Etymology of "Monk" and "Till," &c. (Vol. viii., pp. 291. 409.).—Will you allow me one word on these two cases? Monk is manifestly a Greek formative from μονος, and denotes a solitaire.
The proposed derivation of till, from to-while, is not new; but still clearly mistaken, inasmuch as the word till is found in Scotch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and others of the family. A word thus compounded would be of less general use. Besides which, to-while would scarcely produce such a form as till; it would rather change the t into an aspirate, which would appear as th.
B. H. C.
Forrell (Vol. vii., p. 630.).—Your correspondent T. Hughes derives this word (applied in Devonshire, as he tells us, to the cover of book) from forrell, "a term still used by the trade to signify an inferior kind of vellum." Is it not more natural to suppose it to be the same word which the French have made fourreau, a cover or sheath? (See Du Cange, vv. Forellus, Forrellus.)
J. H. T.
Dublin.
Parochial Libraries (Vol. vii., p. 507.; Vol. viii. passim).—There is a library at Wimborne Minster, in the Collegiate Church, which, on my visit two years since, appeared to contain some valuable volumes, and was neglected and in very bad condition.
θ.