316 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



tSnd S. X. Oct. 20. '60. 



the subject. Belli, King of Britain's arms, were 

 undoubtedly az. 3 crowns or, in pale, as were those 

 of Bran-ap-Llyr, King of Britain. 



E. C, Geesford. 



Prohibition of Marriages (2"^ S. x. 267.) — 

 J. T. inquires whether the prohibition of mar- 

 riages at certain seasons was at any time part of 

 the canon law, adding that he can find no canon 

 to that effect. 



Marriages in Lent were prohibited by the 

 Council of Laodicea (c. 52.) — Labb, vol. i. p. 1505. 



By the Council of Eanham held a.d. 1008 or 

 1009 in the reign of King Ethelred II., 



" Ordeals, oaths, and marriages are forbidden on high 

 festival days, and on the regular Ember days : and from 

 Advent till the Octaves of Epiphany, and from Septua- 

 gesima till fifteen days after Easter."— (ConcjV. (Emen- 

 hense; Wilkins's Concil, vol. i. p. 286.) 



In the original the^word " marriages " is ex* 

 pressed by " pikunja," which is translated " ma- 

 trimonium " by Spelman and Wilkins, and " mar- 

 riages " by Johnson and Thorpe. Whether it 

 might not bear a slightly different translation 

 may be respectfully doubted ; but the discussion 

 would be, for obvious reasons, unsuited to your 

 pages. John Thrupp. 



Hatch (2'"i S. x. 107. 197.) — Allow me to 

 bring to the notice of J. A. Pn. and P. S. C. the 

 instance of the Hamlet of Ham and Hatch, half- 

 way between Richmond and Kingston, Surrey. 

 Ham is a large straggling village, with many man- 

 sions and smaller houses built round Ham Com- 

 mon. Entering the Common from the south (or 

 Kingston) side, by a turnpike-road, you pass 

 through a gate. This is a common, and not a 

 turnpike-gate. A house adjoins the gate, and cut 

 upon a stone above the door are the words "Erected 

 by the Inhabitants of Ham and Hatch " (no date, 

 but a house of very considerable age). I (yes- 

 terday) asked the old lady who lives in this house, 

 and who attends to the gate, where Hatch was ? 

 when she replied that her house was Hatch; and 

 on my repeating the question in another form, she 

 said " / am the Hatch to the Hamlet of Ham." Im- 

 mediately adjoining this gate is the Pound for 

 cattle illegally turned out, or trespassing on the 

 Common. C. T. 



This word, so frequently met with in country 

 places, has for years past courted my inquiry as 

 to its local and usual import. I think it may be 

 almost always traced to this original application, 

 viz. though there may be no vestige of a gate or 

 barrier left, there has, for perhaps many years 

 before, been a gate mai'king the entrance into a 

 road, or right of way, for carriages or saddle- 

 horses, or both, through what had been for a 

 length of time common land, but had become en- 

 tirely or partially enclosed. The gate in such 

 cases is, or was, almost invariably loithout a lock, 



or, when with a^lock, watched by a man, woman, 

 or child, who could not refuse open passage. Such 

 a gate was and (in some rural corners of our 

 island) is called a " hatch." Of this usage in- 

 stances enough occur in various parts of the 

 country ; but let it be noted that the term never 

 is applied to a turnpike or to any gate at which 

 there is a legal demand of toll. I beg to suggest 

 that there is close affinity between this word and 

 " hatch," as used for the passage of the chicken 

 from its enclosure within the egg.* May not the 

 root of the word be rather sought in Anglo-Saxon 

 than in French ? Doiibtless one or more of your 

 learned correspondents can afford a conclusive yes 

 or no. S. C. Freeman. 



Etymologies (2"* S. x. 226.) — The Society 

 for the Study of the Modern Languages, at Berlin, 

 Is very indebted to Mr. W. B., from Edinburgh, 

 for his translating with so much taste the etymo- 

 logical treatises of the Society, found in Herrig's 

 Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen 

 (vol. xxvl. pp. 188, 189. and 389—390.) ; but In 

 his ardour of translating, Mr. W. B. has forgotten 

 to mention the source from which he has drawn 

 his etymological knowledge. F. A. Leo. 



Berlin, October 2, 1860. 



Simply as an ingenious speculation it Is worthy 

 of record that some have seen in the word ele- 

 mentum traces of the first three letters, l-m-n, in 

 some lost Italian alphabet. We constantly speak 

 of the very ahc or alphabet of a science. The 

 ancient Italians, according to the ingenious specu- 

 lation to which I have referred, in like manner 

 spoke of the elementa of a subject. Perhaps the 

 root of elementum is the same as that of olere, &c. 



W. C. 



Slang Names of Coins (2°^ S. x. 237. 295.)— I 

 have often heard the word scio used as meaning a 

 sovereign. This is not in Mr. Hotten's work. 

 Perhaps some one can give its derivation ? 



G. W. M. 

 Bible dated 1495 (2°'* S. x. 170.) — I possess 

 a Bible similar to Miss Rattenbury's. The Old 

 Testament has the date 1594; the New, 1495. 



H. A. J. 



Charnock's "Loyalty, or Invasion Defeated" 

 (2°« S. x. 229.) — The scene of this tragedy is 

 laid at Carlisle' Castle, in the reign of Egbert, 

 king of England, and Alaric, king of the Picts. 

 The subject of the play is a traitorous attempt of 

 one of Egbert's subjects to bring about an inva- 

 sion by the Pictlsh king. There Is no copy of the 

 play In the British Museum. John Charnock was 

 also author of the History of Marine Architecture ; 

 Life of Lord Nelson ; Rights of a Free People, Sfc. 



R. S. Charnock. 



Gray's Inn. 



* It. the ship-term hatchway. 



