Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/175

 S.V. MARCH 3, 1900.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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And Mr. Stephen adds :

" The editor, that is, as implying the commander of a periodical, is not yet recognized, and Johnson, if any one, would not have overlooked him. Dr. Murray's great dictionary gives 1802 as the date of the earliest recorded use of the word in the now familiar sense."

It appears by this that both Johnson and Dr. Murray have overlooked the earlier ap- pearances of the word in the new sense. In the Universal Magazine for 1778 there are several letters addressed to "the editors." Ho much for ' Johnson's Dictionary.' In the European Magazine for 1786 there are letters similarly addressed, and in 1787 one, at least, addressed to " the editor." Probably if earlier numbers of these periodicals were searched still earlier instances might be found.

C. C. B.

" BAPHOMET." It is interesting to notice the treatment of this word in the 'H.E.D.' Baphomet is said to be (a) a form of the name Mahomet used by mediaeval writers, and (b) the alleged name of the idol which the Templars were accused of worshipping. (According to L'Abbe Constant, quoted by Littre, this word was cabalistically formed by writing back- ward tern. o. h. p. ab., abbreviation of " templi omnium hominum pacis abbas," abbot or father of the temple of peace of all men.) Apparently, then, we must abandon the notion that in this word the Templars ern- 'balmed, not only the name of their obvious foe in matters religious, but also, some have whispered, the title of Christ's Vicar on earth, who eventually betrayed them.

A. R. BAYLEY.

St. Margaret's, Malvern.

BROWNING AND SENECA. In one of his shorter poems, 'Respectability,'Kobert Brown- ing has these lines :

How many precious months and years Of youth had passed, that speed so fast, Before we found it out at last, The world, and what it fears ?

In Clode's ' Selections from Seneca,' p. 270 (W. Scott, 1888), we find the following :

" Choose out certain days wherein thou mayest content thyself with the least and cheapest diet, and mayest clothe thyself in a hard and coarse garment. Say to thyself, Is this that which the ivorld so much feared ? 5>

Perhaps the coincidence, though incom- plete, may be thought worth noting.

C. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A. Bath.

" HICATEE." It is not of ton that one can add to the information stored up in the 'H.E.D.' In the case of this West Indian zoological term, however (the hicatee, I may

explain, is a kind of tortoise or turtle), the etymology is given by Dr. Murray merely as " native name," and even that is qualified by " apparently," though there are few American words of which the history is more certain. It is from the ancient language of Hayti. The authorities for this statement are Grili (1780), Humboldt (in his 'Travels'), and Von Martius (* Beitrage zur Ethnographic und Sprachenkunde America's,' 1867). The Spanish orthography is hicotea. The 'Century Dic- tionary ' calls it Central American, which is misleading, as Haytian should be classed rather with the South American (Amazonian) tongues. JAMES PLATT, Juu.

DEDICATION BY AUTHOR TO HIMSELF. The Corriere delta Sera of 15-16 January announces that Mascagni's new opera ' Le Maschere' is to be brought out at the Costanzi in April, and that the score bears this dedication : " A me stesso, con immensa stima e immutabile affetto." Surely this is almost unique. Q. V.

" ENTAPIS." In Richard Cumberland's ' John De Lancaster,' i. 9 (ed. 1809), is found : " Protesting, with a due degree of spirit, that he would, that very day, either bring the trail to an entapis, or give up the chace, and draw off." Besides using here a very rare term, Cumberland seems to mistake its meaning, like D'Urfey before him. See Mr. Bradley's remark on Entappesse, in the ' Oxford Dictionary.' F. H.

Marlesford.

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct. _

" INKLE "= TAPE. What is the etymology of this Shakespearian word 1 ^ It is explained to mean a kind of tape or braid, and is gener- ally stated to be a formal representative of an older lingle or lingel, Fr. ligneul. But this identification is highly improbable, because

(1) the meanings of the two words inkle and lingle are quite distinct, lindle (Fr. ligneul) meaning shoemaker's waxed thread ; and

(2) the sound inkle for ingle is, to say the least, "auffallend." A. L. MAYHEW.

A JEU D'ESPRIT. I shall be glad to know the title 1 and authorship of a small pamphlet in which some of the methods of the " higher criticism" are most amusingly travestied. I came across the book some years ago, and