Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/288

 352 NOTES AND QUERIES. [»» s. iv. ocr. a,"». one frequently met with in our older records. Their surname is derived, I assume, from Red main, in the parish of Isell, co. Cumber- land, formerly written Redman. W. H. Stevenson. This is probably Matthew de Redman. Mr. Mayall will find much information as to the Redman family in Sir George F. Duckett's 'Duchetiana' (Lond., 1874), at p. 208 sq. Robt. J. Whitwell. [Other replies acknowledged.] Authorized Version, 1611 (9th S. iv. 227). —It is the general impression that King James gave liberally towards the expense of the 1611 edition of the Bible. Such was not the case. His Majesty was short of money and in debt at that perioa, but he instructed Bancroft, Bishop of London, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, to issue a circular to the bishops, requesting them to raise the requisite money (not less than 1,000 marks) to carry out the work of translating the Bible : but none was received from the clergy. The forty-seven translators, or the six companies, when working separately at Westminster, Cam- bridge, and Oxford, were not paid, each having to depend upon his own resources or his friends. The twelve men who revised the whole work at the Stationers' Hall (which occupied thirty-nine weeks) received each the sum of thirty shillings weekly. The source from which this money was obtained is unknown. John Radcliffe. Shagreen (9th S. iv. 68, 115, 171, 310).—At the last reference the writer says, " The art of staining ivory knife-handles a permanent green is also lost." I think he is mistaken. A few years since I was in a manufacturing cutler's shop. On the counter were several green-handled knives sent to be repaired. They gave rise to some conversation, during which he told me that dyeing the handles green was long and troublesome, occupying about six weeks; and he mentioned (not as if it was a trade secret) that the process con- sisted in soaking the ivory handle in a solu- tion of arsenic—probably arsenate of potash —for some time, and then in a solution of sulphate of copper. A chemical combination of arsenic and copper produces the beautiful green known as "Scheele's green." B. Winstone, F.C.S. Ockeridge, Epping. The Origin of "Tips" (9th S. iv. 308).—I do not think that the origin suggested will bear examination. The word is old in the language, at least, of slang, meaning a gift or loan. " Tip me your daddle," or " tip us your flipper" (=give me your hand): "tip me a hog" ( = give me a shilling); "tip him a wink ' (or a " gleg " ?): these are all or common par- lance, and have been so, at any rate, since an earlier date than 1785, when some of them, as well as some others, were recorded by Grose in his 'Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.' Dr. Johnson gives, "To tip to give: a low cant term. JJryden." I quote this from a later edition, not having the first (1755) at hand ; but I believe the same is to be found there. That is easily verified. A "tip "meant also " a draught," or (as we should now say) "adrink," also recorded by Grose. This may very probably have come from another source. Julian Marshall. Its origin I cannot trace, but the word must have been in use early in the seventeenth century, for Swift wrote:— When I saw the keeper frown. Tipping him with half-a-crown, Now, said I, we are alone. Everard Home Coleman. 71, Brecknock Road. " Marsouin " (9th S. iv. 205, 257, 316).—It is obviously impossible to reply to a corre- spondent who raises many difficulties about perfectly elementary facts. His argument seems to be that nothing is true unless he happens to know it himself. My statement that the A.-S. mere was pro- nounced, approximately, like modern E. merry is derived from history, and is perfectly familiar to every Anglo-Saxon scholar in Europe and America. The same remark applies to the sound of the Latin mare, which " is likewise known to every Latin scholar who happens to have learnt philology. For Anglo- Saxon pronunciation, see Sievers's 'Anglo- Saxon Grammar,' Sweet's ' History of English Sounds,' Ellis's 'History of English Pro- nunciation,' and almost every German and American book that treats of the subject. It is true that not much was known about our old pronunciation some forty years ago, and that very little is known about it now except by philologists and serious students. Precisely in the same way chemistry is only thoroughly _ known by chemists, and botany by botanists ; but no sane man doubts that many chemists and botanists know their subjects so well as to be quite trustworthy with relation to elementary facts. Some account of A.-S. pronunciation can easily be acquired, either from Sweet's ' Anglo-Saxon Primer' or my own ' Primer of Etymology.' No one who knows anything of English etymology doubts the results there given; for the reason that, until these