Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/35

Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. 17 the present abnormal pressure of work, A.R. might have recourse to the old official records now kept at the Record Office, Chancery Lane, London, and search " Lieutenants' Certificates of Service 1802-1848 " (Naval Board Passing Certificates, No. 71). These books give in each case, place of birth and age of the several officers mentioned, which being ascertained might lead to the discovery of parentage through the medium of the baptismal registers of the parish con- cerned. L, Edye, Lieutenant-Colonel. 12. Devonshire (VIIL, p. 176, par. 149). — In modern speech the words " shire " and ** county " are almost synon- omous terms. Thus it is correct to say " Devonshire," " Devon County," or *' County of Devon," but the expression " County of Devonshire " is as tautologic as calling a horse a "four-footed quadruped." Although by recent legislation the word " county " has become the standard administrative term, there are certain conventions due to local usage which seem to determine the employment of "shire" either as a word or a terminal syllable. In Wales (including Monmonth) and in Scotland it is usual, but in Ireland it is never used. The last named country has another peculiarity ; one always speaks there of " County Cork " or " County Donegal," never of " the County of Cork " or " County of Donegal." The use of "shire" as a terminal syllable can be traced as far back as the ninth century; thus in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Benet MS. of supposed date 891) we find two entries relating to " Defenascir" (Wicganbeorge 851, and Healfdenes' raid 878) Under 871 *' Hamtunscir " and " Bearrucscir " are mentioned, and the former also under date 755. Several of the Chronicle entries omit the termination and speak of "Defenas" or "Defnas" which may mean either "the land of Devon " or " the people of Devon." A note appended to the chronicles of Simeon of Durham, possibly added by a twelfth century transcriber {Works Ed. Hinde, vol. i., p. 221) gives an account of the divisions of England at some time previous to the Conquest, probably in the reign of Edgar. It would appear that the kingdom then consisted of three Teutonic provinces (Westsexenelaga, Merch- enlaga, and Denelaga) and two Celtic provinces (Cumberland