Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/199

 9"S. V.MARCH 10, 1900. J NOTES AND QUERIES.

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by SENEX, but, as a Scot, I answer by asking another question, Has he looked at ' The Lawes and Ordinances of War re ' of 1640 ?

W. S.

As to colonels, see * H.E.D.' As to lieutenant- colonels in cavalry regiments, see Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, xiii. (N.S.) 27.

Q. V.

"JESSO" (9 th S. v. 88). This is an island on the eastern coast of Asia, north of Japan. The word jesso means "the shore." A very interesting account of the island, the man- ners and customs of the inhabitants, &c., is to be found in ' The London Encyclopaedia,' twenty- two volumes, 1829. ALF. J. KING.

101, Sandmere Road, Clapham, S.W.

For the " lands of Jesso " (i. e., the north island of Japan), see atlases and gazetteers of the beginning of the present century and period anterior. E. A. P.

MEN WEARING EARRINGS (9 th S. v. 88). The idea in this district is that earrings cure weak eyes, more especially inflammation of the edge of the eyelids, or " bleary eyes " as the local dialect has it. It is probably a survival in a more modified form of the old drastic counter-irritant used in these cases of a seton inserted at the back of the neck.

J. G. WALLACE-JAMES, M.B.

Haddington.

Sailors and fishermen very commonly wear earrings, but I cannot say why, though it is certainly true that piercing the ears is popu- larly supposed to be good for sore eyes, and I have known cases in which relief followed. That the piercing and the relief stood to each other in the relation of cause and effect may, however, be questioned. C. C. B.

Earrings used to be commonly worn by foreign sailors. W. C. B.

"BoER" (9 th S. v. 3, 57, 136). I wish to warn all whom it may concern against a thing which is now (as always) prevalent, viz., newspaper philology. It is made up by journalists, who are wholly unaware of the very existence of modern scientific philology, and so evolve the most ridiculous results out of their own ignorance. This is well ex- emplified in the wholly ridiculous statement quoted from the Law Times at the last reference : " The word bower is allied to the Gaelic bo, a cow, and among its numerous cognates in the Aryan languages is included the Dutch term boer"

If the writer had had any elementary know- ledge of the phonetic laws of "the Aryan

languages " he would have discovered that the Gaelic bo, as carefully explained in the admirable 'Gaelic Etymological Dictionary,' by Macbain, p. xxxviii, is the equivalent of the English cow, the initial letter being (technically) a labialized velar g. Bo is the stock example ; I quote it in my * Primer of Philology,' p. 79, and in my ' Principles of English Etymology,' p. 122. Instead of be- lieving in the Law Times, or any other journalistic philology, it is far better to consult the 'Historical English Dictionary/ as I have said on many previous occasions. It is there shown that bower, a tenant who rents a herd of cows, is derived from North E. bow, a herd, and is therefore related to boer. But neither bower, nor bow, nor boer, is in anyway related to the Gaelic bo. It is one of those hardy assertions which can only be ventured upon by irresponsible and anonymous "philo- logists " who have no reputation to lose.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

THE SALMON DISEASE (9 th S. v. 87). The earliest mention of a salmon disease that occurs to me is to be found on p. 6 of the "Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland, in a Series of Letters to Thomas Pennant, Esq., by the Rev. Charles Cordiner, of Banff" (London, 1780). In his second letter, dated 17 May, 1776, he mentions a disease caused to salmon by what was believed to be an insect attendant on the fish which, he says, come up the river Deveron. He describes the appearance of the affected fish as wretched and disagreeable, the upper jaw with a hole almost through (in some cases quite through), not one fin entire, scales and skin in many places destroyed, presenting appearance of foul ulcers, &c. He makes no mention of fungus. J. L. ANDERSON.

Edinburgh.

"To PRIEST" (9 th S. iv. 514; v. 10. 96). " Priested " and " bishoped " are, I believe, only close translations. "Episcopari" is well known in the phrase "nolo episcopari," and I think I have seen " presbyteratus est," he was presbyterated, i. e., priested.

LONDON CHURCH REGISTERS (9 th S. v. 89). MR. P. E. CLARK will find what he seeks at the end of vol. xlviii. of the Journal of the British Archaeological Association. It is contained in a 'Report on the Transcription ind Publication of Parish Registers,' pub- lished under the direction of the Congress of Archaeological Societies in union with the Society of Antiquaries, 1892. We have here a complete list of those registers for England and Wales which have been collected and