170 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 41. 



Hundred Rolls we find a "Richard Rikelot" in 

 Huntingdonshire (vol. ii. p. 62G.)- I know not 

 what has led to the supposition that this name 

 denotes the magpie. It may possibly be traced to 

 the same root as that of a cognate species, the 

 comix fnigicora; JRoeck, Germ., according to Ges- 

 ner; Friesic, roek; Ang.-S. hi-oc, the rook: but I 

 am at a loss to discover anything similar in old 

 French to explain the occurrence of the termina- 

 tion, which seems to be a popular or familiar di- 

 minutive, a Gallicism, analogous to partlot. 



" Wnmtm or Wursnm.^' — The latter is the cor- 

 rect reading. Trotter Brocket! includes the word 

 amongst Northern Provincialisms. — " }Vii}-sum, 

 pus, particularly when foul." Jamieson is inclined 

 to derive the word %Lioursom or ivorsum^usaA in the 

 same sense by Douglas, in his translation of Virgil, 

 and by other North Country writers, from Ang.-S. 

 Wyr, pus, and sum, as denoting quality. 



" Suhrazy—Tlns, term has perplexed me much 

 in preparing notes on the portion of the Promp- 

 ioriiim I have now in hand. In the Ilarl. MS. 221. 

 is iound " Sabrace, sabracia, Comm." The autho- 

 rity cited, the Commentarius Cit?-iaUum, is still 

 unknown to me ; and I have failed in searching 

 for the word .sabracia, which is not found in Du- 

 cange, or other glossaries of debased Lalinity. 

 Ml-. Halliwell gives "■ Sabras, salve, plaster;" but 

 he cites no authority. It appears, however, rather 

 to signify a tonic or astringent solution than a 

 salve. I have hitherto found it only in the follow- 

 ing passage (Sloane MS. 73., f. 211., late xv. sec.) 

 in a recii)e for making "cheuerel lether of jierche- 

 niyne." The directions are, that it be " basked to and 

 fro" in a hot solution of " alome roche ; — aftir take 

 zelkis of eyren and broke hem smale in a disch, as 

 thou woldist make therof a caudel, and put these 

 to thyn alome water, and chaufe it ; thanne take 

 it doun fro the her, and put it in the cornetrey ; 

 thanne tak (hi lether and basche it wel in this sa- 

 hras, to it be wel drunken up into the lether." A 

 little flour is then to be added, the mixture heated, 

 and the " perchemyn well basked therein, and th' 

 that saberas be wel drunken up into the lether ;" 

 and if it enters not well into the leather, "lay it 

 abroad in a good long vessel that be scheld, the 

 fleschside upward, and poure thi sabrace al .abouen 

 the lether, and rubbe it wel yn. It is further re- 

 commended to " late the lether ligge so still al a 

 nyzt in his owen sabras." 



" I-mevhred, a girdle i-menbred." (Thus, in old 

 French, "menbrer, membrer" &c., Roquelbrt). 

 Charpentier gives a similar use of the Latin word, 

 — "Membrare, instruerc, ornare. Gall, garnir;" 

 citing a French document, dated 13.32: "Item, 

 imam zonam de serico Membratam de argento ct 

 esmandis ;" and another of 1;566 : " Unas zonas de 

 serico, argento stofatas et Membratas.'" The term 

 was thusused also in England, as in the inventory 

 of valuables belonging to Edward I. in 1300 



(Liber Gardei-obce, p. 347.) : — " Una zona, cum ca- 

 thenis argenti annell' cum targ' et membris ar- 

 genti." It might be supposed from this expression, 

 that the membra were, strictly speaking, the trans- 

 verse bars of metals, or cloux, Fr., by which the 

 girdle was divided into several compartments, the 

 intervening spaces being filled by chased orna- 

 ments of goldsmiths' woik, and occasionally by 

 armorial scutcheons, " targieT 



But enough for the present. I should esteem 

 it a favour if your correspondent would inform me 

 where these curious terms are found, as the context 

 would greatly facilitate their elucidation. 



Albert Wat. 



"Wonham, Reigate, August 3. 



^t^Mti to iHiitor ©ucriCiS. 



Solingen (Vol. ii., p. 135.). — "Will you allow me 

 to state, lor the information of T. S. Lawrence, 

 who inquires who S«lingen, the sword cutler, was, 

 — that Solingen is the name of a small town near 

 Elberfeld, in Westphalia ; a sort of Sheffield for 

 the whole of that part of Germany. Immense 

 quantities of cutlery of all sorts are made there, and 

 many knives are, I was tohl, made there, stamped 

 with English names, and imported into England 

 as true British ware, — being equally good with 

 ours, and, of course, cheaper. Solingen is still, 

 and has been for centuries, renowned for its sword 

 blades. You cannot ride through the town with- 

 out meeting a troop or two of girls with a load of 

 sword blades on their heads. 



May I suggest to your inquirer Jarltzberg 

 that the derivation of blachguard is as likely to be 

 blagai-ode, the Russian lur nobleman, as many 

 words are to be descended from their reputed 

 parents. C. B. M. 



P. C. S. S. believes that a little research would 

 have enabled Mr. Lawrence (Vol. ii., p. 13.5.) to 

 ascertain that Solingen (not Solingen) was not the 

 name of a sword cutler, but of a place in Prussian 

 Westphalia, long celebrated for the fabrication of 

 that weapon, as well as of fencing-foils. Of the 

 latter instrument P. C. S. S. has several pairs in 

 his possession, all marked with the inscription " In 

 Solingen." That the Solingen manufactory still 

 flourishes there, is stated in jMurray's Handbook 

 for JS'orthem Germany, j). 373. P. C. S. S. 



Blachguard (yo\.i\., p. 134.). — In the second 

 vol. of B. Jonson's works by Gifford, page 169., 

 there is the following note on this word : — 



" In all great houses, but particularly in tlie royal 

 residences, tliere were a number of mean, dirty de- 

 pendants, whose office it was to attend the wool-yard, 

 sculleries, &c. ; of these the most forlorn wretches seem 

 to have been selected to cany coals to the kitchens, 

 halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, who attended the 



