Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/28

 14 [9* 8. IV. July 1, '9 NOTES AND QUERIES. ' Dizionario Italiano - Francese - Armeno- Turco,' Vienna, 1846, s.v.'Giannizare'). The literal meaning of Yengi-cMri is "new sol- diery," and it is derived from two Turki words, yengi, " new," and che'rik, an " army." The former word is used wherever Turkish is spoken, but the latter, though common in EasternTurkistan(cf. R. B. Shaw, 'Sketch of the Turki Language,' Calcutta, 1878-80, s.v), appears to have dropped out of the 'Osmanli speech, except in composition. In accord- ance with the genius of the 'Osmanli dialect, the final k of cherik is elided, in the same way that the Bek or Beg of Central Asia becomes Bey at Constantinople. I ought, perhaps, to add that the letters ng in yengi are represented in Turki script by a three- dotted leaf, which, in certain circumstances, has the nasal sound of n in bringing. The corps of Janissaries was originally formed from the children taken captive by Turki hordes in their forays in Asia Minor, and afterwards recruited, like the Memliiks of Egypt, from Georgians and Circassians brought in slavery toConstantinople. Though they were fierce and able soldiers, I doubt if there was much of the fanatic spirit of the Ghazi in their composition, unless we reduce that word to its original signification of any one who takes part in a warlike raid, or razzia. I may conclude by saying that this matter was set by Prof. Skeat on a sound basis in two notes contributed some years ago to 'N. & Q.' (6th S. xi. 138 270), and since re- fublished in ' A Student s Pastime,' pp. 198-9. n these notes there are two slight inaccu- racies : (1) that ckartk (chirik) is a Persian word, whereas it is by origin a Turki one, and (2) that in old books the English word only occurs in the plural. The quotations given by Capt. Harris and myself show that it was also used in the singular. W. F. Prideaux. It is sad to see the exploded story about jdn-nisdrl all over again. I showed it up in 1885 (see ' N. & Q,' 6th S. xi. 270). The right etymology, from the Turkish yeili-cheri, "new soldiery," which was used before a.d. 1380, was given by Gibbon in his 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' ch. lxi v., long before the Persian word was made up. ThePersianetymo- logy is impossible, for phonetic reasons. The English word was merely borrowed from the French janissaires, pi. This French word was a misspelling of Ital. ianizzeri (Florio, 1598), which was really a plural form cleverly sub- stituted for a noun of multitude, viz., the Turkish yefii-cheri. The Ital. i was really a way of writing the sound of y, and therefore cannot be derived from a word beginning with ». It is interesting to observe that the Eng- lish form jenisarie of 1612 preserves the ori- ginal e of the Turkish form. But I need not give the arguments all over again. Walter W. Skeat. " Dibble " (9th S. hi. 407).—Surely this is a good English word, used all over the land by farmers and gardeners. It is of common occurrence in agricultural books, old and new. We have met with it frequently in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, but cannot give references to volume and page. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine of a hundred years ago alludes to "a woman employed dibbling beans," 1799, vol. i. p. 392. The instrument by which dibbling is performed is called a "dibbler." It was formerly usually made of iron ; now it is more commonly of wood, with an iron end by which the " dibble-holes " are made. N. M. & A. The common dibble is made from the top end of the handle of a spade sharpened to a point and sheathed with iron. It is used for "pricking out" seedling plants, such as cabbages and lettuces ; for beans a furrow is more often drawn with a hoe. A larger kind of dibble with a cross handle at top was formerly used for planting potatoes ; now, I believe, they are ploughed in, ploughed ("earthed") up, and ploughed out. Thomas J. Jeakes. This word is in constant use here. We "dibble" or "dib" beans and also potatoes. John T. Page. West Haddon, Northamptonshire. Ancient Water-pipes (9th S. hi. 445).— Were not wooden pipes for the Conveyance of water used almost everywhere in the seventeenth century ? They certainly were so used in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. William Yarnold, of New Woodstock, Oxon, came hither in 1697, and, obtaining an Act of Parliament (10 William III.), constructed a reservoir at Coxlodge, three miles north of the town, from which he laid down a four-inch wooden pipe, and carried it across the moor, through Newcastle, and along Tyne Bridge to Gateshead. The length of the pipe was 5,430 yards, and, it is said, was bought by Yarnold from a broken-up work in London, probably that of Peter Morrys, predecessor of Sir Hugh Myddelton. From Gateshead reservoir the water flowed by gravitation through a five- inch elm pipe into the front street of that town, where it was joined by a three-inch lead pipe with wooden pipes intermixed, and so was taken back across the bridge to two
 * English and Turkish Dictionary,' s.v.;