584 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 189. 



5. Sacrorum evangeliorum versio Syriaca Pholoxe- 

 niana, ex codd. MSS. llidlcianis, nunc primum edita 

 cum interpretatione et annotationibus Joseph! White. 

 Oxon. 1778. 



6. Pentateuchus Syriace. Ex Polyglottis Anglicanis 

 summa fide edidit M. Georgius Guil. Kirsch. Gymna- 

 sii quod Hof'as est, in Piincipatu Baruthino Rector. 

 Hofce et Lipsiae ap. A. Fr, Boehm, 1787, 4to. 



An elaborate criticism on No. 5. (the Oxford 

 edit.) appears in Eichborn's Repertorium, vol. vii. 

 p. 1., by D. Gottlob Christian Storr. 



T. J. BUCKTON. 



Birmingham. 



Meaning of " Worth" (Vol. v., p. 509.). — As 

 this suffix enters into the composition of many of 

 our English surnames, particularly in the northern 

 counties, Mr. Lower (and probably your readers 

 in general) will be glad to have the explanation of 

 an able Anglo-Saxon scholar and antiquary, the 

 late lamented Mr. John Just of this town, whose 

 merits as a philosopher and etymologist were highly 

 appreciated by the learned societies in this district. 

 It occurs in a paper read at a chapter of the Rosi- 

 crucians in Manchester a few months since : 



" Worth. — Weorthe, Anglo-Saxon, a field, &c. 



Worth means land, close, or farm. It does not neces- 

 sarily imply any residence, although thereon might be 

 a hall or mansion. It likewise sometimes means no- 

 thing more than a road or public way. Hence it is 

 connected with the names of many places on our old 

 roads, as Ainsworth, Edgeworth, on the Roman mili- 

 tary road to the north ; Failsworth, Saddleworth, on 

 the Roman military road from Manchester to York ; 



Unsworth, Pilsworth, on the old road between Bury 

 and Manchester; also Ash worth, Whit worth, Butter- 

 worth, on old roads, and connected with old places, 

 near Rochdale. Whetlier originally land, closes, or 

 farms, worths were acquired properties. Tlie old ex- 

 pression of ' What is he worth ?' in those days meant, 

 ' Has he land? Possesses he real property? ' If he had 

 secured a icorth to himself, he was called a worthy 

 person, and in consequence had worship, i. e. due respect 

 shown him. A worth was the reward of the free ; and 

 perchance the fundamentals of English freedom were 

 primarily connected with such apparently trivial mat- 

 ters, and produced such a race of worthies as the proud 



Greeks and haughty Romans might not be ashamed of. 



Worth is pure Anglo-Saxon. The Scandinavians ap- 

 plied it not in their intercourse with our island." 



Broctuna. 

 Bury, Lancashire. 



Khond Falle (Vol. vii., p. 452.). — This fable is 

 clearly from Lokman, of which the following is 

 Helot's translation : 



" Une moustique se posa un jour sur la corne d'un 

 taureau, et, pensant qu'elle pouvait etre trop lourde 

 pour lui, elle lui dit : ' Si je te suis a charge, fais-le- 

 moi savoir afin que je m'envole.' Le taureau lui re- 

 pondit : ' Je ne t'ai point sentie au moment ou tu es 

 descendue, je ne saurai pas davantage quand tu t'envo- 



leras.' Cette fable regarde celui qui cherche a s'attri- 

 buer de I'honneur et de la gloire taudis qu'il est faible 

 et meprisable." 



The sense of the Bull's reply in Arabic seems to 

 be : 



" O you, whatever you are \_Ya hadi'], I did not 

 know when you descended, nor sliall I know when you 

 take yourself off [ Taterin'\." 



A pointed reply, leaving the mosquito on one horn 

 of the dilemma. T. J. Buckton. 



Birmingham. 



The following lines by Prior immediately oc- 

 curred to my mind on perusing J. C. R.'s interest- 

 ing note. The points of resemblance between the 

 two fables are somewhat striking : 



" ' Say, sire of insects, mighty Sol 1' 

 A fly on the chariot pole cried out, 



' What blue-bottle alive 

 Did ever with such fury drive ? ' 



" ' Tell, Beelzebub, great father, tell !' 

 Says t'other, perch'd upon the wheel, 

 ' Did ever any mortal fly 

 Raise such a cloud of dust as I?' " 



MORAL. 



" 3Iy judgment turn'd the whole debate ! 

 My valour saved the sinking state !" 



CoWGILIi. 



This fable is found in the collection assigned to 

 Babrius. It is the eighty-fourth in the excellent 

 edition of these fables by Mr. G. Cornewall Lewis : 

 Oxford, 1846. W. H. G. 



Winchester. 



Collar of SS. (Vols. iv. and v., passim). — In the 

 discussion on the subject of the collar of SS., in the 

 columns of " N. & Q.," I lind no mention of an 

 incidental observation of Thomas Fuller, which 

 occurs in the notice of John Gower, the poet, in 

 the Worthies of Yorkshire, and is deserving of 

 some notice : 



" Another author (Stow) unknighteth him, allowing 

 him only a plain esquire, though in my apprehension 

 the collar of SSS. about his neck speaketh him to be 

 more. Besides (with submission to better judgments) 

 that collar hath rather a civil tlian a military relation, 

 proper to persons in place of judicature ; which makes 

 me guess this Gower some judge in his old age, well 

 consisting with his original education." 



Mr. Foss, I see, mentions (Vol. iv., p. 147.) the 

 existence of the collar on the poet's monument, 

 and suggests that he might have worn it as a court 

 poet. H. C. K. 



Rectory, Hereford. 



Chancers Knowledge of Italian (Vol. vii., 

 p. 517.). — To the proofs that Chaucer was well 

 acquainted with Italian literature, brought for- 

 ward in " N. & Q." by J. M. B., it may seem un- 



