Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/492

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. v. JUKE IB, im

Schubert, the great composer, was a thirteenth child. By his first marriage with Elisabeth Fitz the father had fourteen children, and by his second with Anna Klayenbok five more. Ignaz Josef Pleyel, the pupil and friend of Haydn, and, though not a genius, a composer of some note in his day, was the twenty-fourth child of a village schoolmaster at Ruppersthal in Lower Austria, who is said to have lived to the age of ninety-nine.

J. S. S.

Llewellynn Jewitt was a constant contri- butor to the early series of "good old ' N. & Q.'"; and the Reliquary, vol. i. No. 1, New Series, p. 4, in 'A Sketch of the Life and Death of Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., &c.,' says, "The Jewitts were a talented family, and Llewellynn, the seventeenth child, was the greatest genius of them all." H. J. B.

" QUAGGA " AND " ZEBRA " (9 th S. V. 3, 75). I

regret that I gave the wrong account of zebra in my first letter. I should have acknow- ledged this before, but have only just com- pleted further investigations. The result is singular. I find that the Ethiopian etymology is quoted in dictionaries of three nationali- ties, Littre's for French, Barcia's for Spanish, Skeat's for English ; that in each case the sole evidence adduced is a passage in Ludolfs when referred to, not only does not say the word is Ethiopian, but actually ascribes it to a totally different language, namely, Con- golese ! In the original Latin version (Frank- fort, 1681) the passage runs, "Ceterum pul- chritudine omnia totius orbis quadrupedia prsecellit Zecora, Congensibus Zebra dicta." The English translation (1684, p. 56) renders it, " There is a beast which is called Zecora, which for beauty exceeds all the four-footed creatures in the world ; they of Congo give it the name of Zebra." I have searched Bentley's ' Dictionary of the Congo Language,' 1887, without coming upon any- thing like zebra. It occurs in the vocabulary to Merolla's * Viaggio nel Congo,' 1692 : "Zerba, animale simile al mulo selvaggio." The Eng- lish translator (first volume of Churchill's 'Voyages,' 1704; also sixteenth volume of Pinkerton, 1808) has, " Zerba, an animal like unto a wild mule." My present impressior is, therefore, on the authority of Ludolf anc Merolla, that this hitherto unexplained wore is old Congolese.
 * History of Ethiopia ' \ and that this passage,

The synonym Zecora deserves a few lines to itself. Ludolf uses it again in his ' Lexico Amharico-Latinum ' (Frankfort, 1698) : " Sci licet pulchrum ilium qui Zecora apellatur (p. 63). It is a Portuguese word of doubt

ul origin. Coelho, in his etymological D ortuguese dictionary, 1897, fails to trace b. Peter Kolbe, in his * Reise an das Capo ' Nuremberg, 1719), p. 146, gives a picture f the animal, and remarks, " Von den Abys- iniern wird dieses Thier Zecora, von den inwohnern in Congo Zebra genennet." The atter part of this very definite statement orroborates what I have said above. Per- haps COL. PRIDEAUX will tell us if the former >art of it is correct. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

AN OLD CLOCK (9 th S. v. 269). Barnsley las had a succession of Fletchers, clock and vatch makers, though I do not know that my of them ever attained more than local ame. Tobias the elder, who is probably the me referred to by MR. HEMS, died in 1811. Vlany of his clocks are still to be met with n the town and district. A much more amous member of the craft who carried on Business in Barnsley was John Hallifax father of Sir Thomas Hallifax, Lord Mayor >f London 1777-8), who died in 1750. The lallifax clocks are still highly prized, and when offered for sale generally fetch good prices. ALEXANDER PATERSON, F.J.I.

"ScoiNSON ARCH" (9 th S. v. 357). Scww- \heon= the splay or iamb on the inside of in opening, from Med. Fr. escoinson, Mod. Fr. 'coincon : " Pierre qui fait 1'encoignure de 'embrasure d'une porte ou d'une croisee" Littre). See * Scuncheon ' and ' Scoinson irch ' in the Architectural Publication Society's 'Diet, of Architecture,' ' Scon- cheon' in the 'Glossary of Terms' at the end of G wilt's ' Encyclopaedia of Architecture,' and ' Escoinson ' in Mollett's ' Diet, of Words used in Art' and Archaeology.' Sconchon is used in the agreement for the steeple of Fotheringhay Church, 13 Hen. VI.

BENJ. WALKER.

Langstone, Erdington.

Parker's ' Concise Glossary of Terms used in Architecture' (1869), p. 103, has the follow- ing explanation :

" Escoinson or Scoinson (old French); interior edge of the window side or jamb. In mediaeval windows this is often ornamented with a shaft carrying an arched rib."

The 'New English Dictionary' defines escoincon as a stone which forms the upper part of an arched window.

RICHARD LAWSON.

Urmston.

This is a very usual term in architec- ture. " Squinch," " sconce," " scutcheon," and "skoncheon" mean much the same, and are, possibly, mostly derived from the Latin