Hogmanay.—This word, applied in Scotland to the last day of the year, is derived by Jamieson (I believe, but have not his Dictionary to refer to) from the Greek ἁγία μήνη.
Can any of your correspondents north of the Tweed, or elsewhere, give the correct source?
W. T. M.
Hong Kong.
[Our correspondent is probably not aware that Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 457-461. (Bohn's edit.), has devoted a chapter to this term. Among other conjectural etymologies he adds the following: "We read in the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed, that it is ordinary among some plebeians in the South of Scotland to go about from door to door on New Year's Eve, crying Hagmena, a corrupted word from the Greek αγια μηνη i. e. holy month. John Dixon, holding forth against this custom once, in a sermon at Kelso, says: 'Sirs, do you know what hagmane signifies? It is, the devil be in the house! that's the meaning of its Hebrew original,' p. 102. Bourne agrees in the derivation of Hagmena given in the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed. 'Angli,' says Hospinian, 'Haleg-monath, quasi sacrum mensem vocant.' De Origine Ethn., p. 81." See also an ingenious essay on Hagmena in the Caledonian Mercury for Jan. 2, 1792, from which the most important parts have been extracted by Dr. Jamieson in his art. "Hogmanay.">[
Longfellow's "Hyperion."—Can any of your readers tell me why that magnificent work of Longfellow's, which though in prose contains more real poetry than nine-tenths of the volumes of verse now published, is called Hyperion?
Mordan Gillott.
[Hyperion is an epithet applied to Apollo, and is used by Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 2.:
"Hyperion to a satyr."
Warburton says, "This similitude at first sight seems to be a little far-fetched, but it has an exquisite beauty. By the satyr is meant Pan, as by Hyperion Apollo. Pan and Apollo were brothers, and the allusion is to the contention between those gods for the preference in music." Steevens, on the other hand, believes that Shakspeare "has no allusion in the present instance, except to the beauty of Apollo, and its immediate opposite, the deformity of a satyr." Hyperion or Apollo is represented in all the ancient statues as exquisitely beautiful, the satyrs hideously ugly.]