Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/53

 g*s. vii. JAN. 19, IDOL] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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dexes, is unusual in English books. The same may be said of Bohme. W. C. B.

Wise." Under the heading ' Huish' (9 th S. vi. 492) we are informed that " if we cut off [from the A.-S. hiwisc] the 'family' prefix, we have A.-S. wise or wysc, a piece of land."

We may reasonably object to this arbi- trary method of manufacturing Anglo-Saxon ghost- words, particularly when they do not even possess the poor merit of being cor- rectly formed. If we cut off from hiw-isc the prefix hiw-i denoting "f amity," as seen in hiw-scipe and other compounds, the result is -we, the common modern English -ish. There is no such word as A.-S. wise or wysc, and consequently it cannot mean "a piece of land." Then we are told to "compare the L.G. wische," which will by no means improve matters; for, as pointed out by Kluge, s.v. ' Wiese,' this represents an older form wis-ka, diminutive of wis-. The i was originally long; and the i in -isc was always short.

The invention of bogus forms is easy enough, but no wise man will regard them; neither does the process inspire respect.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

GLOVES WORN IN CELEBRATING THE EUCHARIST. This curious custom is men- tioned by Daniel Rogers (1573-1652) in his 'Treatise of the Two Sacraments,' second edition, 1635, p. 116 :

"For as they weare white gloves when they meddle with the Elements, and touch them not with their bare hands, pretending more reverence to be in a beasts skin, than a mans naked hand; so some thinke it too homely perhaps to breake the bread with their hands, in comparison of cutting it with a knife."

RICHARD H. THORNTON.

Portland, Oregon.

FORMATION OF SURNAMES. A curious in- stance illustrating their origin from local names has come under my notice. At a large mill near here the watchman is generally known not only to his mates, but to others as Harry Pool. His real name is Harry Old- field, but he is a native of Poole, near Otley. LIONEL CRESSWELL.

Wood Hall, Calverley.

A GIPSY WEDDING. I cut the following from the Epworth Bells of 17 Nov., 1900. Crowle is a small market town about six miles from this place :

"An extraordinary marriage is reported from Lrowle on the old-fashioned Romany lines. It ap- pears that two persons, anxious to be joined together for life, named respectively William Wombwell and

Catherine Haley, who objected to pay marriage fees, resorted to the gipsy custom of jumping over the broomstick. The news of their intention soon became known, and a good company assembled to witness the ceremony. Catherine, who seemed to have the matter in hand, issued all instructions, and appointed a ' handler of the broom.' At a given signal, William and Catherine, with hands firmly clasped, took a run jump, and the deed was done. The bridegroom is over seventy years of age, but hale and hearty."

(_/. O. j3. Epworth.

ENGLISH GRAVESTONES, MINORCA. The fol- lowing passage occurs in M. Gaston Vuillier's 'Forgotten Isles,' translated by Frederic Breton (1896). I send it to you in the hope that some Englishman who visits Port Mahon may be induced by it to endeavour to secure copies of these inscriptions to the memory of long-dead Englishmen :

" Passing along the streets, I was often struck by the colour and strange shape of some of the paving-stones used for repairing purposes. They were much larger and darker than the others. I questioned the passers-by without eliciting any in- formation; and it was not until after I had left the island that I learned that these stones, which, it appeared, had vexed the souls of several geologists, were obtained from the deserted English cemeteries in the suburbs of the town. A friend of mine had the curiosity to turn some of them over, and there, still plain to be seen, were the English inscriptions. The Mahonese had had at least the grace to turn the faces downwards. Many of the memorial tablets were sent out from England during the British occupation by the families of those who died on the island. No one walking through the bright cheerful thoroughfares would have imagined that he was treading on tombstones." P. 89.

ASTARTE.

"RIGHT HERE." The above should be an "Americanism," if there be one; but it is common in the old metrical romances e.g., in 4 Kyng Alisaunder,' 1. 4131 :

Knyghtis nymeth kepe To Bulsif all my destrere; And abideth me ryght here.

H. P. L.

A NEW SENSE OF " GARLAND." (See 9 th S. vi. 245, 337.) Will you allow me to supple- ment my former note with another instance of this use of " garland " at Birchington, in the Isle of Thanet, from the ' Visitations of the Archdeacon of Canterbury ' in the Cathe- dral Library at Canterbury 1

"Birchington, 1628. John Crampe for that he (to the profanation of the Sabbath and evil example of others, he being a sworn officer) did on Easter day last past teen or mend hedges or an hedge. And likewise for that he on the Sunday next after Whit- sunday, not only absented himself from divine ser- vice in his parish church both forenoon and afternoon, but also (which was worse) misspent and profaned the same Sabbath day by being with his son and