394 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 17. 1855. 



Double Christian Names (Vol. xl., p. 433.). — 

 In the Testamenta Eboracensia, vol. i. p. 180. 

 (Surtees Society's publication), under the date 

 1392, we find Matilda Uxor AVillielmi Benetson 

 Marschall ; and that there can be no mistake that 

 the third name is a surname, in auotlier part of 

 the will she speaks of her husband as William 

 Marschall. Amongst the legatees o'ccurs the name 

 of John de Newton Marschall ; this is, I think, 

 the earliest instance of two Christian names to be 

 met with in England. The name of Benetson 

 probably was given to the eldest son, to perpetuate 

 the fact of his descent from Benet (?). The De 

 Newton of the other son was probably a local 

 name, but it is a singular instance, I imagine, of 

 such a name occurring between the Christian and 

 surname. Wjm. Denton. 



" Xdict^' or ''ydicf' (Vol. xii., p. 304.). — The 

 true reading, most likely, is pdict, an abbreviation 

 oi prcedictus, "aforesaid." By a person not much 

 acquainted with old manuscript contractions, the 

 abbreviated form of "pras" might very easily be 

 mistaken for x, or y. J. Eastwood. 



Mail, in the phrase " Black Mail " (Vol. xii., 



pp. 224. 275.) The Old Norse, or Icelandic mdl 



(compare Fr. maille ; Ital. maglia ; Span, malla ; 

 Belg. nialie ; Dan. malle), amongst its variety of 

 meanings, denotes a clasp, brace, ring, buckle, or 

 holdfast, whence our coat of mail, that is, such 

 body-armour of rings or mascles as was worn 

 about the period of the Conquest. Tiie same 

 word occurs in Welsh, with the signification of 

 money, cash ; and in both the Persian and Armoric 

 with that of such wealth as is acquired by the sti'ong 

 hand. Tlie Old Norse verb melia, m'olva, mala, 

 mylia, again, is to bruise, In^ay, battel; or strike 

 down. There is another nearly allied expression 

 in the same venerable language, viz. mala (com- 

 pare Dan. ma/e,- (jiQvm. mahlen ; A.-S. ra?/^, pulvis; 

 M. G. malan ; Welsh main ; Pers. maliden ; Heb. 

 mol, malal; Gr. (.wKX^iv; Latin molare), which 

 literally means to grind, from which expression, 

 by the way, we may derive our word maid, and 

 the pugilistic term mill. Having its root in the 

 same source with mala, we further find the Old 

 Norse mylna (A.S. mylen ; Dan. molle ; Germ. 

 milhle; Gr. fioka ; Lat. mola), a mill : also miol, or 

 mel (Dan. meel; Germ mehl; A.-S melev,melve; 

 Lapp, malnime), which, with the same meaning as 

 attaches to mylna, also signifies corii and flour, 

 whence we have, in all probability our term 77ieal. 

 To obtain for himself, in his own peculiar fashion, 

 grist for his mill, the Highland cateran cams down 

 upon the homesteads of his lowland neighbours ; 

 and thus originated that system of forced tribute 

 which acquired the name of blackmail. I may 

 add that Old Norse mdli is a compact ov paction. 



Wm. Matthews. 

 Cowgill. 

 No. 316.] 



Edition of Montaigne (Vol. xii., p. 303. — 



" Cette edition, assez bien imprime'e, est line co\>i& pen 

 cor recta decelle de Paris, Clirist. Journal, en 3 vols. in-i2., 

 sous la memo date. La seule amelioration qii'on y re- 

 marcjue, c'est une table analytique generale des matiferes, 

 placee ii la fin du 3- volume, et avantageusement sub- 

 stituee aux trois tables particulicres de Teditioii de Paris." 

 — Brunei, Manuel du Libraire, vol. iii. p. 434. (Paris, ed. 

 1843.) 



'AAieuj. 



Dublin. 



^^ Isolated" (Vol ix., p. 171.). — This word oc- 

 curs in the Rev, C. Morris's IVanslation of Lava- 

 ters Physiognomy, edition of 1797, vol. iii. p. 170. : 



" Remark well, I beseech you, the word isolated. If I 

 am asked what I understand by an idiot, I answer that it 

 is an isolated person, who acts without having an object." 



Tlie word " isolated " is not in Sheridan's Dic- 

 tionai'y. Bar-point. 



Philadelphia. 



The Sarmati (Vol. xii., p. 341.). — Many years 

 have elapsed since I was at school, but it was then 

 the fashion to use " Punica fides," and not " Graeca 

 fides" (as your correspondent A. G. (1) insinuates), 

 for " nulla fides," or something equivalent. I am 

 the more impressed with the fact by the following 

 epigram, penned at the time : 



" Why a Pun to define do you make so much pother? 

 'Tis but to say one thing, while meaning another : 

 And the truth of the meaning the way to decide is, 

 By rememb'ring its origin, ' Fun-ica Fides.' " 



D.S. 



" He equalled all hut Shakspeare here below " 

 (Vol. xii., p. 204.). — In Campbell's Pleasures of 

 Hope, part i., near the end, occur the lines, — 



" Or, warm with fancy's energy, to glow, 

 And rival all but Shak.speai'e's name below." 



W. H. Wills. 



Bristol. 



Absorbent Paper (Vol. xii., p. 87.)- — I do not 

 know whether old receipts are good for much, but 

 in turning over the leaves of an old book I find 

 the following, which I forward ; let it be taken 

 " quantum valeat : " 



" To make bad paper bear ink in some reasonable manner. 

 " Rub your paper with the fine powder or dust of rosen 

 and sandrach mingled in equal parts, before you write 

 therewith. Note, tliat you must tie the poAvder hard in a 

 rag of lawn or cambrick, and therewith rub the paper 

 thoroughly well. This is a necessary secret for students, 

 whereby they may note in the raargenls of their books if 

 the paper should happen to sink, which is an especial 

 fault in many of our late year-books." — Sir Hugh Plat's 

 Jewel House of Art and Nature, p. 43. 1653. 



J. R. M., M. A. 



" Sen7ia;' or " Cennus " (Vol. xii., p. 248.). — 

 Mr. F. Crosslet has there given us the deriva- 

 tion from the Irish, of the names of certain of the 

 deities of Rome. The Romans certainly had those 



