10 s. VIL FEB. 23, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
153
Nativity refers to the legendary belief that
the Sibyls prophesied the coining of Christ.
The number of the Sibyls is variously given. Lactantius ('Inst.,' i. 6), quoting from a lost work of Varro, enumerates ten. Among well-known representations of the Sibyls in art may be mentioned Michael Angelo's on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Raphael's in the church of S. Maria della Pace (Rome), and those in the marble pavement of the Duomo at Sienna.
EDWARD BENSLY.
University College, Aberystwyth.
The paintings represent eight Sibyls. The epithets of locality attached to each of them should probably be (in the order of the query) as follows : Samia, Delphica, Cumsea, Erythraea, ^Egyptia, Persica, Phrygia (or Frigia), and Tiburtina.
S. G. HAMILTON.
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES : ITS CESSATION (10 S. vii. 41). I am glad that my careless blunder in confusing Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 with the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitu- tion of the United States adopted in 1865 has met with such prompt correction from MR. FORREST MORGAN of Hartford and MR. J. G. EWING of Chicago.
ALBERT MATTHEWS. Boston, Mass.
- " CElL-DE-BOEUF," FRENCH
SLANG WORDS (10 S. vii. 8, 50). Information gathered from slang dictionaries, Littre, and a Parisian friend enables me to state that thune or tune now belongs to what is called argot des malfaiteurs, that it is not a very well-known word, and that it actually means money in general rather than a five- franc piece. The last assertion is proved from the expression une thune, de cinq balles, that is, une piece de cinq francs.
The origin of the term is not clear ; but may I suggest that it might come from the word time, derived from tun ? (" Tun, s.m. ! Nom donne dans le departement du Nord a j la craie glauconieuse," Littre.) It is true i that chalk and money do not seem nearly ! related ; but when we find that another i slang name for it in French is pldtre, we may j reasonably suppose that the whiteness of j chalk and plaster must have suggested ! silver.
As MR. PLATT is collecting popular names of coins, perhaps the following list of words will interest him. They all mean money j in French modern slang : Nerf de la guerre ; quibus ; beurre ; biscuit ; braise ; galette i
(" avoir de la galette " ; " il n'a pas de
galette ") ; os ; picaillons ; pognon and
poignon ; radis ; rond. Among these braise
and galette seem favourites.
In conclusion, I will say that in older slang tune and tunebee were used for Bicetre (depot-de mendicite) ; that tuner meant to beg, and tuneur a beggar. But these are now marked as antiquated, and the same may be said of tune and wil-de-bceuf in the sense of a five-franc piece.
M. HAULTMONT.
" (Eil de b<ruf. Piece de cinq francs." '" Thune. Piece de cinq francs dans 1'argot des voleurs. On dit aussi Thime de cinq balle*. See ' Dictionnaire de la Langue Verte,' by Alfred Delvau, pp. 316 and 439 (Paris, C. Marpin et E. Flammarion, 1883).
T. F. D.
The ' Dictionnaire d' Argot, Fin de Siecle,' by Charles Virmaitre (Paris, 1894), states that tuner, to beg, is apocope of importuner, and that the word for the Prison de la Force, demolished in 1850, was tunobe, not tune ; other dictionaries give tune^on. It is pos- sible that the word for a five-franc piece is unconnected with the last two words. On p. 51, supra, read broque for beogue.
H. P. L.
May T add a few words to the list already given ?
Piece d'or, bonnet jaunc, boutou, nap, ceil de perdrix, senaque, sigle, signe.
Piece d'argent, sonnette.
Piece de 5fr., gourdoche.
Piece de 2fr., larantque.
Piece de Ifr., point.
Piece de 50 c., planchisseuse, petite pistole.
Piece de 20 c., invalicle, lasque.
Piece de 10 c.,Udv.
Piece de 5 c., broque, dirling, petard, rotin.
Centimes, bidoches.
EDWARD LATHAM.
Thune is not in any way connected with Lat. thunnus, a tunny fish, as H. P. L. opines. In Victor Hugo's 'Notre Dame de Paris,' bk. ii. chap, vi., it is stated that the Roi de Thunes (Tunis) was the recognized head or king of the Parisian beggars, in company with the Duke of Egypt and the Emperor of Galilee, who held sway respect- ively over the gipsies and the Jews : hence, in the language of French thieves, thune, apparently derived from " Tunis " signifies " pieces," or money in general. Thune de cinq balles, or simply Thune, means a five- franc piece, as thune de camelotte does spurious money. Bille, from billon, base coin, is another rogues' word for money ; while billemont is their denomination for paper
