Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/253

 W1,_;o@"‘i ' " ‘ ' , _ _..._  ' .,--- vw" ‘{._§€{‘=-"".' ‘ " ' ""‘°/' ` 9° S. VL sm. 15. 1900.1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 207 ruped, a kind of oat-antelope, the Antilocapra americana, or  American pronghorn, and is sometimes applied to the S. American pampas-deer, according to the ‘Century Dic- tionary.’ No doubt it is a useful name, but I think it can be shown that, from an etymological point of view, it is a mere ghost-word, the record of a blunder, and has no real claim to existence. The authorities are agreed that itis Mexican. The ‘ Century Dictionary’ says it is from the Mexican mapame or mazame; the ‘Encyclo- paedic Dictionary ’ gives maza/ma, saying that it is “the native namei” which is not the fact ; and Webster a lows us to choose between mazama and mazame. It is quite clear that no one, as yet, has ever attempted to veniy the information. Those explorers who ma e this a habit often discover stran e thingie. In fact, now that we have the ‘ hfexican ictionary’ by Simeon, and the ‘Grammar’ by Olmos, there is no difliculty in putting the matter straight. And the net resultis, that “ the native name ” is ma;/ztl, with an extremely characteristic Mexican termination. How, then, did the false form arise? I imagine that some one, with a turn for grammar, must have said that such animals were called magame ; and this he might easily have done, knowing that most substantives in -atl make a pmlural in -ame-e.g., petlatl a mat ‘whence t e Span. petate)& makes the plura petlame. And then Bu on or some one from whom he copied, took this plural for a singular, or thought that it made no ractical difference. And perhaps-for mere Europeans-it does not. But the unlucky part of t-he business is that mapatl belongs to a smaller class of words which made the plural by redu lication of the first syllable and loss of tl. The true “ native ” plural is, in fact, mamapa. ! . It will now be understood that the name is, from an point of view no better than a ghostwonff But it will doubtless live on, and will serve the turn. Mazama. was probably evolved by help of the supposition that mazame was an ltalzkm plural l That is how these things are done. The spelling with p or z indifferently happens to he justifiable. The Spaniards who first spelt Mexican used both gr and z, with the sound of our z in zone. WALTER W. SKE/rr. MARY, QUEEN or Scors: BASTIEN.- Queen Mary left the unfortunate Darnle at the Kirk of Field, on the night in which he was done to death, to attend a masque held at the Palace of Holyrood, in celebration of the marriage of one of her favourite maids of honour to Bastien, a foreigner, belonging to her household. In 1571, during her captivity in England, she, out of her imited means, established some bursaries for Scotch scholarsi to enable them to attend the theologica classes in the Scots College of Paris. In 1574 she presented a bursary to one of these scholars: “ J 'ai donné aussi une place de mes escolliers au filz de la femme de Bastien ; faites le recevoyr ; Il ira avec les dictz deux Anglois.” By her will, dated in 1577, Ma bequeat ed a sum of money for the per tually maintenance of the scholarships which dlfe had been accus- tomed to support. This bequest, like the other legacies in her will, was disregarded after her death. The favoured youth is referred to as the son of the wife of Bastien. As only eight years had elapsed since the marriage o Bastien at Holyrood, it is pro- bable he was not his son, but the issue of a previous marriage of his wife. The age of seven seems rather early to enter on a course of theological study. It appears from the context the ursar was to be sent to Paris along with two English youths of the name of Brees. So it cannot be held that the nomination should have a future eH`ect when the scholar should attain maturer years. In her will above referred to Bastien is left a legacy: “A Bastien sinq sens francs.” See Labanoii,_‘Lettres de Marie Stuart,’ iv. 235, 358; Dodd’s ‘Church History,’ by Tierney, iv. 123. A. G. REID, F.S.A.Scot. Auchterarder. A “ Paganism.”-In the Daily News of 3 August is the following :- “A_‘paradise’ is the technical term for a pre- serve in which attempts are made with more or ess success to acclimatize foreign birds and animals. The three most successful paradises in England are flaggerstone Castle, near Beale; Leonardslee, in Sussex ; and Woburn Abbey. Leonardslee provides the nearest approach to perfectly wild conditions and the innumerable foreign species, the big red kangaroos, the wallabies, the mouflon, or wild sheep the prairie dogs, the Patagonian cavies, and countless other species, give the landscape a very un-English appearance.” This new-style paradise, “chosen and made Peculiar ground,’ deserves notice by lexico- SPHNPDBPS and others. J AMES HOOPEE. orwich. “ DISINTELLECTUALIZATION.”-DR. MURRAY has recently called attention to two words of twenty-two letters each, and reséaectively of eleven and seven syllables, the rst used jocosely, and the other used in all seriousness.