Mar. 9. 1850.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
any of your readers have met with it in an earlier 
writer; and if so, to whom is it to be ascribed ? 
J. 
Pet-Names —“ Jack.” — Perhaps one of your 
many readers, erudite in etymologies, will kindly 
explain how “Jack” came to be used as the 
diminutive for John. Dr. Kennedy, in his recent 
interesting disquisition on pet-names (No. 16. p. 
242.), supposes that Jacques was (by confusion) 
transmuted into “Jack;” a ‘ metamorphosis,” 
almost as violent as the celebrated one effected, 
some two centuries ago, by Sir John Harrington. 
“Poor John,” from being so long “Jack among 
his familiars,” has been most scurvily treated, 
being employed to form sundry very derogatory 
compounds, such as, Jackass, Jackpudding, Jack- 
a-dandy, Jackanapes, Jack-a-lent, Jack o’ oaks 
(knave of clubs), Jack-o’ th’ Lantern, &c. &e. 
Might not “ Jack” have been derived from John, 
somewhat after the following fashion : —Johan— 
Joan — Jan — Janchen or Jankin. 
“ Ho ! jolly Jenkin, 
I spy a knave in drinkin.” 
m™ 
4. 
Jankin=little John. Jank—Jak. This etymology 
has, I confess, a very great resemblance to the Mil- 
lerian mode of educing Cucumber from Jeremiah 
King ; but it is the most plausible which occurs at 
present to I. Kennaquaair. 
John — Pisan.—I will thank you to inform 
your correspondent “C.” (No. 15. p. 234.), that 
we must look to the East for the “ original word” 
of John. In the Waldensian MSS. of the Gospels 
of the 12th Century, we find Ioanes, showing its 
derivation from the Greek “Iodvvys. The word 
Pisan occurs in the 33rd vol. of the Archeologia, 
p- 131. 
Ihave considered it was a contraction for pa- 
voisine, a small shield; and I believe this was the 
late Dr. Meyrick’s opinion. Baw 
Feb. 25. 
Sir, —If the signature to the article in No. 
16., “on Pet Names,” had not been Scottish, I 
should have been less surprised at the author's 
passing over the name of Jock, universally used 
in Scotland for John. The termination ick or ch 
is often employed, as marking a diminutive object, 
or object of endearment. May not the English 
term Jack, if not directly borrowed from the 
Scottish Jock, have been formed through the pri- 
mary Jock — John — Jock — Jack ? Emprer. 
Origin of the Change of “ Mary” into “ Polly” 
(No. 14. p.215.). —This change, like many others 
in diminutives, is progressive. By a natural aflinity 
between the liquids 7 and J, Mary becomes 
Molly as Sarah Sally, Dorothea, Dora, Dolly, &. 
It is not so easy to trace the affinity between 
the initials M. and P., though the case is not sin- 
cular; thus, Margaret, Madge, Meggy, Meg, 
Peggy, Peg — Martha, Matty, Patly —and Mary, 
Molly, Polly and Poll; in which last abbreviation 
not one single letter of the original word remains : 
the natural affinity between the two letters, as 
medials, is evident, as in the following examples, 
| all of which, with one exception, are Latin deriva- 
tives : empty, peremptory, sumptuous, presumptuous, 
exemption, redemption, «nd sempstress ; and again, 
in the words tempt, attempt, contempt, exempt, 
prompt, accompt, comptroller (vid. Walker’s Prin. 
of Eng. Pron. pp. 42, 43.) ; in all which instances, 
however, the p is mute, so that “Mary” is avenged 
for its being the accomplice in the desecration of | 
her gentle name into “Polly.” Many names of 
the other sex lose their initials in the diminutive ; 
as, 
Richard Dick Robert Bob 
William Bill Edward Ned 
Christopher Kit Roger Hodge, 
and probably many others; but I have no list be- 
fore me, and these are all that occur.  ®:AoAdyos. 
Deanery of Gloucester, Shrove Tuesday, 1850, 
PARALLEL PASSAGES OR PLAGIARISMS IN CHILDE 
HAROLD. 
Permit me to add two further plagiarisms or 
parallel passages on the subject of Childe Harold 
to those already contributed by your valuable 
correspondent ‘ Mrranion.” 
Mrs. Radcliffe (who I am informed was never 
out of England) is describing in her Mysteries of 
Udolpho, Chap. xvi. the appearance of Venice. 
“Tts terraces, crowded with airy, yet majestic 
fabrics touched as they now were with the splen- 
dour of the setting sun, appeared as if they had 
been called up from the Ocean by the wand of an 
enchanter.” 
In the Ist stanza of the 4th canto of Childe 
Harold we have the well known lines — 
« T stood in Venice on the bridge of sighs, 
A palace and a prison on each hand: 
J saw from out the wave her structures rise 
As from the stroke of the enchanter’s wand. 
Tn one of his letters Lord Byron tells us of his 
fondness for the above novel. 
Again in Kirk White’s Christiad — 
« The lyre which I in early days have strung. 
And now my spirits faint, and I have hung 
‘The shell that solaced me in saddest hour 
On the dark cypress — 
May be compared with the last stanza but one 
of the 4th canto. T. R. M. 
