Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/145

 9th S. IV. Sept. 16, '99.] 233 NOTES AND QUERIES. give up our old mumpsimus for the new mmpsimus I C. Lawrence Ford, B.A. Bath. Quarre Abbey (9th S. iii. 408, 495).— 'Nel- sonis Handbook to the Isle of Wight,' by W. H. Davenport Adams (London, T. Nelson <fc Sons, 1864), p. 21, has the following:— "Quarr, from Quarrariin, in allusion to the quarries in its vicinity, which had been worked as early as the preceding reign, and were perhaps not unknown to the Romans. " The Abbey of Quarr, or Quarrera, was founded in 1132-4 by Baldwin de Red vers, Lord of the Isle of Wight, who peopled it with some Benedictine monks from Savigni, in Normandy—whence it was sometimes called 'The Daughter of Savigni'—and endowed it with the manor of Arreton. From the quarries in its neighbourhood, which supplied the materials of his new building, it derived its name— De Quarrera, or De Quarrariis."—Ibid., p. 114. See, further, pp. 113-6; and for Quarr House, p. 122. Thomas J. Jeakes. " Mays " (9th S. iv. 147).-In Noel's ' Diction- naire Etymologique de la Langue Francaise ' there is the following passage :— " Mai (arbre). — Cc mot a aussi signing un arbre orne de fleurs et de rubans, que Ton plantait, le premier jour de mai, en plusieurs villes, devant les maisons des inagistrats et des autres personnes con- stituees en digmtes: de la le mai de la basoche, que les clercs de procureurs ('talent dans 1'usage, mSme encoreavaut la revolution, de planter tous les ans, au premier jour de mai, dans la courdu Palais, a Paris. C'etait encore une galanterie que les amans faisaient anciennement a leurs maitresses, a la meme epoque, d'on Ton avait forme le verbe imayoler, donner le maii- Pour ce vous veux, Madame, emayoler, En lieu de mai, d'un loyal coeur que j'ay. Froissart." fimayoler does not occur in Littre'. It is, however, a pretty word that might very well be revived by modern French writers. T. P. Armstrong. Putney. Roman Numerals : 1900 (9th S. iii. 90, 214, 423 ; iv. 57, 151).—I do not grasp the differ- ence between ix and xix as supposed autho- rity for mom ; the principle is the same, that the position of i before x with diminishing force is assumed to justify a similar use of c before m. This I deny. The use of cm and its compounds (such as mcm) must be separately established. Mr. Hyde's instance, though very interesting, is a monstrosity which tells rather against than for his theory; for even if cm be justifiable, ccm is certainly not; and any authority which uses the latter discredits itself altogether. To ray mind the most decisive element is the Roman form of 900 and 1400, on which I still await information. The question must be decided by evidence of usage, not by inference. W. E. B. Bermudas Company (9th S. iv. 108).—Mr. Pile's description of the arms of the Ber- mudas Company is the same as that given in Burke's 'Armory.' If he will examine the plate of the arms in ' London's Armory,' by Richard Wallis, London, 1677, he will find the ship is striking a rock, and that the tops of the two masts are flying off, being broken by the concussion. The term " between two rocks " applies more correctly to the arms of the merchants of Levant. Speed's ' Theatre of Great Britain,' 1676, pp. 41, 42, map, gives one rock, and differs in minor details from the above, with the motto " Quo fata Ferunt." A charter was granted by James I. in 1612, and in the latter work is a description and an account of the colonizers of these islands, with the names of the adventurers and the number of shares belonging to each in the year 1622. John Radcliffe. St. Gobinet (9th S. iv. 128).—What is the correct name of this saint ? According to the 'Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland,' by the " Four Masters," he is called St. Gubeneta; according to Lewis's 'Topographical Dic- tionary of Ireland,' St. Gobnata; while the church at Baile Mhuirne, now Ballyvourney, is dedicated to St. Gobnait; and in the list of saints given in Chambers's ' Book of Days' and 'Anniversary Calendar' (1832), under June 20, he is described as St. Gobain. Everard Home Coleman. 71, Brecknock Road. See Smith and Wace's' Dictionary of Chris- tian Biography,' s.v. ' Gobnait.' Edward H. Marshall, M.A. Hastings. Gallows Birds and Others (9th S. iv. 127). —In my 'Household Tales and Traditional Remains' I have printed a folk-tale which came to me from Lincolnshire, and is called ' Jack Otter.' The tale is very much worn down and corrupt, but it contains a riddle to be asked with reference to a dead man hang- ing on the gallows, in whose mouth a bird called a " willow-biter" had built her nest. The riddle is :— There were ten tongues within one head; And one went out to fetch some bread To feed the living in the dead. We are reminded of Woden hanging on the gallows-tree. In the poem ' Havamal,' as translated by Vigfusson and Powell, Woden is made to say:—