Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/393

 S.V.MAY 12, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

385

symbol to show that g had the sound of ? There was no true ei as a diphthong in A.-S the Norse ei being represented by a in nativ words. Hence the Old Norse sweinn is cognat with A.-S. swan, a labourer, servant. A boatsivain was originally a " boat-servant ' but the special sense of " steersman " seem to be very old. It is worth notice, on th other hand, that bdtr, a boat, is not a tru Norse word, but was simply borrowed fron the A.-S. bat; and this is why we can hardl expect to find the hybrid form bat-swege before the eleventh century. Indeed, th quotation from Domesday ranks as an early one for the use of the word.

The word swain. Old Norse sweinn, A.-S swan, is of great interest. It only survive in the Norse form ; the A.-S. swan would hav given a modern English swoan, but it seem to have been superseded by swain at quite an early date. The collation of O.N. sweinn with A.-S. swan shows that the primitive Teutonic type was *swainoz, with the origina' sense of "swine-herd." It is derived, by gra dation, from the Teutonic neuter type *swei nom, represented by A.-S. swln, Icel. svln Goth, swein, a swine or pig, which (bein neuter) had the unchanged plural swm, mod E. swine. Modern English practically uses swine as the plural of sow, by obvious analogy with kine, pi. of cow. But the analogy is at fault ; for the -ine in kine represents the A.-S -y in cy, cows, followed by the weak plural suffix -en (A.-S. -an) ; whereas the -ine in sivine is of adiectival origin, like the -ine in can-ine; and the original sense of swine was "sow-like." Indeed, the cognate Lat. smnus is actually an adjective, and formed from the sb. sus. WALTER W. SKEAT.

" FARNTOSH" (9 th S. v. 28, 136). Sir Walter Scott, writing from Edinburgh in 1813, says :

" I am glad the whisky came safe ...... I have plenty

of right good and sound Highland Ferintosh, and I n always find an opportunity of sending you up bottle." ' Life,' by Lockhart, ch. xxvi. (1845,

can a

W. C. B.

" OTIUM CUM DIGNITATE " (4 th S. v. 145). At this reference a correspondent thirty years ago traced back this phrase to its origin in Cicero ('Pro P. Sext.,' c. 45). The first instance quoted in the * Stanford Dictionary ' for the use of the expression by an English author is from Pope's letters in 1729. It is to be found in Melanchthon's writings, nearly two centuries earlier. The great reformer in his ' Letter to the Clergy of Cologne,' printed at Leipzig in 1543, is defending the German reformers generally, and Bucer in particular,

for his share in Archbishop Hermann's ' Deliberation.' At sig. A5, after asserting the honesty of their motives in trying to spread purer teaching, he continues :

" Res ipsa rios purgat. Multi enim docti et boni viri, qui in otio cum dignitate vivere poterant, etiam vitse suse hanc professionem antetulerunt, quales fuerunt Henricus Sutphaniensis, Johannes

Croesus, theologize doctor et possem nominare

alios multos."

Probably some instances of the use of this phrase might be found in our own country before the time of Pope. C. DEEDES.

Brighton.

SIR CHARLES CARTERET (9 th S. v. 187, 292). The baronet of this name referred to by A. H. was baptized at St. Margaret's, West- minster, 4 June, 1679 ; succeeded his father, Sir Philip, in 1693 ; and was buried in West- minster Abbey 8 June, 1715, aged thirty-six. (See Chester's 'West. Abbey Registers.') It is therefore clear that he was a different person from Sir Charles Carteret, Knt., M.P. for Milborne Port from 1690 to 1700, whose identity I am seeking, and whom, so far, I have failed to find in the Carteret pedigree. Nor is he named in Le Neve's ' Knights.'

W. D. PINK.

If MR. PINK will apply to me I can give lim information from notes in my possession.

J. H. COPE. Sulhamstead Park, Reading.

LANDO (9 th S. v. 312). I think MR. FLETCHER

las given the editorial comment a wider

meaning than it was intended to bear. I

lave not seen Signor Sanesi's essay, but in

my paper on Lando I refer to the extensive

and elaborate monograph about him by Sebas-

iano Bongi. I have made no exclusive claim,

hough I am not acquainted with &i\y other

account of Lando in English.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Moss Side, Manchester.

SIR JOHN WELD (9 th S. v. 229, 298). Inas- much as William Avery, Deputy Town Clerk of Condon, was admitted to the principal office 2 November, 1666, "loco Weld deceased," the atter could not possibly have held the posi- ion until 1667, nor could he have died on 1 September, 1674, as stated by MR. PINK at be latter reference. This Sir John Weld was f the Middle Temple, son of John Weld, of jondon, by Dorothy, daughter of Roger Gres- wold, and nephew of Sir Humphrey Weld, jord Mayor in 1608 ; he married, 4 February, 610/11, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Alder- man Sir William Romney (Sheriff in 1603), and 'as admitted Town Clerk loco Sebright, who urrendered, 27 April, 1613. Robert Mitchell