226 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



t2««i S. X. Sept. 22. '60. 



Is the puzzle — just at this very anxious period 

 — of the politics of the future likely to be unlocked 

 with an astrological key ? A very extraordinary 

 and exciting work is in contemplation. We are 

 the first harbingers of its appearance. What does 

 the disturbed public think of the horoscope of the 

 future, in the form of an Astrological Judgment 

 (it was, in the prophetic and mystical sense, a 

 most important occasion,) upon the Queen's Shot, 

 at Wimbledon, on Monday the 2nd day of July, 

 1860? This augury was taken at the precise 

 second of time ; which infinitesimal accuracy, as 

 all diviners know, is of the last consequence in 

 astrological foretelling. We shall say no more, at 

 the present moment, than that this astrological 

 calculation has been the work of one of tlie most 

 accomplished astronomers and astrologers in Eu- 

 rope. Astrology, as ancients will tell us, is the 

 mother of astronomy. And shall we be right, too 

 hastily, in denying to the higher forms of this re- 

 fined and elaborate science the regard which was 

 paid to it by such persons as Queen Elizabeth, 

 Wallenstein, the Earl of Essex, the Earl of Lei- 

 cester, Sir Walter Raleigh, Louis XL of France 

 (an able man, although an eccentric one), Henry 

 the Great, the Regent Orleans, Francis I., Sir 

 Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon (Lord Verulam), 

 Sir Walter Scott, Mary de Medicis, Dryden, and 

 the Earl of Surrey — a man of a very penetrative 

 genius ? 



Nay, we can come nearer home for believers. 

 Napoleon I. is known to have paid attention to 

 this science. Eugenie, the present Empress of 

 the French, is supposed to be impressed with it ; 

 not to speak of her clear-minded and clever Im- 

 perial predecessor, Josephine. One would ima- 

 gine that there ought to be something in a science 

 to which such diverse minds were attracted. We 

 have been favoured with a sight of this curious 

 astrological scheme to which, as above, we have 

 made speculative reference. And in the conclu- 

 sions drawn by the competent hand to which we 

 owe it, there are, in this figure of the celestial 

 signs, events no less startling than they are, — some 

 of them at least, — in a certain given time likely to 

 be submitted to that test which cannot be con- 

 tradicted — fact! Hargrave Jennings 



ETYMOLOGIES. 

 Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris). — Is the word Lute- 

 tia Celtic or Roman ? Putting aside the absurd 

 etymology which connects it with the Latin word 

 lutum, there appears no reason from analogy for 

 supposing that an important Celtic town, having 

 naturally a Celtic name, would change that name 

 for a Latin one on becoming known to the Romans. 

 Ptolemaeus calls the place AovKoreKia, and Strabo 

 writes AovKoroKia. This is the oldest form of the 

 word (the former spelling being the more ancient) 



of which Lutetia is a corruption. In Amm. Marc. 

 15. 27. we find the word spelt Lutecia. Now, 

 among the ancients c was frequently written for k, 

 and when we consider how common it was in 

 ancient orthography to interchange c and f, the 

 corruption of Loukotekia into Lutecia, and this 

 again into Lutetia, is easily accounted for. But in 

 Casisar de Bella Gallico, vii.57, 58., there is a passage 

 that throws great light upon our inquiry. He says : 



" Labienus eo supplemento, quod nuper ex Italia vene- 

 rat, relicto Agendici, ut esset impedimentis prajsidio, 

 cum quatuor legionibus Lutetiam proficiscitur, id est op- 

 pidum Parisiorum, positum in insula fluminis Sequanse. 

 Cujus adventu ab hostibus cognito, magna ex finitimis 

 civitatibus copise convenerunt. Summa imperii transdi- 

 tur Camuiogeno Aulerco. Is, quum animura animadver- 

 tisset, perpetuam esse paludem, quae influeret in Sequa- 

 nam atque ilium omnem locum impediret, hic consedit, 

 nostrosque transitu prohibere instituit. Labienus prirab 

 vineas agere, cratibus atque aggere paludem explere atque 

 iter munire conabatur. Postquam id difficilius confieri 

 animadvertit, fe castris egressus, eodem quo venerat itinera 

 Melodunum pervenit." 



Caesar in this place distinctly expresses that the 

 town was situated upon an island of the Seine, 

 surrounded by a marsh or swamp that stretched 

 from the river far into the country, and rendered 

 all access impossible (impediret). . Now this pas- 

 sage contains the etymology of the place in a 

 double sense : Lutetia or Loukotekia (swamp-con- 

 cealment, or swamp- ambush), being a compound 

 of two Celtic words (Louch and tech) which have 

 precisely this meaning. 



The first is Armorican Louch, Welsh, Llwch 

 (a standing water, a swamp) ; the second, Welsh, 

 tech (an ambush, a lurk, a hide) from the verb 

 techu (to lie hid) ; having the same root as Lat. 

 tegere, Gr. ffreyeiv, Ger. decken, Sansc. tthag, Eng. 

 thatch, all conveying the idea of covering or con- 

 cealing. 



The inhabitants of this Lhvch-tech were called 

 Parisii, also a compound word of Celtic origin, mean- 

 ing lance-strong or lance-mighty (popvaOevus), from 

 the Welsh par, Irish bear (a lance or spear), and 

 Welsh 7-hwys (strong, lively, vigorous, powerful). 

 Sickler mentions a manuscript of Pliny, in which 

 the word Parisii is spelt Parhissii. This, if true, 

 enhances the value of our derivation. The ex- 

 pression lance-mighty is very appropriately applied 

 to that warlike people, and has the recommenda- 

 tion of being formed of two Celtic words ; whilst 

 many of the etymologies that have been given, 

 especially those of French scholars, are merely su- 

 perficial analogies without any philological basis. 

 It is also very probable that the Parisii were dis- 

 tinguished even among the warlike Celts for their 

 fighting and marauding propensities, traces of 

 which prevail among their present descendants. 



Elementum : Element. — Is not this a corf uption 

 of elegementum? As regards the e, which seems 

 unfavourable to this supposition, we have the 



