Minor Notes.
Note for Mr. Worsaae.—At page 204. of The Danes in England, Mr. W. says:
"Towards Glasgow and Edinburgh the mountains are no longer called 'fell' and 'rigg.'"
The Campsie Fells, a fine range of hills within nine miles of Glasgow, are an exception. These hills are never spoken of by the natives of the strath except by the name of "fells" and the singularity of the name has often been remarked to the writer of this note, especially by visitors to the valley. Before being much acquainted with the deeds of the Vikings (except in the general), he had come to the conclusion that the name must be Danish, from its similarity to "Fjeld," with which, in connexion with "Fiords," he had become familiar at a very early period.
Bruno.
Singular Epitaph.—The following epitaph occurs in Braunston churchyard, Northamptonshire:
"To the Memory of William Borrows, Died 1703.
"'Tis true I led a single life,
And Nare was married in my life,
For of that Seck (sic) I nare had none:
It is the Lord; his will be done."
Cranmore.
Largesse.—I heard this old word used the other day in Northamptonshire, by a servant who was leaving his employer, and who called upon one of his master's tradesmen to ask him for largisse, as he termed it. Certainly the peasants have preserved and handed down to the present time a vast number of old words, customs, and legends. It proves how much they owe to oral tuition.
A. B.
Brogue and Fetch.—There are a certain set of words which have become naturalised in English, by those who speak it in Ireland; as, amadan, a fool; brogue, a shoe (Ir. brog); palaver, fine speaking, soft talk (Ir. pi-labhradh). These are all Irish words; but there are others which are not English, and yet it is hard to make them out Irish. Brogue, meaning a broad Irish accent, is an instance; fetch is another:
"In Ireland (says Mr. Banim) a fetch is the supernatural fac-simile of some individual, which comes to assure to its original [or his friend or relative] a happy longevity or immediate dissolution. If seen in the morning, the one event is predicted; if in the evening, the other."
Taibhse (pr. thaivshe) is the Irish word, and perhaps fetch might be derived from it by a sort of metathesis.
Eirionnach.
Derivation of "Caul."—
"Guianerius, cap. 36., De Ægritud. Matr., speaks of a silly, jealous fellow, that, seeing his child new born, included in a kell (meaning a caul), thought sure a Franciscan, that used to come to his house, was the father of it, it was so like the friar's cowl, and thereupon threatened the friar to kill him!"—Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 3.
By this may we judge that caul and cowl are cognate? Coif (Martial.), in Latin Reticulum; whence a lady's reticule.
B. B.
"Pandecte," an entire Copy of the Bible.—Dr. Maitland, in his valuable essays on the Dark Ages, has drawn attention to this use of the word Pandecte, but was not at the time aware that it is so employed by any writer before Alcuin (p. 194. n. 9. ed. 1844). It will be found, however, in the following, extract from Bede's Chronicon (in Monument. Britan., p. 101. A). The historian is speaking of certain presents which his abbot, Ceolfrith, was carrying with him on his pilgrimage to Rome, when death cut it short at Langres:
"Qui inter alia donaria quæ adferre disposuerat, misit ecclesiæ S. Petri pandectem a B. Hieronymo in Latinum ex Hebræo vel Græco fonte translatum."
C. H.
St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.