AN EARLY LATIN-ENGLISH-BASQUE DICTIONARY. I HAVE recently found in this library, among the MSS. of Edward Lhwyd, the author of Archæologia Britannica' (1707), an attempt at a Latin-Basque dictionary. It is written on the interleaves of a copy of Plunket's (unpublished) Latin - Irish dictionary. 66 se being in Littleton an alternative spelling of "lose." "Loose" is, of course, right for lachaturen," which is a borrowed word.. So the widow's "mite" becomes acarus, and reins "= renes becomes retinacula. In these cases the Basque correctly represents the English, "mite" being peça chipi, and "reins," guelgurrunac. nothing corresponding to it in the French, and consequently none in the Basque, he was hopelessly puzzled. But, further, he desired the leading words in his dictionary to be Latin. Accordingly his next step was to look for the Latin equivalents of the sulted an English-Latin dictionary, probably English words, and for this purpose he conLittleton's, which was in vogue at the time. Being ignorant of Latin, he confounds nouns and verbs; giving, for example, "Mitis, It was not compiled by Lhwyd himself, tame, hetzenda" (.e., "hetzen da," who as a philologist was more than a century dompte"), which he found in James iii. 7,. in advance of his time, whereas the compiler 'is tamed," A.V. English words also-like had not even an elementary knowledge of in spelling but different in meaning-are Latin. His work, however, is interesting as confounded. Thus we have "Perdo, loose. the first attempt to construct a Basque dic-lachaturen" (from St. Matt. xvi. 19), "loose" tionary of any kind, and in judging of its shortcomings this fact must be borne in mind, as well as the more important one that at the date of its compilation the principles of Basque grammar were absolutely unknown. In fact, no one had the least conception of an agglutinative language such as Basque is. The compiler founded his work on the translation of the New Testament by I. Leiçarraga, printed at La Rochelle in 1571 (reprinted Strassburg, 1900). This was translated from the Genevan French Testament. Taking this. then, as his basis, the compiler collated it with the English Authorized Version, equating English and Basque words on the assumption that the two versions (English and Basque) corresponded word for word. It is obvious that such a method was full of pitfalls, into which the compiler frequently fell. For example, in St. Matt. xvi. 3 the French has tempête" (Greek Xev), which Leiçarraga renders tempestate. The English version, however, has two words, "foul weather,' SO our compiler writes, "fœdus, foul, tempestate." (The references, here and elsewhere, are mine.) Again, in St. Matt. ix. 24, where the A.V. has they laughed Him to scorn," and the French, ils se moquoient de lui," the Basque is "truffatzen ciraden harçaz.' Hence the compiler equates harçaz, which means 'de lui," with "contemptus, scorn." A curious result of the compiler's ignorance of Latin is that he gives us some very rare Latin words or significations; for example, 66 improles, childless." This is in Holyoke and in Littleton, the former referring to "Gloss." as his authority. It is found, in fact, in a Greek-Latin glossary in Labbé. Another instance is "strigmentum, string," also in Littleton. The blunders are numerous and portentous; nevertheless, it is possible to eliminate them, and a reversing Basque dictionary of any kind is so difficult to procure that I have gone to the trouble of doing this, using, as far as practicable, the compiler's alphabetical arrangement, and supplying references to Leiçarraga's N.T. The resulting vocabulary I hope to have some opportunity of publishing. Meantime, I may mention that I have been able to make some trifling additions to Van Eys's Dictionnaire.' For example, under halsarrak he says: "Selon P. [i.e., Pouvreau, 'Dictionnaire MS.'] ce mot signifie entrailles; et se trouve 2 Cor. xii., Again, he enters in his list, "Absentia, mais nous l'avons cherché vainement." In absence, bilha çabilen." These words mean fact, it is found in 2 Cor. vi. 12 (halsurretan they sought," but were clearly suggested="in visceribus "), and the "vi." has dropped by St. Luke xxii. 6, where the A.V. has [sought to betray him] in the absence of the multitude," while the French is ". 'sans émeute." The compiler, not understanding the Basque words, thought they must correspond to the English word last in the verse. Wherever, as in these instances, a word occurs in the English version which has 66 out of Pouvreau. The singular, halsar, also occurs in Acts i. 18, and the plural again in Col. iii. 12; Philem. 7, 12, 20, and in 1 John iii. 17. Again, s.v. bat, Van Eys gives "Bakoitz, g. [i.e., Guipuzcoan]...chacun." It occurs in St. Mark vi. 5, "eri bakoitz"-"un peu demalades." Cf. "bakan, b.n. [bas-navarrais], rare.' I have also found evidence of Leiçarraga's use of the Greek-e.g., 2 Peter iii. 10, where the French has "un bruit sifflaut de tempête," and the Basque simply habarrotsequin. Van Eys has, "Abarrots, g.b., abarrox, b.n. ..vacarme, fracas, bruit désagréable." The Greek is pondóv. Again, in St. Matt. xvi. 18 the French has "n'auront point de force à l'encontre d'elle, but the Basque "etzaizcala hari garaithuren (vaincre, surpasser) οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς. T. K. ABBOTT. Trinity College, Dublin. = PUNCTUATION IN MSS. AND PRINTED (See 10th S. ii. 301, 462.) THE superior figures refer to the examples at the end of the article. 2 In Trin. Coll. Library (Camb.). MS. B. 10, 4, is an English MS., probably written at Westminster early in the eleventh century (New Pal. Soc., Facsimiles,' Part I.).-The frontispiece is 'Liber Generationis 15. The abbreviation for Christ is used regularly amid Latin letters; e.g., in the Prologus. This x=ch occurs side by side with_x=x (in extra, dextra) of the same shape. Here, presumably, are the beginnings of our X in Xmas. This MS. regularly or commonly uses the & (1) alone, viz.=et, (2) et at ends of words. 3 Note that the scribe here borrows the sign to stand for the syllable et, not vice versa; i.e., et was not in this MS. on its way to becoming &. The latter was already formed, and is used by this scribe as a convenient abbreviation. = The Laurentian MS. of Sophocles has = comma, and semicolon and full stop. Once, 65 b (Trach.,' 77), it has ;= ?, but usually. There is, of course, no!. Date probably of the eleventh century. Harleian MS. 2895 (B.M.) showcases.Diurnale in Latin. Second half of the twelfth century. Flemish initials. No marks on i. 'Laudate pueri dominŭ laudate nomen domini. Sit nomen domini bene 7." In this and the preceding! comma. But in this MS.; marks omission of final letter, there; semicolon. Note as suprascript 66 = abbreviation-mark. Arndt, Schrifttaf.,' 51, gives facsimiles of Origen's Homilies, A.D. 1163, in which is exactly like our written question mark?. So also De Cura Pastorali' (Pal. Soc., ii. pl. 69), early eleventh century, uses with variations; e.g., once (at least) all three ; and often it resembles a ! thus. 10 So Bede (Pal. Soc. ii. pl. 72), after 1147, has a very clear tick. 11 8 9 English charter hands of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries also show the punctuation mark, sometimes of that shape, and sometimes! (common). B.M. Royal MS. 1 D. ii.-O. Test. in Gk. (LXX.). Twelfth century. Has full accents and breathings, and also many double-dotted iotas not initial, e.g. 12. Punctuation consists of comma, colon, and high and low point. (A.D. 1273), has generally i. E.g., Tηv éñaуOmont, Facsim.,' pl. 60, Chrysostom γελίαν 13. The same is true of Theophylactus, A.D. 1255; a Porphyry, 1223; Balaam MS., 1321; and Constantine Harmen., 1351. 8 Brit. Mus. Royal MS. 3 D. vi., A.D. 1283-charter writing, by more expert scribes, is to In the fourteenth century a new style of 1300.-Most probably written in England. be noted (Thompson, Pal., p. 308). This is There are no dots on the i in this MS. 4 The second word is parituram. The third, as I accompanied by the use of /= a comma, as seen in German documents and books. It is understand it, is IH+SUM, a hybrid, due to extreme veneration. which preserved (see charter of 1310, "en autre/ Chasteux/ villes/ seen side by side in the charters with ; eg., eleventh-century MS. note attached) the et terres/.' exact Greek-letter form of the first three letters until the origin was forgotten. So also there is confusion in the group 5, where the second mysterious member is the Gr. p, which is seen more distinctly in the eleventhcentury MS. The first word=&, is almost et. Pal. Art. di M. C.,' tav. xlv., Lectionary written at Monte Casino in broken Lombardic between 1058 and 1087.-In this we have a sort of ecphoneme just where it would be natural. It is not here by the same hand, I am sure (the dot by the first hand and the stroke above by a later), yet this kind of thing occurring makes difficult the proof of derivation of words from letters. ་ 3 2 marnem di xpi manifesta scribers = scribact; Et = eet Esset; indicare = indicaret. 4 eà panturam hefum fihum éet 5 t ltati a ceptus et xp or urgine nos & laut nos a peccœns nis In fangame sao! &f 7 dictum ? expocnunc & ufq; infeculum[no pornt] A solis ortu ufq; adoccasum? laudabile nomen domini Note sup = super; pau pem = pauperem; •Q=&. 8 ✓ 95 10/ and 11 ✓ 10" Βασίλεια SIR JOHN FASTOLF.-In a notice of Mr. Copinger's 'County of Suffolk' (ante, p. 99), the reviewer writes: "Under Cotton Manor we find the mention of Sir John Fastolf (sic)." Does the sic imply objection to the spelling of the name, or doubt as to actual existence of its bearer ? Sir John Fastolf (or Fastolfe) was a real man. He is portrayed in Shakespeare's 1 King Henry VI.,' Act III. sc. ii., not flatteringly, since he is there made to own that he would "leave all the Talbots in the world to save his life,"* yet more than 400 years after his death (in 1459) is found worthy of a niche in the 'D.N.B.' There, or in the Paston Letters, of which he wrote very many, we learn, among other things, that he went May not the imaginary Falstaff have been meant as a caricature of Fastolf, and not, as is generally supposed, of the "good Lord Cobham "? through the long French war begun by Henry V., was made Governor of the Bastille and other places in France, helped to negotiate the Peace of Arras (1434), built the castle at Caister, Norfolk, his birthplace, was of irascible temper, gave up soldiering, and took to law, trade, and usury, once lent the Duke of York (the first " White Rose") 437., a large sum of money in those days, holding, meanwhile, in pledge the impecunious Duke's plate and jewels, kept_six vessels flying between Yarmouth and London, left property to his cousin John Paston, and managed to accomplish a good deal more in the course of a long and busy life. ELEANOR C. SMYTH. 363, Gillott Road, Edgbaston. PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.-One of the most firmly established beliefs in the mind not only of the man in the street, but of many who might be expected to know better, is that Parliament rises usually (not to say invariably) on or before 12 August-a belief which will be strengthened by the early prorogation of the present year. The subjoined table will show how far from the truth this popular idea is. In the years against which the word "adjournment" appears the prorogation was, as a matter of convenience, postponed till after an autumn session. The word "dissolution" indicates that dissolution followed immediately on prorogation. If we set aside the three abnormal years in each of which there were two prorogations, owing to the session being interrupted by a dissolution, we have twenty-one sessions remaining. In these twenty-one years Parliament rose once on 5 August (1891), once on the 6th (1897), twice on the 8th (1900, 1902), once on the 9th (1899), once on the 11th (1905), once on the 12th (1898), once on the 13th (1888), four times on the 14th (1884, 1885, 1896, 1903), once on the 15th (1904), once on the 17th (1901), twice on the 18th (1882, 1890), twice on the 25th (1883, 1894), once on the 30th (1889), once on 16 September (1887), and once on the 22nd of the same month (1893). In other words, of twenty-one Parliamentary vacations, only seven commenced on or before 12 August, as against fourteen which commenced after that date. Table showing Dates of Prorogation (or Adjournment) of Parliament in each year from 1882 to 1905. that he did not read the newspapers-though a reference to the precise words and the occasion on which they were used would be desirable-it might be claimed that the precedent had been set him by a predecessor in the office of First Lord of the Treasury, the seventh Duke of Devonshire, who, on 29 December, 1762, wrote from Bath to the Duke of Newcastle, just after Lord Bute had come into power : "I am pleased with a bon mot that I am told is in one of the public papers (for I never read them), viz., that the Ministers have turned out everybody your Grace helped to bring in, except the King." The bon mot in question-which should read, "It is generally believed that every person brought in by the Duke of Newcastle is now, by the present Minister, to be turned out-except the King appeared, it may be added, in The North in Mr. Dilke's Papers of a Critic,' vol. ii. Briton, No. 30, 26 December, 1762, as is noted POLITICIAN. p. 298 n. 277.)-At different times questions have been 'THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE.' (See 10th S. i. asked in 'N. & Q.' regarding this alliterative poem. It was copied in full from Bentley's Miscellany of March, 1838, in 3rd S. iv. 88 (1 August, 1863). As there are some evident errors in this version, I subjoin a copy of the poem taken verbatim from The Literary Gazette of 23 December, 1820. This is clearly the original version, and its authorship was claimed for Alaric Watts by his son at the reference given in the heading. The lines had been published previously in The Trifler of 7 May, 1817, the only variation from The Literary Gazette version being "Zorpater" instead of "Zampater" in the last line but one. THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE Addressed to the Admirers of Alliteration, and the Advocates of Noisy Numbers. "Ardentem Aspicio Atque Arrectis Auribus Asto."-Virgil. An Austrian army, awfully arrayed, Cossack commanders cannonading come, Dealing destruction's devastating doom. Every endeavour engineers essay, For fame, for fortune fighting-furious fray! Infuriate-indiscriminate in ill Kinsmen kill kindred, kindred kinsmen kill: Men march 'mid mounds, 'mid moles, 'mid murderous mines! Of outward obstacles, opposing ought. | Poor patriots !-partly purchased, partly pressed,— GEORGE BUCHANAN. In the late Dr. Wallace's volume on George Buchanan, in the "Famous Scots" Series, there is an interesting reference to Buchanan's legendary character as a professional jester. The reference is as follows: "Up to the middle of this [the nineteenth] cenEntertaining Exploits of George Buchanan,' sometury, a chapbook usually entitled The Witty and times adding 'The King's Jester,' ran through many editions, original and revised, and had a certain vogue all over Scotland." I distinctly remember the occurrence of this pamphlet as late as the "seventies," when I was a lad eager to read. One of its remarkable stories has never left my memory. This was a telling and humorous description of an intellectual encounter between the redoubtable jester and a French or Italian "professor of the language of signs." A propos of this quaint idea of Buchanan, a question addressed the other day to an old man in a rural district of the Scottish Midlands, whether he knew aught of George Buchanan, brought the answer, "O yes! that was the king's fule." W. B. Queries. WE must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. THOMAS À BECKET.-Is the à of modern introduction in this name; and, if so, what is the date of the introduction? The à is used by the present family, who claim descent from the martyr. Any information on this point would much oblige THE RECTOR OF SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL. NAPOLEON ON BYRON.-I should be very much obliged to you if you would put the question to your readers whether any of them can quote any saying or sayings of Napoleon about Byron. Byron, as you know, praised Napoleon very highly at first, as in the stanzas, "We do not curse thee, Waterloo"; but his 'Ode to Napoleon' is justly severe; so that possibly Napoleon first praised and then attacked Byron. I am an enthusiastic admirer of Byron, and have built Byron House, in Fleet Street, in his honour, where there is a medallion of him over the door, surrounded by a wreath of laurels, in statuary marble, and another inside, whilst several hundreds of lines of his poetry are engraved on statuary marble |