468 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 84. 



Maitre ; " -whereas the correct designation is 

 " Count XavJer de Maistre ; " the s in the 

 patronymic being distinctly pronounced. Such 

 trifling errors are only worth noticing because 

 they appear in a work, one of the main features 

 of which is the correctness of its references to 

 authors and books. No doubt it is his extensive 

 acquaintance with both that induced Mr. Singer, 

 on this occasion, to trust to his memory, rather 

 than turn to a biographical dictionary. 



IIenet H. Beeen. 

 St. Lucia, April, 1851. 



Amicus Plato (Vol. iii., p. 389.). — The origin 

 of the sentiment, "Amicus Plato," &c., seems to be 

 Aristot. Etli. Nicom. c. iv., where he disputes 

 against Plato, and says : " Both being dear to me, 

 it is right to prefer truth :" 



" hfi^OkV (piXoiv ovToiv, Satov irpoTtfiaii rr)!/ alyftBuav." 



C. B. 



The Coptic Language (Vol. ii., pp. 376. 499.).— 

 The reply of Hermapion to the questions put by 

 J. E. is scarcely satisfactory. I will endeavour to 

 answer them more directly. The Coptic language 

 is not an inflected one ; and it has very few affixes. 

 There are many prefixes to its nouns and verbs, 

 which before the former are articles or demonstra- 

 tive pronouns. Between these prefixes and the 

 noun or verb, pronominal infixes are introduced, 

 by which possession is denoted in the case of a 

 noun, and the subject in that of a verb. Thus, 

 ran is " a name ;" pi-ran, " the name ;" pe-v-ran, 

 •'his name;" t, is the verbal root, "come;" a, 

 the prefi.x of the past tense ; and a-v-i, " he 

 came." Some nouns take affixes, as jo-v, " his 

 head." Pronominal affixes are also joined to 

 verbs to express their objects, and to preposi- 

 tions. In the old Egyptian language, from which 

 the Coptic is derived, there were more affixes. I 

 am not aware that infixes have been met with in 

 inscriptions prior to the eighteenth dynasty ; and 

 those which are in use are the same as the affixes 

 which anne.ved to nouns denote possession, and to 

 verbs the subject. Tiie old Egyptian affixes which 

 denoted the object of the verb, are in general 

 difierent. En-v-tu would be " he bringeth thee;" 

 and enha-su, " thou bringest him." In Coptic, 

 the former would be e-o-en-k; the latter, e-k-en-v. 

 Probably the Coptic prefixes were originally aux- 

 iliary verbs, or prepositions. The old Egyptian 

 affixes greatly resemble the Hebrew ones, especially 

 if s be substituted for the Hebrew h; and it is 

 veiy remarkable that the Assyrio-Babylonian 

 affi.xes differ from the Hebrew principally in this 

 same respect. In like manner, the causative con- 

 jugation is formed from the simple one by pre- 

 fixing h in Hebrew, but by prefixing s in both 

 Assyrio-Babylonian and Egyptian. No doubt 

 can then exist as to the old Egyptian language 

 being Semitic ; but the opposition between the 



Semitic languages and the Indo-European ones is 

 by no means so great as was formerly supposed. 

 Relations between them are now clearly to be 

 traced, which prove that they had a common 

 origin, and that at no distant period. 



E. H. D. D. 



Benedicite (Vol. li., p. 463.) is, I believe, two 

 words — benedict te — " that you may be blessed ;" 

 and not a single word, as Peter Corona sujjposes. 

 The ellipsis is oijuheo, or some similar word. 



D. X. 



Porci solidi-pedes (Vol. iii , pp. 263. 3.57.). — I 

 find, on further inquiry, that my account of the 

 porci solidi-pedes is correct; and I can now add the 

 following : that under the eye there was a small 

 protuberance, not, I believe, found in our ordi- 

 nary English pigs, but which forms a remarkable 

 characteristic of the African wild boar. In the 

 African species it is large ; in the Chinese, if it be 

 rightly so called, it is about half the length of a 

 forefinger, and a quarter of an inch in height. I 

 have no doubt that Mr. llamsden, of Carlton Hall, 

 Notts, would furnish additional information con- 

 cerning these pigs, should it be required ; and the 

 publication of it would perhaps be interesting to 

 many. E. J. Selwyn. 



Blackheath. 



The Cart before the Horse (Vol. i., p. 348.).— 

 F. C. B. says, " I know not how old may be, ' to 

 put the cart before the horse.' " Lucian quotes 

 the proverb ^ fi^aala -rhv j8oi> [scil. 6Ak€i] to illus- 

 trate the case of the young dying before the old ; 

 it is an exact equivalent to the English proverb. 

 {Lucian. Dial. Mortuor. vi. 2.) C. P. Ph***. 



Dies Iras (Vol. ii., p. 72.). — I beg to refer Mr. 

 Simpson to the Rev. R. C. Trench's Sacred Latin 

 Poetry Selected, London, 1 849, pp. 270—277. The 

 account of AVadding, historiograjiher of the Fran- 

 ciscan Order, is there adopted, who names Thomas 

 of Celano as the author. The question has been 

 thoroughly discussed by Mohnike, Hymnologische 

 Forschungen, vol. i. pp. 1 — 24. See also Daniel, 

 Thesaur. Hymnolog., vol. ii. p. 103. C. P. Ph***. 



Apple-pie Order (Vol. iii., p. 330.). — If Mr. 

 Sneak will consult a work — viz. Mrs. Glasse's (or 

 rather Dr. Hill's) volume of cookery, which may 

 possibly be in his lady's library — he will find a 

 receipt for making a Devonshire squab pie. This 

 is to be formed " by alternate layers of sliced pip- 

 pins and mutton steaks," to be adjusted in the 

 most orderly manner. Now, from the nicety and 

 care requisite in this arrangement, may we not 

 " surmise," though, with Sir Walter Raleigh in 

 the Critic, I may add, " forgive, my friend, if the 

 conjecture's rash," that the expression " Apple- 

 pie order " has sprung from the dish in question ? 



J. H. M. 



