2"d S. VII. Mau. 20. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



263 



drecht, 1791 ; in French, by the Baron de Bock, 

 Paris and Melz, 1788; Paris, 1810; third Germ, 

 edit., Gottingen, 1837. 



C. von Heister, Ethnographische und Oeschicht- 

 liche Notizen iibe?' die Zigeuner, Konigsberg, 1842, 

 designed by the author himself as " a third edition 

 of Grelhnann's work." 



Under the motto De taal is gansch het volk 

 (the language is the nation itself), Dirks writes 

 on p. 31. : — 



"No part of the enquiries concerning the Gipsies has 

 been carried on with more industry than the investi- 

 gations referring to their language. This the fifty worlcs 

 quoted by Pott, each of which treats upon the Gipsy- 

 tongue, may testify, and the book of Pott himself, most 

 elaborate and pithy of all, may be said to crown the 

 extended list of authors he names. As the result of his 

 lucubrations. Pott gives, in his Vorwort, p. xv., the fol- 

 lowing three positions : — 



"'1. The dialects of the Gipsies (Zigeuner) in all 

 countries, as far as they came to our knowledge, and 

 notwithstanding the extremely different and powerful 

 influence of to them stranger tongues, yet, in their 

 deepest and innermost foundation, present themselves as 

 one and of the same nature. 



" ' 2. It is impossible to disavow the Gipsy-tongue as a 

 national language, often confounded, it is true, with the 

 slang (Dieventaal) of various nations, but quite different 

 from these. 



" ' 3. This national language does not originate either in 

 the Egyptian or any other tongue, but solely in the idioms 

 of northern Hindustan ; and thus, though ever so much 

 adulterated, it stands in affinity with, of all tongues the 

 most perfect in combination and structure, the proud 

 Sanscrit, and, however modestly, may glory in the pa- 

 rentage.' 



" In the first volume of his work, Pott not only enquires 

 into the language and its pronunciation, but also into 

 the conjugation and declension; in the second volume 

 he gives a Dictionary and proofs of styles. From page 

 1 — 26. he adverts to the sources from which he drew, and 

 weighs the merits of each writer, in so far as he has been 

 able to judge him from his book. I think, in this com- 

 pendious review, it may suffice to address those that 

 want more to Pott himself, and advise them to compare 

 what is said by Grellmann, von Keister, pp. 60 — 68., G. 

 Domery de Kienzi, and the Revue Eiicyclopedique for 

 Nov. 1832. The two authorities last mentioned also 

 communicate a chronological view of the opinions re- 

 specting the different languages from which it was 

 thought the Gipsy- tongue did spring. The querist, 

 furthermore, may consult the Recherches sur VOrigine 

 et la Langue des Bohimiens, translated from the New 

 Quarterly Review, in the Revue Britannique for 18i6, pp. 

 41—49." 



J. H. VAN Lennep. 



Zeyst. 



A Transcriber s Orthography (2"^ S. vii. 199.) 

 — Ever since I have dabbled in manuscripts for 

 historical research — some ten or twelve years — 

 I have, in opposition to many respected autho- 

 rities, always entertained a strong opinion on the 

 subject of close copying. T. North observes : 

 " Some antiquaries say, the information is all that 



is desirable, and not the bad spelling." If this 

 principle were applied to a corrector of the press, 

 it would be reasonable; but when applied to a 

 mere copyist, it makes him an alterer of his ori- 

 ginal. No one is a faithful transcriber who at- 

 tempts to alter ; and those who assume to them- 

 selves this privilege, will never gain the entire 

 confidence of their readers — especially in obscure 

 passages. Too many of our antiquaries, when 

 they transcribe ancient charters and such like, 

 discard the abbreviations, and print the words in 

 full. I look upon it that the abbreviations and 

 the partially-formed system of punctuation, are 

 peculiarities of the remote age in ichich they were 

 used; and as such, ought to be preserved. In 

 copying the positions of the warriors in the Bayeux 

 tapestry, who would put the Norman knights into 

 modern trowsers ? And yet, to alter abbrevia- 

 tions in ancient writing, and put the words in full, 

 is to change its ancient garb into a modern habit. 

 But the practice of discarding the contractions, 

 and filling up the remainders of the words, in- 

 volves a still more serious evil. Most persons who 

 have been in the habit of copying MSS. know 

 that many abbreviated words are of doubtful 

 reading, because their terminations are cut oflf. 

 Then what transcriber has a right to put in termin- 

 ations according to his own fancy ? Who shall 

 know that he is correct ? If the word that he 

 fills up is an unusual one, and he should happen 

 to put in a wrong termination, he immediately 

 misleads all his readers. This consideration is 

 quite enough to warn every careful person against 

 attempting to improve his original. 



P. Hdtchinson. 



The Ascension (2'^ S. vii. 129.) — It is not easy 

 to understand how any doubt could arise on a 

 matter on which the Gospels and Acts are so ex- 

 plicit, or what is the precise object of the inquiry 

 of Wn., who asks in what part of Judea our Lord 

 took leave of his disciples and ascended into 

 heaven. We learn from St. Mark (xvi. 14.) that 

 our Blessed Saviour appeared for the last time 

 " to the eleven as they were at table." Then St. 

 Luke tells us that " he led them out as far as 

 Bethania " (St. Luke, xxiv. 50.), where he blessed 

 them, and departed from them, being carried up 

 into heaven. He farther informs us, in the first 

 chapter of the Acts, that after " eating together 

 with them, he commanded them that they should 

 not depart from Jerusalem;" and after relating 

 our Lord's ascension, at the conclusion of his dis- 

 course on that occasion, St. Luke says that the 

 apostles " returned to Jerusalem from the mount 

 that is called Olivet, which is nigh Jerusalem, 

 within a sabbath day's journey." All these pas- 

 sages fix very clearly the time of our Lord's 

 ascension, as having been forty days after his re- 

 surrection, and ten before Pentecost ; and also 

 the place, as Mount Olivet, nigh to Jerusalem. I 



