io- s. i. JUNE 11, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
463
is a diminutive of sibus, siba, sipus, connected
with sapio. Salmasius, who scouted the
accepted derivation from crtos @ov\r}, sug-
gested in his turn a derivation which Prof.
Ramsay ('Ovid Selections,' p. 259) considered
less "reasonable" than the other too un-
reasonable, indeed, to be even quoted. The
derivation proposed by Salmasius ('Exerci-
tationes Plinianse ') was from 0-1817, pome-
granate (tree and fruit). St'Sr;, of which
another form a-i/BSa occurs, is said to be a
Phoenician (or Carthaginian) word. If, as is
not improbable, there attached to the pome-
granate a "sacred" character "a tree of
knowledge," or something of that kind we
should not only be inclined to think that
Salmasius had come nearer the mark than
Prof. Ramsay had imagined, but we should
also find some light thrown on the obscure
and vexed question of the sibyl and the
"golden bough " of Virgil. I need not men-
tion the story of Proserpine and the pome-
granate as told by Ovid, but the Irish tale
of Connla's Well may here be quoted from
Prof. Rhys's ' Celtic Heathendom ' (p. 554) :
" Over this well there grew nine beautiful mys-
tical hazel-trees, which annually sent forth their
blossoms and fruits simultaneously. The nuts were
of the richest crimson colour, and teemed with the
knowledge of all that was refined in literature,
poetry, and art. No sooner, however, were the
beautiful nuts produced on the trees, than they
always dropped into the well, raising by their fall
a succession of shining red bubbles. Now, during
this time the water was always full of salmon ; and
no sooner did the bubbles appear than these salmon
darted to the surface and ate the nuts, after which
they made their way to the river. The eating of
the nuts produced brilliant crimson spots on the
bellies of these salmon ; and to catch and eat these
salmon became an object of more than mere
gastronomic interest among those who were
anxious to become distinguished in the arts and
in literature without being at the pains and delay
of long study ; for the fish was supposed to have
become filled with the knowledge which was con-
tained in the nuts, which, it was believed, would
be transferred in full to those who had the good
fortune to catch and eat them. Such a salmon was
on that account called the Eo Feasa,, or ' Salmon
of Knowledge.'"
When I add to this that Welsh has not only in current use an adjective syw (now only in the sense of "trim," "neat" in bearing and dress), but also siwin, a famous local species of Salmonidse, siwen, " an epithet of a mermaid " (Pughe), and an obso- lete term for a philosopher, syivedydd, it will be seen that we have here strong grounds for considering these terms akin to sibyl, sibus, and sapio.
But to return to the district of the golden bough : even if Salmasius was wrong about 0-1877. there is in the territory of the Hirpini
a weird lake called Amsanctus (cf . Ampsaga,
now the Wady-el-Kebir, Algeria), whose
presiding goddess bore an apparently Greek
name, viz., Mephitis. Now Salmasius's sug-
gestion as to an ^Eolic (and Doric) change of
th into ph=f, would undoubtedly clear up
the obscurity of the word Mephitis. Meflwts
is a Greek word for intoxication ; and stupe-
faction or intoxication due to the gas-laden
atmosphere of Amsanctus might very well
pass into inspiration. In Welsh the common
word for intoxication is meddvvdod, which,
just like the Greek, is (exceptionally) accented
on the first syllable. There was, I may add,
a temple dedicated to Mephitis at Cremona
in Cis- Alpine Gaul, so that we have here a
clear indication of Celtic contact with the
home of the sibyl cult. J. P. OWEN.
(To be continued.)
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE
WORKS OF CHARLES DIBDIN. (See 9 th S. viii. 39, 77, 197, 279 ; ix. 421 ; x. 122, 243 ;
xi. 2, 243, 443 ; xii. 183, 283, 423, 462.) 1806 (?). The Passions in a Series of Ten Songs, for the voice and Pianoforte. Written and com- posed by Mr. Dibdin. Ent d at Sta 8 Hall. Price 8s. Printed and sold at Bland & Willer's [sic] Music Warehouse, No. 23, Oxford Street, where may be had all the above author's works. Folio, 21pp.
Contains ten songs. Each song has a vignette at top, and is arranged for two flutes. Water- mark date 1806.
1806. The Broken Gold, a ballad opera, in two acts, as performed, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the words and music by Mr. Dibdin. Ent. at Sta. Hall. Price 8s. London, printed and sold at Bland & Weller's, Music Warehouse, 23, Oxford Street, where may be had all the above author's works. Folio, 41 pp.
Opera produced 8 February, 1806.
Songs, &c., in The Broken Gold, a ballad opera, in two acts, written and composed by Mr. Dibdin.
[Vignette, probably by Miss Dibdin.] London ^
Printed by T. \\ oodfall, and published for the Author by all the Booksellers, of whom may be had Mr. Dibdin's literary works. 1806. 8vo.
Engraved title as above, also printed title,, pp. viii (not numbered consecutively) and 24.
1807. The Public Undeceived, written by Mr. Dibdin ; and containing a statement of all the material facts relative to his pension. Price 2.?. Published for the author by C. Chappie, Pall Mall, (of whom may be had, wholesale or retail, all Mr. Dibdin's publications) and sold by all the book- sellers throughout the United Kingdom. Printed by H. Reynell, No. 21, Piccadilly. 8vo, 57 pp.
Dated 7 April, 1807.
1807. Henry Hooka. A Novel. By Mr. Dibdin, author of Hannah He wett Younger Brother Musical Tour Professional Life Harmonic Pre- ceptorHistory of the Stage, &c. &c. In Three
