not merely to distinguish his particular corps, but, as we believe, to catch the first glance, and so avert the much-dreaded evil eye of the individual enemy. They are to be seen upon the shields of warriors on the earliest known Greek vases. With regard to horse gear, brass ornaments representing the sun and (crescent) moon can be bought to-day in almost any saddler's shop which are identical in design and combina- tion with several Roman insignia depicted in the book above mentioned, e.g.. pp. 21, 36, 134. The last (134), moreover, belonged to the army of the West. F. T. ELWORTHY. BRICK DATED 1383 (9th S. iv. 46, 93, 156).— Miss LEGA-WEEKES makes a slight error in saying that the Arabic numerals were em- ployed by the Moors in Spain in the tenth century. They are found in an "arithmetic" drawn up by Mohammed ben Musa for the Khalif Al Mamuu (813-33), which was trans- lated in the twelfth century, and from this translation they became known in Europe. How much earlier they were used by the Arabs we do not know. We find them in use at Pisa in 1202, and at Florence in 1299. ISAAC TAYLOR. POLKINOHORN (9th S. iv. 108).—A. D. W. asks for a definition of the name Polkinghorne (a Cornish name, and pronounced in the De- lectable Duchy as if it were spelt Pukn'arne). Here are several. Hals says it comes from "pol, pool; gam, with; and noern, iron." Dr. Pryce says "chalybeate or medicinal pool," and Dr. Bannister gives doubtfully jxirc-an- ywarn=" the alder close." Another derivation