302 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2"4 §, No 15., Aprit 12, °56. 
deratum by a note on Hesiod’s Scuéum Herculis, 
by Joannes Clericus, which will, I hope, be ac- 
ceptable, together with some extracts illustrative 
of the religion of the ancient Greeks. 
“* Tod mév hpevas efedeTo Zevs.” 
“Sic et Aschylus, cujus hee verba habet memoratus 
Plato: 
* @eds pév aitiay det Bporots 
“Oray kaxdoat Sana Taunydnv edn. 
“Deus causam prebet mortalibus, cum prorsus perdere 
domum vult. -Incertus alius trageedus in Grotianis ex- 
cerptis, p. 461.: 
*"Orav S€ Aatuwr, ete. 
“ Alia multa similia impie dicta occurrunt apud Poetas, 
uorum Dii non multo meliores hominibus.” 
q 
The sentiments of the Greek poets thus con- 
demned have been defended by other commen- 
tators on Hesiod. Robinson, in Seutum Herculis, 
adduces analogous language from Scripture ; and 
Grevius in his notes on Opp. et Dies, v.15., “aan’ 
tm’ avaykhs,” etc., vindicates their views on Pro- 
vidence. 
“ Penelope apud Homer. ’OSuec. ¥, 
‘Mata $iAy,’ ete. 
“Nutrix dilecta, insanum te Dii fecerunt, qui possunt 
insipientem reddere, qui vel prudentissimus fuerit, et de- 
liruam prudentie compotem ,reddiderunt Nam et bene 
alius poeta: 
*"Orav yap opy} Satmover, etc, 
“Quando ira deorum aliquem ldit, huie primo eripit | 
| garian, or German to Italian. 
prudentiam, et sanam mentem, et in deterius mutat 
consilia ut non yvideat que peccat. P. Syrus Mimus: 
‘Fortuna quem vult perdere stultum facit.’ ” 
Brsuiotuecar. CHEeruam. 
Etymology : Caterpillar (2"4 S. i. 65.) — Mr. 
Kereuttey thinks the common use of this word 
among the people might be objected against his 
Greek etymology. But query if it is of so com- 
mon use? Tell any child of the lower classes in 
| Earwich. 
| 1629.) 
the Midland Counties that the insect is a cater- | 
pillar, and his reply will be, “ Nae, it ain’t; it’s a 
groob.” At all events, it does not seem to have 
been long in popular use; the old names were, 
grub, canker, and palmer-worm. In Topsell’s 
History of Four-footed Beasts, part 2.: of ser- 
pents, ed. 1608, it states: 
“The English Northren men call the hairie caterpillars 
oubuts, and the Southerne men usually term them pal- | 
mer-worms. The Frenchmen call them Chattepeleuse.” 
And this seems a very likely source of our 
English word, which for a very long period was 
confined to books on Natural History and the 
educated classes. 
At the same time I am at a loss to conjecture 
what objection can be made to Junius’s etymology : 
“Cates piler —a destroyer of cates, because it 
destroys the food of man and beast.” 
Earwig. — Mr. Ketcutrey objects to the Saxon 
derivation of this word, “‘ because when significant 
names are given to animals, &c., they have been 
| Mezzofanti had no knowledge. 
| thought that the Welsh, Erse, and Gaelic were so 
always taken from some natural act or quality, 
which is not the case here.” Mr. K.’s error arises 
from his supposing ear, in earwig, to be the hu- 
man ear; whereas it is from the Saxon— any 
bud-flower (especially corn) which springs from 
land, eared, ploughed, or cultivated. Wie is th 
Saxon dwelling, and it is notorious that the 
favourite habitat wic of the ear-wic is the bud- 
ears of undeveloped flowers. The word was for- 
merly frequently spelled according to this etymon, 
(Parkinson’s Paradisus, p. 21., ed. 
Epen Warwick. 
English and Austrian Population (2™2 §. i. 227.) 
— Your correspondent D. L., in his Note on Car- 
dinal ,.Wiseman’s lecture on the Austrian Con- 
cordat, evinces a remarkable acquaintance with 
geography. We pass over his doubts as to the 
/many millions of inhabitants in China, though we 
think the latest and most trustworthy writers on 
| that country only corroborate all former state- 
| ments in this respect. 
| languages our gracious Queen would have to 
| speak in order to converse with all her subjects, 
But when we come to the 
we find some tongues of which even Cardinal 
We always 
nearly akin, that they might almost be reckoned - 
as one language ; and they are certainly far more 
nearly allied than is the Bohemian to the Hun- 
We were not 
aware that the Manks language was still spoken 
in the Isle of Man. The next is, however, a 
serious matter ; for now when we are settling anew 
at Paris the boundaries of empires, it startles us 
to hear that Queen Victoria claims the sovereignty 
over the Ferro Islands. What says the King of 
Denmark to this? Does England mean to send 
the Baltic fleet to Thorshaven, and hold the Ferro 
Isles till Denmark gives up the Sound-dues ? 
Next, as to Shetland and Orkney, I can vouch that 
the natives of these two groups of islands speak 
nought but English, and that too so well as to be 
immeasurably superior to the provincial dialects 
of most parts of England. Nor did I know till 
now that Danish was the language spoken on 
| Heligoland! 
India, indeed, would supply many languages 
and dialects: but if I mistake not, India is ex- 
cepted in the Cardinal's lecture, as reported in the 
quotation given by D. L. T. 
Chess (1° S. xii. 65.) — Interesting references 
| may be made to A Pedestrian Journey through 
Russia and Siberian Tartary, by Captain John D. 
Cochrane, 8yo., London ; or in the two vols. 18mo. 
edit. in Constable's Miscellany, 1829, pp. 243. 
249.; and to Travels in Tartary, Thibet, &c., by 
M. Hue, translated by W. Hazlitt, two vols. 8vo., 
vol. ii. p. 259. J. bs 
Birmingham. 
