Feb. 14. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



165 



I can surmise is this : that Aneurin, wishing to 

 play vipon the syllable cat^ the battle, and disre- 

 garding the falsehood and inapplicability of traeth, 

 therefore travestied Cataracta into Cattraeth. For 

 the meaning of traeth, in topography, see Giraldus, 

 Itin. Cambr. lib. ii. cap. 6., and the common sources 

 of information. 



But that meaning was not one tolerated by 

 Aneurin, maugre its untruth, in order to avail 

 himself of the other and appropriate word. It was 

 one on which he leant heavily and with emphasis, 

 reproducing and multiplying it in several forms. 

 For he calls the scene of contest not only Cat- 

 traeth, seabeach of battle, but also Gall-traeth, sea- 

 beach of prowess ; and Mordai, the sea-shore : 

 *' Gododin ar Uawr mordai : Gododin whose 

 ground-plot is on the sea-shore." Again, the scene 

 of "outcry and slaughter" is called Uffin; but 

 Uffin was situate on " y mordai ymmoroedd Go- 

 dodin," on the sea-shore of the sea of Gododin. 



Catterick is remote from the sea, and inconsis- 

 tent with all that Aneurin says. And though 

 Sigston should mean in Anglo-Saxon town of 

 victory, from some ancient occurrence, Catterick 

 is assuredly not derived from cat, a battle, in 

 British. Bilinguar etymology, of the same date, 

 and from the same event, would be suspicious, 

 even if facts did not confute it. A. N. 



Biographical Dictionary (Vol. iv., p. 483.). — It 

 is almost unnecessary to direct Z. Z. Z. to the 

 Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the 

 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, inasmuch as it is 

 but a splendid fragment, comprising only the 

 letter A, in seven half-volumes. But it may be 

 of use to call attention to this work ; and as, from 

 an examination of the plan, the names of the con- 

 tributors, and that of the editor, no one can have 

 any doubt of its worth and superiority, so one 

 would imagine that an enterprising publisher might 

 take up the continuation of it without risk. 



Ed. Steane Jackson. 



Saffron Walden. 



Martinique (Vol. v., p. 11.). — One of your cor- 

 respondents from St. Lucia asks why the Island of 

 Martinique was so called. It is from the circum- 

 stance of its having been discovered on St. Martin's 

 Day, 1502, by Christopher Columbus. 



Philip S. King. 



A Regular Mull (Vol. iii., pp. 449. 508.).— The 

 suggestions of W. E. W. and M. as to the origin of 

 this expression are amusing, and show, however 

 farfetched the derivations, their authors have not 

 gone so far as " Malabar or Deccan." Had either 

 of these gentlemen been from the land of the 

 wise, they wcdild have known that the residents 

 of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras are, in Eastern 

 parlance, designated " Qui Hies," "Ducks," and 

 " Mulls." Madras not hitherto having been so 

 highly favoured by " Kumpanie Jehan," is in a 



comparatively less advanced stage of civilisation 

 than its sister presidencies. The Qui Hies and 

 Ducks, attributing this to the inertness and want 

 of go-a-headness of the Mulls, hold them (though 

 most unjustly) in cheap estimation; hence they 

 say of a person deficient in skill and cleverness, 

 that he is " a regular Mull." Taprobane. 



TTie Pelican as a Symbol of the Saviour (Vol. v., 

 p. 59.). — In Lord Lindsay's Christian Art, vol. i. 

 XX. xxi., we find, in the text : " God the Son (is 

 symbolised) by a Pelican" (Psalm cii. 6.), to which 

 is added the following note : 



" The mediaeval interpretation of this symbol is given 

 as follows by Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, Lion 

 King (nephew of the poet), in his MS. Collectanea, 

 preserved in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh : — 



" ' The Pellican is ane foule in Egipt, of the quhilkis 

 auld men sayis that the litill birdis straikis thair fader 

 in the face with thair wingis, and crabis him quhill 

 (till) he slayis thame. And quhen the moder seis 

 thame slane, scho greitis (weeps) and makis grit dule 

 thre dayis lang, quhill scho streikis hirself in the breist 

 with hir neb (beak), and garris the blude skayle (flow) 

 vpone hir birdis, quhairthrow thai restoir and turnis 

 to lyf agane. Bot sum folkis sayis thai ar clekkit 

 swownand (hatched swooning), lyk as thai war bot 

 (without) life, and that thair fader haillis (heals) thame 

 agane with his blude. And this maner haly kirk 

 beiris witnes. quhair our Lord sayis that he is maid 

 lyk the Pelican.'" 



I wish Lord L. had translated " crabis." 



F. W. J. 



Church (Vol. v., p. 79.). — Can it be that Mk. 

 Stephens is not aware that there is a long dis- 

 sertation on the subject of his Query in Ihre's 

 Glossarium Suio-Gothicum, voce "Kyrka ?" The 

 Welsh still retain the derivative from the Latin, 

 Eglwys. B. W1U.1AMS. 



Donkey (Vol. v., p. iS.f. — C. W. G. asks, 

 " What is the origin of donkey ? " Perhaps he may 

 consider the following (from the great authority) 

 as satisfactory. Person was introduced to a 

 Danish archaeologist of celebrity, who, thinking 

 it necessary to say something to Porson, rather 

 abruptly addressed him thus : " I dink, Mr. 

 Porson, that you vil agree wid me, that asses 

 is derived from Asia." Porson eyed the learned 

 Dane, and observed : " Yes, Sir, about as much as 

 that donkey is derived from Denmark : and that is 

 a thought that never struck me till now." 



^GROTUS. 



Moravian Hymns (Vol. v., p. 113.). — Dr. Pusey's 

 Letter to the Bishop of London (Epiphany, 1851), 

 § vi., forms a curious comment on the almost blas- 

 phemous lines quoted on this page, A. A. D. 



