488 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 239. 



Oratorio ipsius Joannis Gower infra hospicium cum 

 in prioratu B. Maria de Overee in Suthwerk prajdicta 

 situatum, solempnizare valeas licenciam tibi tenore 

 prasentium, quatenus ad nos attinet, concedimus spe- 

 eialem. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum nostrum 

 fecimus his apponi. Dat. in manerio nostro de alta 

 clera vicesimo quinto die mensis Januarii, a.d. 1397, 

 ct nostras consecrationis 31 mo." 



The connexion of the poet Gower with the 

 priory of St. Mary Overy is well known ; as well 

 as his munificence in contributing very largely to 

 the reconstruction of the church of the priory, in 

 which he also founded a chantry, and where his 

 tomb still exists. It would appear from this docu- 

 ment, that he actually resided within the priory. 



This marriage must have taken place late in his 

 life. The year of his birth is unknown. He is 

 said to have been somewhat older than Chaucer, 

 the date of whose birth is also uncertain ; there 

 being some grounds for assigning it to 1328, 

 others, perhaps more satisfactory, for fixing it 

 1345. If the latter be correct, and if we allow 

 for the disparity of age, we may suppose Gower 

 to have been somewhere between fifty-five and 

 sixty years of age at the time of his marriage with 

 Agnes Groundolf. W. H. Gunner. 



Winchester. 



[A reference to the will of Gower, which is printed 

 in Todd's Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer, p. 87. et seq., 

 confirms the accuracy of our correspondent's inference, 

 that this is the marriage licence of the poet, inasmuch as 

 it shows that the Christian name of Gower's wife was 

 Agnes. —Ed. " N. & Q."] 



ASKA OR ASCA. 



Throughout North America this dissyllable is 

 found terminating names in localities, occupied at 

 the present day by Indian tribes speaking very 

 different languages ; and, in these languages, with 

 the exception of such names, few analogous sounds 

 exist. There are, besides, names terminating in 

 esco, isco, isca, escaiv, iscaw, uscaw, which, perhaps, 

 may be placed in the same category, being only 

 accidental variations of aska, arising from a dif- 

 ference of ear in those who first heard them 

 pronounced by a native tongue. 



Are these names vernacular in any of the mo- 

 dern Indian languages ? and, if so, what is their 

 real meaning ? I propound these questions for 

 solution by any of the gentlemen at Fort Chepe- 

 wyan, Norway House, &c. (since, no doubt, " N. 

 & Q." penetrates the Far West as well as the Far 

 East), who may feel an interest in the subject. 



Apparently, they have been imposed by a people 

 who occupied the whole continent from sea to sea, 

 as they occur from Hudson's Bay to Yucatan, and 

 from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 



Were the American nations originally of one 

 tongue ? Humboldt, Du Ponceau, and others have 

 remarked that striking analogies of grammatical 

 construction exist in all American languages, 

 from the Eskimo to the Fuegian, although differ- 

 ing entirely in their roots. Dr. Prichard says, — 



" There are peculiarities in the very nature of the 

 American languages which are likely to produce great 

 variety in words, and to obliterate in a comparatively 

 short period the traces of resemblance." — Phys. Hist. 

 &c, vol. v. p. 317. 



It may be only a curious coincidence, but it is 

 undoubtedly true, that, with scarcely one excep- 

 tion, all names (we might almost say words) so 

 terminating are more or less connected with 

 water. The exception (if it really be one) is 

 Masca, which I have found among my old notes, 

 followed by the word Montague ; but nothing 

 more, and I have forgotten all about it. 



For the rest, the varieties in isca, &c, spoken 

 of before, are chiefly to be found in the northern 

 countries, towards Hudson's and James' Bay, &c, 

 where the present spoken languages are the Es- 

 kimo or Karalit, the Cree, and the Montagnard 

 dialect of the Algonkin, viz. Agomisca, island in 

 James' Bay ; Meminisca, lake on Albany River ; 

 Nemiskau, a lake; Pasquamisco, on James' Bay; 

 then, Keenwapiscaw, lake ; Naosquiscaw, ditto ; 

 Nepiscaw, ditto ; Camipescaw, ditto ; Caniapus- 

 caw, ditto and river : the last five lie between the 

 head waters of the Saguenay and the bottom of 

 James' Bay. 



Again, beginning at the extreme west, we find 

 Oonalaska, or Agoun Aliaska, or (according to 

 the natives) Nagoun Alaska, an island abounding 

 in fine springs and rivulets. Nor should I omit 

 another of the Aleutian islands, called Kiska. 



Alaska, or Aliaska, a peninsula. The language 

 in these instances is a branch of the Eskimo. 



Athabaska (Atapescow of Malte-Brun), lake 

 and river. M'Kenzie says that the word means, 

 in the Knistenaux language, a flat, low, swampy 

 country, liable to inundations (edit. 4to., p. 122.). 

 Here I repeat the question, is the word verna- 

 cular, or only adopted ? In such vocabularies as 

 I have seen, there is nothing bearing the slightest 

 relationship to it. In one given by Dr. Latham 

 (Varieties of Man, &c, pp. 208-9.), water, in the 

 Cbepewyan, is tone, and river, tesse. 



Itaska, the small lake whence the Mississippi has 

 its origin. The languages prevalent in the adja- 

 cent country would be the Sioux, and the Chippe- 

 way branch of the Algonquino. 



Wapiscow, river. Language, Cree ? 



Nebraska, " The Shallow River," said to be the 

 name of the Platte in the Sioux language. 



Mochasko, "Always full;" another river so 

 called in the Sioux. Query, Are these two ver- 

 nacular ? Watapan is river in that language. , 



