FOLK LORE.

Valentine's Day (Vol. v., p. 55.).

—Your correspondent J. S. A. will find the following notice of a similar custom to the one he alludes to in Mr. L. Jewitt's paper on the Customs of the County of Derby, in the last number of the Journal of the British Archæological Association:

"Of the latter (divinations) there is a curious instance at Ashborne, where a young woman who wishes to divine who her future husband is to be, goes into the church-yard at midnight, and as the clock strikes twelve, commences running round the church, repeating without intermission—

'I sow hemp-seed, hemp-seed I sow,

He that loves me best

Come after me and mow.'

Having thus performed the circuit of the church twelve times without stopping, the figure of her lover is supposed to appear and follow her."

Nottingham Hornblowing.

—About the beginning of December the boys in and around Nottingham amuse themselves, to the annoyance of the more peaceable inhabitants, by parading the streets and blowing horns. I have noticed this for several years, and therefore do not think it is any whim or caprice which causes them to act thus; on the contrary, I think it must be the relic of some ancient custom. If any of your correspondents could elucidate this, it would particularly oblige

STOMACHOSUS.

Bee Superstitions—Blessing Apple-trees—"A Neck! a Neck!"

—The superstition concerning the bees is common among the smaller farmers in the rural districts of Devon. I once knew an apprentice boy sent back from the funeral cortège by the nurse, to tell the bees of it, as it had been forgotten. They usually put some wine and honey for them before the hives on that day. A man whose ideas have been confused frequently says his "head has been among the bees" (buzzing).

The custom is still very prevalent in Devonshire of "hollowing to the apple-trees" on Old Christmas Eve. Toasted bread and sugar is soaked in new cider made hot for the farmer's family, and the boys take some out to pour on the oldest tree, and sing—

"Here's to thee,

Old apple-tree,

From every bough

Give apples enough,

Hat fulls, cap fulls

Bushel, bushel boss fulls.

Hurrah, hurrah!"

The village boys go round also for the purpose, and get some halfpence given them for their "hollering," as they call it. I believe this to be derived from a Pagan custom of offering to Ceres.

The farmer's men have also a custom, on cutting the last sheaf of wheat on the farm, of shouting out "A neck! a neck!" as they select a handful of the finest ears of corn, which they bind up, and plait the straw of it, often very prettily, which they present to the master, who hangs it up in the farm kitchen till the following harvest. I do not know whence this custom arises.

WILLIAM COLLYNS, M.R.C.S.

Kenton.

Hooping Cough.

—In Cornwall, a slice of bread and butter or cake belonging to a married couple whose Christian names are John and Joan, if eaten by the sufferer under this disorder, is considered an efficacious remedy, though of course not always readily found.

W. S. S.

NOTE ON THE COINS OF VABALATHUS.
(Vol. iv., pp. 255. 427. 491.)

Since the publication of my last note on the coins of Vabalathus, I have obtained the Lettres Numismatiques du Baron Marchant, 1850. The original edition being very rare, and I believe only three hundred of this one having been printed, I have thought it might be as well to record some additional information from it in your pages. Marchant reads, "Vabalathus Verenda Concessione Romanorum Imperatore Medis datus Rex." It is needless to remark on this, further than on the more ancient interpretations. He points out that the Greek letters, or rather numerals, show the coins to have been struck in a country where Greek, if not the popular language, was that of the government, along with Latin. This country was necessarily an Oriental one, and I think this observation would rather lead to the inference that the word VCRIMDR, occupying the place usually filled by Cæsar, Augustus, ϹΕΒΑϹΩϹ, &c., might be an Oriental title, though expressed in Latin letters. Millin, to whom he had communicated his view, thought correctly "que ça sentait un peu le père Harduin," and it was only published in the posthumous edition of his works. De Gauley has published coins struck by the Arabs in Africa, which have Latin legends, in some of which the Arabic titles are given in Latin letters. The Emir Musa Ben Nasir appears thus, MυSE. F. NASIR. AMIRA. The coins of Vabalathus offer a more ancient example of the same. I have given what appears to me the clue, and I hope it will be followed out by Orientalists. M. de Longperier, in his annotations to the 28th letter, shows that the name Ἀθηνᾶς is derived from Ἀθηνόδωρος, and appears to think ΑΘΗΝΟΥ or ΑΘΗΝΥ the genitive of ΑΘΗΝΑϹ. The difficulty, he says, is, that names in ᾶς have, in the Alexandrian dialect, the genitive ᾶτος. He does not appear to have noticed the reading as ΥΙοϹ (or ΟΥ as Ο ΥΙοϹ?), which appears to me to remove the difficulty, but also to obviate the necessity of the name Ἀθηνᾶς at all. He remarks on the similarity of name between Αθηνας, Αθηνατος, and Odenathus.

"If," he says, "we examine comparatively Vabalath (ΟΥΑΒΑΛΑΘ) and Odenath, or rather Odanath, as in Zosimus, we see an analogous formation; Ou-baalat, Ou-tanat, the feminine of Baal or Bel, and of Tan, Dan, or Zan, preceded by the same syllable. Baalat is a Scripture form (Jos. xix. 44.; 1 Kings ix. 48.; Paral. ii. viii. 6.). De Gauley has found the name of Tanat in a Phœnician inscription, and Lenormant remarks that this feminine form of Zan, or Jupiter, corresponds to Athéné. Thus Ou-tanat is the equivalent of Athenas, consequently of Athenodorus."

Vabalathus is thus, if these etymological considerations be correct, the son of Odenathus. Longperier proposes to read ΕΡΩΤΑϹ for ϹΡΩΙΑϹ, and to consider this the equivalent of Herodes, mentioned by Trebellius Pollio. With all deference to M. de Longperier, I venture to oppose the following objections. First, Some coins read ϹΡΙΑϹ, which would read ΕΡΤΑϹ on his principle. Since, in the coins of Zenobia, Vabalathus, and those bearing the name of Athenodorus, whether struck by Vabalathus or not, is not material at present, we find the names at full length, not omitting the vowels, it is natural to suppose that the same would here take place, if the word really were the name of Herodes. To explain, if we found ΖΗΝΟΒΙΑ and ΖΝΟΒΙΑ, ΑΘΗΝΟΔΩΡΟϹ and ΑΘΝΔΡΟϹ, or similar contractions, we might consider ΕΡΩΤΑϹ and ΕΡΤΑϹ identical. Secondly, On my specimens of this coin I find the ι in this word distinctly formed, and the Τ in the next word ΑΥΤ as distinct. All authors have read this letter ι, although varying in the rest. Thirdly, On the obverse of these specimens the Ε is larger and more open than the Ϲ, as may be seen in the conclusion ...ΝΟϹ . ϹΕΒ, where it is preceded by two sigmas, and is easy to compare with them. We should naturally expect to find it having the same form on the reverse, if the reading ΕΡΩΤΑϹ were correct. But it is of the same size as the other letters, on my specimens at least. I need not say that there is no trace of the central stroke.

W. H. S.