JUNE 2*, m] NOTES AND QUERIES.
485
a broad outlining border of white or crea
colour, within which was a sort of red shaw
pattern, as far as I could make out, and from
the intersections of the trefoil's arcs radiatec
peacocks' feathers. I think it has alread
been pointed out that the dread of peacock
feathers which obtains in the " upper suckles
is not shared by the peasantry ; but I failec
to perceive in what way the bird of Jun
could be congruously associated with the de
cadent survivals of the Floralia. I had bee
worrying my head over the matter, who
I went to stay in a country rectory. In th
dressing-room allotted to me was a trophy o
peacocks' feathers surmounting the rnante
piece, whilst the bell-cord was terminated by
one of those brazen pendants, of common
occurrence on the harness of carthorses
which I believe Mr. Elworthy to have showr
to have originated as charms against the evi
eye. I noticed that, in this particular in
stance, the central symbol of the charm wa
a heart, and further observed that in severa
instances the "eye" of the feather was of a
heart shape. From these facts I evolve the
following argument and query. The essence
of the charm is, apparently, the heart, whicl
(as well as the eye-attracting vibration inci
dent to equine protections from fascination
is common to pendant and feather, and i
would, therefore, appear probable that the
choice of the feather was due to its displaying
the heart-shaped marking, and that it is
this which protects the horse from nocuous
glances. If this conjecture be correct, it be-
comes evident that the superstitious belief
as to the attributes of peacocks' feather has
bifurcated, and that the divergent lines have
tended towards the opposite poles of benefi-
cence and malignity ; but I am quite in the
dark, with the meagre evidence before me, as
to the manner in which this divergence has
actually come about, and if some of your
erudite correspondents can offer a satisfac-
tory explanation it will be very acceptable
to me and doubtless to others.
FRANK REDE FOWKE. 24, Victoria Grove, Chelsea.
" APHIKOUMON." The precise origin of the
word is involved in obscurity, yet every
Hebrew schoolboy knows that of the three
Passover cakes 'used on Seder nights the
larger segment of the middle one is called by
this Aramaic name. It is customary for the
master of the house to lay this aside till the
termination of the feast, when, prior to say-
ing grace and offering the cup of wine to
Elijah, he hands each guest a small portion
of this biscuit to be eaten. Now in some less
enlightened Jewish households a custom has
prevailed from time immemorial of preserv-
ing a piece of this cake from year to year.
For some talismanic reason, hitherto unex-
plained, they hang it in a conspicuous posi-
tion over the fireside. Perhaps these simple
folk, reasoning by analogy, imagine that Eli j ah,
the Jewish Mercury, might be straying by
their doors any day and might want to par-
take of this aphikoumon, even as he is sup-
posed to drink of their wine on Seder nights.
Probably it may be the aftermath of some
savage custom mentioned by Mr. E. B. Tylor
in his article 4 Anthropology ' in the ' Bri-
tannica.' He says :
" Russian peasants set out cakes for the ancestral manes on the ledge which supports the holy pic- tures, and make dough ladders to assist the ghosts of the dead to ascend out of their graves and start
on their journey for the future world In like
manner magic still exists in the civilized world as
i survival from savage and barbaric times by
langing up to shrivel mi the smoke an image or other object that similar destruction may fall on the hated person represented by the symbol."
[f it could be shown that this was a custom also among the Russian peasantry in bygone times, then the prayers in the second part of the Seder service would go far to account
- or the hanging of the Passover biscuit over
- he mantelpiece in the gloomy homes of Polish
Jews whose love for their native land is not ntense.
I might here point to a discrepancy in the article referred to above. Writing of the Jewish-German dialects, Mr. Tylor is made to ay, "Ich hab noch hojom lo geachelt" ("I lave not yet eaten to-day "). In the first )lace this Is not Yiddish at all. Lo, which '. take to be intended for Hebrew, is never used in the patois at all. When a negative is wanted nein or nicht is used. Hojom, which take to be synonymous with hayoum, He- braic for " to-day," would not be understood >y one foreign Jew in a thousand. He would enow the German word heute, pronounced and no other. Therefore the amended eading should be something like this, " Ich lab gar nisht hyte geachelt." Nisht is Yiddish or nicht. M. L. BRESLAR.
Percy House, South Hackney.
" PUTS NOWT UP TO MEAN NOWT." This is a
)erbyshire curiosity in the way in which one vord has two meanings. In the folk-speech
nowt" = nothing, but in the sentence which leads this the second "nowt"= any thing. I lave known "nowt" used in various ways in
Inch a negative is implied or understood.
wo men will have, an argument a dispute and the one who gets the worst of it
