234
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. SEPT. 19, MOB.
or quarter-acre the lesser yard, as distin-
guished from the greater yard, which was
a quarter of a hide. From the lesser yard
came our term " yard " for an enclosed
space about the house kail-yard, farm-yard,
orchard. I know that attempts are made to
separate old English geard, a yard measure,
from geard, an enclosed yard ; but they seem
to me unfounded.
The series of terms from geard =" yard," and virga=" verge," evolve in almost parallel lines, with equivalent meanings at almost every stage (9 S. vii. 281). Some years ago I accepted, but only provisionally, the derivation of verger from viridarium ; I have since given it up. While virga and viridis have the same root in vireo, the two branches differ in their evolution through the Romance tongues. Each keeps its charac- teristic consonant, g, hard or soft, in one, d or t in the other ; while the r may be dropped in either. I therefore consider that the g is verger marks a derivation from virga, and that it excludes viridis.
EDWAKD NICHOLSON.
Liverpool.
Vergel is certainly cognate with Fr. verger, as is also the corresponding Ital. word verziere. See Diaz. H. P. L.
"SABUM" (10 S. ii. 445, 496; iii. 37, 75, 197, 237). It is fair to note that even in the thirteenth century a scribe did read (at any rate once) Sar (with a stroke through the tail of the r) as Sarum. In the Memoranda Roll for Hillary term, 1265 (L.T.R., 48 and 49 Hen. III., m. 6), is the entry :
" Walterus Ballardi et Henricus Stok, visores regis operacionum in castro Saru, affidauerunt pro iijii. xij.y. viijd. positis in ponte eiusdem castri perficiendo et reparacione molendini eiusdem castri et stagni eiusdem molendini et reparacione domo- rum regis in eodem castro."
, (At the same time it is to be pointed out that one of the accountants was an Italian, and the writer of the enrolled memorandum perhaps too conscientiously " extended " a form of "suspension" natural to an Italian, who closed a word with any letter ending with a tail on the line (cf. 10 S. ix. 177). I have heard a suggestion that " Old Sarum " was by some scribal device distinguished from the new town of Salisbury ; and it looks as if the above entry may relate to the former place. Q. y.
THE MYSTERIES OF THE EMBO BARONETCY <10 S. vii. 246, 315, 372). It was stated in these pages that Dr. John Gordon of Oolspietower, and Greencastle, Jamaica,
was the father of Robert Home Gordon of
Embo by Isabel Grant, widow of James
Sutherland of Pronsie. He is referred to
in the following epitaph in St. Peter's, Dor-
chester (Hutchins's ' Dorset,' ii. 386) :
- Near this place lies the body of John Gordon,
Esq r , son of Robert Gordon, Esq r , of Pronsey; grandson of Sir John Gordon, Baronet, of Embo in Sutherland. He died at Dorchester, Oct. 4 th , 1774, aged 46, on his return to [from ?] Jamaica, where he had resided many years in universal esteem. He was signally instrumental in quelling a dan- gerous rebellion in that island in the year 1760, a large body of negroes, whom his bravery had repulsed, finally yielding to their confidence in his humanity. This monument is erected as a mark of affection to the memory of the best of brothers."
The riots broke out on 8 April, 1760, but I find at the Record Office no mention of Gordon in connexion with them. His will is at Somerset House. J. M. BULLOCH.
118, Pall Mall, S.W.
" DEATH WARRANTS " : " COFFIN NAILS" : "FAGS" (10 S. ix. 507). The first two, as applied to cigarettes, evidently refer to the supposed unhealthiness of their use ; but the term " fags " is different, and is no doubt an abbreviation for " fag-ends," just as " stumps " is applied to the rejected ends or stump ends of cigars. " Fag " is not a cigarette, but only the fag-end of one.
A. H.
ALPHONSO : HAAKON (10 S. vi. 25). MR. A. S. ELLIS says that the name Haakon " seems to have been kept up " in the Orkney and Shetland Isles " from the days of Earl Hakon, the half-brother of the Earl of St. Magnus." Can he give us examples ? I know one or two individuals with the Christian name Magnus, but none called Haco, nor can I find any example of the name in Peace's * Almanac and County Directory.' Haco is not common, either, among Orkney place-names, the only example I know being Haco's Ness in Shapinsay.
ALEX. RUSSELL.
Strom ness.
AUGUSTINIAN CARDINAL : MOUNT GRACE
(10 S. ix. 429). Moroni in his ' Dizionario
Ecclesiastico,' iv. 32, speaks of Bonaventura
Badoario as an Augustinian hermit, and
says :
"Nel 1377 i suoi meriti distintissimi lo solle- varono al generale magistero dell' Ordine a Verona, benche vogliano i Bollandisti essere cio avvenuto nel 1378. Poco dopo fu decorato della sacra por- pora col titolo di S. Cecilia da Urbano VI. nella prima promoziqne che fece nel 1378, non gia, come vogliono alcuni, nella terza promozione del de- cembre, 1881."
