234 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Sept. '2'2. 1855. 



"Flass" (Vol. xi., pp. 425. 495.; Vol. xii., 

 p. 74., &c.). — I think there can be no doubt that 

 this word is the same as flash, as in the North 

 double s seems frequently to be substituted for 

 sh. Halliwell, for instance, gives ass as northern 

 for "ashes." There is a "flash farm" and "flash 

 pit" near Aylsham, in Norfolk. Also a gentle- 

 man's seat called " The Flash," near Shrewsbury. 

 In low Latin flash is rendered by flacMa, flasca, 

 flaco ; in old French, flache or flesque. The 

 Promptorum Parvulorum gives : " Pyt or flasche, 

 where mekyl water standythe after a reyne. Co- 

 lumhus.'" " Plasche or flasche, plassetura." Kilian 

 (Diet. Teut. Lai.) has " Plas, plasch, palus, lacuna ; 

 fossa in qua stat aqua ; plassche, pal{)are aquas, 

 motare aquas." This is the common English word 

 splash. See Mr. Albert Way's valuable notes to 

 the words flasshe and plasche, in Prompt. Paro. 



E. G. K. 



" Chare'" or " Chair" (Vol. ix., p. 351. ; Vol. x., 

 p. 435.). — I am not satisfied with the derivation 

 proposed from Danish hjoRr, low marshy land. 

 For, in the first place, not merely the chares, but 

 all the fens are " low marshy ground ; " and in 

 the second, fiom Itjcer, or rather from its ancient 

 form, Su. Ghaerr, Isl. haer, we have a word 

 still in use, carr, signifying an osier or alder- 

 wood. " Ker, where treys growyn be a watur or 

 fQnv\, Cardetum. Ker for aldyr, Abietum" (Prompt. 



arv.). 



If I may be allowed to answer my own Query, 

 I would derive it from Anglo-Sax. cerre, a turn, 

 bending, which is from the verb cerran : cerran, 

 to turn, avert, &c. From this verb Home 

 Tooke proposed to derive chair, a seat ; instead of 

 the usual etymology cathedra. Halliwell gives : 

 *'Cha7'e, to stop or turn back (No7-th.); to hinder, 

 or withstand (Prompt. Parv.)." Probably, Char- 

 ing, Charfield, &c., may be derived from the same 

 Anglo -Sax. verb. E. G. E.. 



Dancing and Dancing Tunes (Vol. xii., p. 159.). 

 — The dancing tunes " set by John McGill," 

 brought under the notice of readers of " N. & Q.," 

 must be a valuable musical curiosity, and may be 

 of use in settling some controverted points in re- 

 spect to old Scottish music, as well as preserving 

 some hitherto missing melodies. 



Johnny McGill seems to have been a celebrated 

 character in his day and generation. There is a 

 Scottish tune called by his name and ascribed to 

 him, to which the v/ords of McNeill, " Come under 

 my plaidie," are generally sung, which was first 

 published in Johnson's Musical Museum, vol. vi. 

 One of our authorities describes the composer as 

 " a Dumfries fiddler ; " another as " Musician, 

 Girvan, Ayrshire." Probably Johnnie had no 

 fixed or local habitation, but settled wherever his 

 itinerant professional engagements led him in the 

 south-western parts of Scotland. The melody 



No. 308.] 



which bears his name is however according to 

 other accounts Irish, which is perhaps more likely, 

 and only ascribed to Jolm from having been 

 brought into vogue by him, or from being his 

 favourite tune. It would be Interesting to know 

 if the melody in question is contained in the MS., 

 and what title is there given to it. A transcript 

 of the work deposited in the Advocates' Librai'y, 

 Edinburgh, would no doubt be useful to antiqua- 

 rian explorers into the history of Scottish music. 



J. A. Pekthensis. 



" Etiolated" (Vol. xii., p. 186.) is a neuter verb 

 from aitho, I shine, Greek ; it signifies to be 

 blanched or whitened by having been placed in a 

 position excluded from the rays of the sun ; 

 plants are whitened by this process. From the 

 verb a substantive was formed, " etiology," from 

 aitia, a cause, and logos, a discourse, Greek ; it sig- 

 nifies a branch of pathology which treats of the 

 causes of disease. The French have derived an 

 adjective from their noun " etiologie," which is 

 etique, meaning hectic, consumptive, or emaci- 

 ated. Arbuthnot says that " etiology " (aiTioXoyta) 

 is an account of the causes of any thing, generally 

 of a distemper. 



The Italians translate the French verb s'etioler 

 (mettere rami sottili, lunghi e scoloriti), which 

 we might translate to shoot forth fine (meaning 

 slender) branches, long and discoloured. 



It is therefore evident tliat we might apply the 

 term etiolated to a person as well as to a plant, 

 especially as persons excluded from the light of 

 the sun blanch and sicken as well as plants : those 

 who lead a sedentary and confined life in factories 

 are all blanched, and their health suffers in con- 

 sequence ; not so the ploughman or the herdsman, 

 wlio have the full benefit of the rays of the sun, 

 and are seldom confined within doors. I think 

 your learned correspondent P. J. F. Gantillon 

 would have to travel many miles before he met 

 with either a ploughman or a herdsman etiolated. 



H. Baschet. 



Waterford. 



Blue and Green Roses (Vol. xi., passim).— 

 Whilst the discussion on this subject occupies 

 your pages, may I ask if any of your readers have 

 traced this floricultural aspiration back to classical 

 times ? 



I step backwards two centuries, and find one of 

 the authors of a Historia Plantarum Universalis 

 (Ebroduni, 1651) saying: 



"Est et jam diii videre, ut refert Lob. et ex hoc Lug. 

 Caeruleas liosas in liortis Italicis. Sed optarim ego scire 

 hortos, si extent, ubi proveniant, et qua in re differant a 

 cseteris Rosis." 



Perhaps some of your correspondents have seen 

 a green rose, for mention was made in the news- 

 papers a few weeks ago of one exhibiting in a 

 flower-show in Paris (?). An excerpt from the 



