186
NOTES AND QUERIES. no s. XL MAR. 6, im
21 Jan., 1899, p. 5, col. 6). The Athenaeum
has used norn de guerre several times of
late; see, for example, 23 Nov., 1907,
p. 657, the term being applied to a peaceful
poem entitled ' Spring in London.'
Nom de plume (as stated 10 S. x. 83) is a mongrel English coinage by a person ignorant of French.
The Athenaeum distinguishes between the two ; see 10 S. viii. 248, 356.
RALPH THOMAS.
DICKENS : PODSNAP AND HIS PHOTOTYPE.
I read in a review in The Athenceum
(6 February) of Mr. Pugh's ' Charles Dickens,
the Apostle of the People,' the words : "It
is even suggested that in Podsnap he
[Dickens] portrayed himself."
How such a suggestion can be maintained for a moment I cannot conceive. Dickens was the last person deliberately to limit ."his views of things like Podsnap. ' John Forster,' by " One of his Friends " (Chapman & Hall, 1903), gives a much more likely suggestion. On p. 23 I read : " Podsnap had many touches of Forster, but the writer dared not let himself go in that character as he would have longed to do." Reference is further made to the " favourite right arm flourish which sweeps away everything and settles it for ever, &c.," as characteristic of Forster, who was summoned by a cabman for not paying enough, and described as a " harbitrary gent."
It is no secret that the entertaining little book I have quoted from was written by Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, who knew both Forster Dickens well. NEL MEZZO.
" DEFIXIONUM TABELLJE " : DISRAELI.
Tn an article by F. B. Jevons in the Trans-
actions of the ' Third International Congress
for the History of Religions,' 1908, vol. ii.
p. 131, we read :
"When we come across a practice which is employed by one member of a community with the object of causing death or disaster to another, we may reasonably regard it as magical rather than religious, as operating independently of the gods rather than by their assistance. Such a practice we come across in the ' defixionum tabellre.' The object of defixio is to cause, if not death, then disaster. Its apparatus consists of a tablet of lead, inscribed with the name of the person to be injured, and ' defixed ' with a nail," &c.
For a modern instance take this : I never trouble to be avenged. When a man injures me I put his name on a slip of paper, and lock it up in a drawer. It is marvellous how the men I have thus labelled have the knack of dis- appearing."' Beaconsfield Maxims,' 1905, p. 101.
The anonymous compiler does not give
chapter and verse for each of Disraeli's
maxims, but no doubt the passage can be
easily traced.
WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. Ramoyle, Dowanhill Gardens, Glasgow.
DANTE : DORANDO : DURAND. Accord- ing to Brugmann, Dante is a pet, or con- tracted, form of Durante. This suggests Dorando (cp. Angl. - Norm. Doraunt in Bardsleys 'Diet.') Durand, and Durrant, well-known names. For the meaning, cp. ' Piers the Plowman ' (B. xx. 139:
so keue a tightere,
And boold and bidynye.
H. P. L.
RUSSIAN NAMES. The death of the Grand Duke Vladimir has led to much discussion of this remarkable man, but I notice that few people pronourice his name correctly. It should rime to " dreamer," but English speakers generally rime it to " Tadema," which makes a Russian shudder. I am afraid Englishmen boggle at most Russian names,
Those discords of narration, Which may be names at Moscow,
as Byron wittily calls them. There is a tendency to treat as dactyls all such names as Durnovo, Demidoff, Lobanoff, Romanoff, Yermoloff, which ought to be stressed on the penultimate. Similarly, the name Mala- koff , the fortification erected by the Russians at Sevastopol, is sounded Malakoff by Englishmen, but Malakoff by Russians. On the other hand, a few names of this type really are dactyls in Russian, such as Lebedeff and SkobSleff. JAS. PLATT, Jun.
BEACHEY HEAD : ITS DERIVATION. The Rev. T. Bunston, Vicar of Arlington, in a recent lecture on Sussex Place-names, referred thus to Beachey Head :
"BeacheyHead is a constant reminder to us of the Normans. As William's nobles looked across Pevensey Bay and saw the bold cliff. ' Beau chef,' said they, ' Fine head.' The name held, but the Saxons, not understanding it, and wishing, as always, to give some sense to the name, put on Head, making it Fine head Head. But this is constantly done."
The etymology is doubtful ; the Saxons must have had a name for the cliff before the arrival of the Normans, and the suffix ey seems to point to a Celtic origin.
JOHN HEBB.
" FOSSEL," TERM APPLIED TO DIAMONDS.
-" A Rose Stone, if round ; if long, a Fossel," occurs in Fryer's ' New Account of East India and Persia,' 1698, p. 213. I
