Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/152

 240 NOTES AND QUERIES. to- s. iv. SEPT. w. m of Beda, and regards the Anglo-Saxon names which he assigns to the months as of comparatively late growth and belonging to the Romano-Christian year, with which ne was familiar, rather than to the old Germanic year, which was already becoming obsolescent. "Notwithstanding Beda's assertion that 25 December was originally called Yule and that December and January from it received their names as the earlier and later Yulemonth, there is not a single case, prior to the eleventh century, in which 25 December was called Yule." For the specific limitation of the name to Christinas Day there is no evidence producible in the three cen- turies which followed the time of Beda. The ' Saxon Chronicle,' though it frequently refers to 25 December as midwinter, midwinter'« mos«, and to Natividad, never calls it geohel, geola, or gehhol. It is not, indeed, until the middle of the eleventh century that, under Scandinavian influence, jdl is found in a charter of Edward the Confessor bearing the popular meaning of 25 December. As to the etymology of the word doctors still differ. Bugge and Mogk hazard a conjecture that as the merry season it may be identified with the Latin jpcvlus, in which others have sought the origin of jewel, but historical evidence of the Latin word ever having been used in this sense is not forthcoming. One thing is certain, that the connexion, often suggested, with A.-Sax. hveol, a wheel, is impos- sible. The first recorded use of the word Christinas, Cristee mcessan, is in the 'Saxon Chronicle' under the year 1038: but the consecration of 25 Decem- ber as the birthday of Christ dates back to 354, and is duo to the pontificate of Liberius. Dr. Tille is as if the month of » goddess Eostre, is merely a bad guess on his part, seeing that no trace of this hypothetical being can be found elsewhere; and the same may be said of the goddess Hreda. whom Beda postulates as the eponymous deity of Hred- monad, the month of March. Various matters of interest to folk-lorists turn up in the course of Dr. Tille's inquiries, e.g., " the mothers' night" (rnodra-nicht), the obscure name given by the Christianized Angles to Christmas Eve, seems to have referred originally to certain cryptic and pagan rites which matrons were wont to celebrate at that season, perhaps analogous to the Matronalia and mysteries of the Bona Dea at Borne. Connected with this may have l>een the curious mediaeval superstition, condemned l>y the Council of Trullus, 706, which led women to make cakes at Christmas in honour of the secuiulrt of the Virgin Mary. May not the ambiguity of the word plafenta have contributed something to this strange practice? Other points treated incidentally are the evolution of the Christmas tree, and the popular superstition of a miraculous dew of potent efficacy falling on the earth on Christmas Eve, which seems to have originated in a too literal understanding of the Church hymn " Rorate Cceli," sung at that season. if in giving quatembera twice as an alternative form of em&er-days (pp. GO, 160) Dr. Tille means to imply the identity of the two words, he is under a misapprehension; and we wonder whrvt authority he has for genice as the feminine of genii, when the Latins themselves had a distinct word (junones) for this purpose. The Origin and Growth of Village Communities in India. By B. H. Baden-Powell, M.A. (Sonnen- schein & Co.) UPON its first appearance in 1871, ' The Village Communities in the East and West' of Sir Henry Sumncr Maine took rank as an authority, and influenced largely, and to a certain extent bene- ficially, subsequent thought and effort. Since Sir Henry's time knowledge of Indian village com- munities has rapidly progressed, and his book is out of date, and in some respects untrustworthy, or, at least, insufficient. His observations were taken between 1862 and 1869, when a member of the Viceregal Council in charge of the Legislative Department, and the evidence available to Jiim applied to Hindustan, or Upper India, and gave him but a limited idea of the Panjab villages. Such knowledge concerning the Central Provinces as was accessible was hardly satisfactory, and concerning the great southern province of Madras next to nothing was on record. Since 1870 the New Settle- ment Reports for the whole of the Panjab, the North-West Provinces and Oudh, Ajmer, and the Central Provinces have come in, a series of district manuals has appeared, and from many sources light has been brought to bear on subjects such as tribal movements, dynastic changes, ethno- graphical conditions, and other matters. With this knowledge, much of it but newly accessible, Mr. Baden-Powell has dealt in his ' Land Systems of British India,' his ' Indian Village Community.' and other important and authoritative works with which the advanced student is familiar. His pre- sent volume, which is an addition to the " Social Science Series," is intended to popularize and render generally available recently acquired infor- mation, and to replace by exact information the loose views that have prevailed on a subject of exemplary interest. The task of writing such a work could not have been entrusted to better hands. THE second of Dr. Smythe Palmer's " Studies on Bible Subjects," entitled 'Jacob at Bethel: an Essay in Comparative Religion,' will be published imme- diately by Mr. Nutt. Jloiirrs la t'amspcmimits. Wt must call special attention to the following notices:— ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspond- ents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication " Duplicate." A. P. (" She went into the garden," &c.). Foote. —(" You are old, Father William "). We fancy the author of this poem, burlesqued in 'Alice in Wonder- land,' is Southey. NOTICE. Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries"'—Advertise- ments and Business Letters to "The Publisher"— at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E. C. We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.