Sept. 6. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



179 



sence of mind to direct a gun to be fired from the deck 

 at the fish, whereby he was fortunately so far struck 

 (so getrofftn wurde ) that he spit out directly the seaman 

 previously seized in his jaws, who was taken into the 

 boat alive, and apparently little hurt. 



" The seal was taken by harpoons and ropes, and 

 hauled into the frigate, and hung to dry in the cross- 

 trees (ijiicEie). The captain gave tlie fish to the sea- 

 man who, by God's providence, had been so wonder- 

 fully preserved ; and he made the circuit of Europe 

 with it as an exhibition, and from France it came to 

 Erlangen, Nuremburg, and other places, where it was 

 openly shown. Tlie fish was twenty feet long, with 

 fins nine feet broad, and weighed 3,924 lbs., and is 

 illustrated in tab. 9. fig. 5. ; from all which it is very 

 probably concluded, that this kind was the true Jonas- 

 fish." 



Bochart concurs in this opinion. 



Herman de Hardt {Programma de rehus JoncB, 

 Helmst. 1719) considers that -Jonah stopt at a 

 tavern bearing the sitjn of tlie whale. 



Lesz (Vernmchte Schriften, Tli. i. S. IG.) tliinks 

 that a ship with a fi2;ure-head {Zeichen) of a wliale 

 took Jonah on board, and in three days put him 

 ashore ; from which it was reported that the ship- 

 whale had vomited (dischai-ged) him. 



Eichhorn has noticed the above in his Intro- 

 duction to the Olil Testament (iii. 2.50.). 



An anonymous writer says that dag means a 

 fish-boat ; and that the word which is translated j 

 whale, should have been preserver ; a criticism in- 

 consistent with itself, and void of authority- | 



The above four instances are the only hypo- ' 

 theses at variance with the received te.xt and in- 

 terpretation worthy of notice : if indeed the case 

 of the shark can be deemed at all at variance, as 

 the term kTitos was used to designate many differ- 

 ent fishes. 



Jebb (Sacred Literahire, p. 178.) says that the 

 whale's stomach is not a safe and practicable 

 asylum ; but — 



" The throat is large, and provided with a bag or 

 intestine so considerable m size that whales frequently 

 take into it two of tlieir young, when weak, especially 

 during a tempest. In this vessel there are two vents, 

 which serve for inspiration and expiration ; there, in 

 all probability, Jonas was preserved." 



John Hunter compares the whale's tongue to a 

 feather bed ; and says that the baleen (whalebone) 

 and tongue together fill up the whole space of the 

 jaws. 



Josephus describes the fish of Jonah .as a k/jtoj, 

 and fixes on the Eu.xine fi)r the locality as an on 

 dil (6 Aiiyus). The same word in reference to the 

 same event is used by Epiplianius, Cedrenus, Za- 

 naru?, and Nicepliorus. 



- ^ p 



The Arabic version has the word \\ (ehoono), 



translated in Walton's Polyglott cetici ; but tlie 

 word, according to CastcU, means " a tavern," or 



" merchants' office." This may have led to Her- 

 man de Ilardt's whim. 



The Targum of Jonathan, and the Syriac of 

 Jonah, have both the identical word which was 

 most probably used by onr Lord, Noono, fish, the 

 root signifying to be pi-olijic, for which fishes are 

 einineutly remarkable, l^ag, the Hebrew word, 

 has the same original signification. 



The word used by our Lord, in adverting to His 

 descent to Hades, was most probably that of the 



Syriac version, |jQj (jioono), which means Jish 

 in Chaldee and Arabic, as well as in Syriac ; and 

 corresponds to the Hebrew word 3"1 (dng), Jish, 

 in Jonah i. 17., ii. 1. 10. The Greek of Matthew 

 xii. 40., instead of Ix^vs, has ktitos, a ichale. The 

 Septuagint has the same word /cfjTos for (1) dag in 

 Jonah, as well as for (2) leviathan in Job iii. 8., 

 and for (3) tanninim in Genesis i. 21. The error 

 appears to be in the Septuagint of Jonah, where 

 the ])articular fish, the whale, is mentioned instead 

 of the general term Jish. Possibly the disciples of 

 Christ knew that the fish was a Kqros, and the 

 habits of such of them as were fishermen might 

 have familiarised them with its description or 

 form. It is certain that the ktitos of Aristotle, and 

 cetus of Pliny, was one of the genus C'etacca, with- 

 out gills, but with blow-holes communicating with 

 the lungs. The disciples may also have heard the 

 mythological story of Hercules being three days 

 in the belly of the ktjtos, the word used by .iEneas 

 GazEeus, although Lycophron describes the animal 

 as a shark, Kdpxf-pos kvwv. 



" Tpiia-irifjov AeocToj, ov voTe yvddois 

 TpiTHvos 7)juaAavj/e K<ipx<^pos kvcop." 



The remarkable event recorded of Jonah oc- 

 curred just about 300 years before Lycophron 

 wrote ; who, having doubtless heard the true 

 story, thought it right to attribute it to Hercules, 

 to whom all other marvellous feats of power, 

 strength, and dexterity were appropriated by the 

 mvtholon;ists. T. J. Bucktox. 



Lichfield. 



ST. TRUNNIAN. 



(Vol. iii., pp. 187. 252.) 



Your " Notes and Queries " form the best 

 specimen of a Conversations-Lexicon that I have 

 yet met with ; and I regret that It was not in 

 existence some years ago, having long felt the 

 want of some such special and ready medium of 

 communication. 



In the old enclosures to the west of the town of 

 Barton we had a spring of clear water called 

 St. Ti'unnian's Spring ; and in our open field we 

 had an old thorn tree called St. Trunnian's Tree, 

 — names that imply a familiar acquaintance with 

 St. Trunnian hero ; but I find no indication to 



