Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/43

 VIL JAN. 12, i9oi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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English I Plant Names,' 1886, p. 164, anc Gardeners' Chronicle, 12 Sept., 1874, p. 344 19 Sept., 1874, p. 355 (special) ; 26 Sept., 1874 p. 403 (also special).

MAXWELL T. MASTERS.

Is there possibly some association eithe with the Eastern Magi, or the fact that " presenting eggs to our friends at Easter is Magian"? Vide 'Dictionary of Phrase anc Fable.' ARTHUR MAYALL.

AUTHOR AND REFERENCE FOR VERSES WANTED (9 th S. vi. 469). The querist will find the wanted lines, though hardly as quoted, in Thomas Moore's 'A Dream of Hindostan' (Locker - Lampson's 'Lyra Ele- gantiarum,' 1891 edition, p. 229). The squib does not appear in the common editions of Moore. J. A. OLLIS.

WATCH-CHAIN ORNAMENT (9 th S. vi. 409, 436). MR. ASTLEY will find a full account of his friend's ornament, a common charm against the evil eye, in Mr. Elwortby's 4 Evil Eye,' p. 255 et seqq., and in the same writer's recently issued book 'Horns of Honour.' W. CROOKE.

A hand with the two middle fingers flexed on the palm is a very common amulet against fascination and other perils. It is the mano cornuta, or horned hand, which is so often seen in the flesh in Southern Italy, especially in Naples. MR ASTLEY is referred to chap. vii. of Elworthy's ' The Evil Eye.'

ST. SWITHIN. [Many replies received.]

BALLYWHAINE (9 th S. vi. 209, 412). I do not understand the application of " British " to a word, but the nearest English equivalent of wain should be wong, otherwise ing. Cf. A.-S. wang, Icel. vangr, Ger. Anger, Goth. waggs, meaning meadow. The etymology of these words seems to be quite obscure.

H. P. L.

THE DATE OF THE CRUCIFIXION (9 th S. vi. 305, 412). No reason is given for connecting the lunations with the " seventy days before Pasch," so the question remains why the luna- tions applied only to 1 Tishri, excluding the other months, all distinguished as rosh kodesh, sometimes including two days' observance. Here we may note the Roman observance of acclaiming the new moon by sounding the calendce, "a calando vel vocando." Clearly the moon was looked for. A. H.

" LET THEM ALL COME " (9 th S. vi. 426). Thackeray and Dickens have supplied anti- cipations of this phrase. The illustrious

Altamont in 'Pendennis' (chap, xxxvii.), when finally brought to book, exclaims, " Let 'em all come on and try what they can do against a British sailor" ; and at that critical moment in the career of Mr. Pickwick when Mrs. Bardell flung her arms around his neck, causing him to ejaculate, " If anybody should come," the lady rejoined, "Oh, let them come ; I '11 never leave you."

ALFRED F. BOBBINS.

NATURE MYTHS (9 th S. vi. 441). CANON TAYLOR'S note opens up a large subject, of which an adequate discussion could hardly be permitted within the limits of * N. & Q.' The explanation suggested by your corre- spondent of the origin and meaning of the myths of ancient Hellas is attractive to poetic- ally minded people, but it may be doubted if it rests on any solid basis. I will confine myself to one of CANON TAYLOR'S examples that of the myth of Antaeus, the "son of the sea and the earth, a mighty giant living in Libya, whose strength was invincible so long as he remained in contact with his mother earth, but who when lifted up from her bosom and held in the air was easily crushed."

This myth CANON TAYLOR supposes was de- rived from Africa, and he explains it by the simoom, or, as he incorrectly spells it, the

simoon, a gigantic column of sand which stalks through the desert, and can only last so long as by contact with the earth it can obtain fresh sup- plies of sand."

Now, a conclusion can only be logically cor- rect if it is based on correct premises, and in this case the premises are incorrect, as the simoom is not a column of sand, but a scorching wind. I will quote the definition of it from the Arabic lexicon of Mr. E. W. Lane, whose authority cannot easily be disputed :

" A violent and entirely hot wind, generally occur- ring in the spring and summer, in Egypt and the Egyptian desert, usually proceeding from the south- east or south-south-east, gradually darkening the air to a deep purple hue, whether or not (according ,o the nature of the tract over which it blows) accompanied by clouds of dust or sand, and at ength entirely concealing the sun ; but seldom asting more than about a quarter of an hour or ,wenty minutes."

It will be seen that CANON TAYLOR has con- used the wind with the clouds or pillars of and which it occasionally raises, and which ire generally known in the Soudan as Shaitans >r devils. This mistakedoes not entirely vitiate lis explanation, which he may justly say ests on things and not on names, but it is 3dd that a myth should have passed from Airica into Hellas, and yet be entirely un- tnown to the people among whom it is sup- Dosed to have originated. I have lived long