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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL JAS. 20, 1907.
WE must request correspondents desiring in-
formation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that answers may be sent to them direct.
" MITIS." Recent English dictionaries
have mitis-green, another name for Scheele's
green, and mitis- casting, a process for in-
creasing the fluidity of molten iron and
steel by the addition of a small quantity of
aluminium. The words Mitisgrun, Mitis-
guss, are used in German, and are explained
by Muret-Sanders as derived from the name
of a Vienna manufacturer. It does not seem
very likely (though of course it is not im-
possible) that the name of the same person
is contained in both these terms, as they
belong to very different branches of tech-
nology, and mitis-green occurs as early as
1839, while mitis-casting is spoken of as a
novelty in 1886. Can any authentic infor-
mation be found respecting the origin of
these terms ? HENRY BRADLEY.
Clarendon Press, Oxford.
" MOKE," A DONKEY. The earliest in- stance of this word known to me is in May- hew's ' London Labour and the London Poor,' 1851. Can any older example be found ? I have a recollection of having seen the word (spelt " mouk," and printed in inverted commas) in a letter or diary written by a lady at some English seaside resort, but whether the date was earlier or later than 1851 I do not remember.
HENRY BRADLEY. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
" MULATTO." What is the etymology of this word ? There is no doubt that the word is derived from the Sp. or Port, mulato, and that the Eng. spelling is due to the It. form mulatto. The Port, mulato means one born of a negro and of a white woman or of a negress and of a white man ; the word at first meant a mule. Diez says that the original meaning of mulato was a young mule, the suffix -ato having a diminutive force and expressing youth. Dozy in his ' Glossaire ' (p. 384) says, " Mulato est proprement un mot portugais, et dans cette langue il signifie, 1, mulet ; 2, figurement muldtre." From this it appears to be certain that mulatto is a derivative of Lat. mulus, a mule. The only thing that re-
Suires explanation is the Port, suffix -ato. b is a pity that Diez has not given any examples of its use as a diminutive. Then, again, how can the suffix -ato be explained ?
It cannot be from Lat. -atus, as this suffix
becomes -ado in popular words in Portuguese.
The intervocal t points to the loss of a Latin
consonant. The etymology of Diez and
Dozy is therefore not made out quite satis-
factorily.
Hence another explanation has been attempted. Engelmann derives mulato from an Arabic word muwallad (see Diez)~ But muwallad does not mean " one of mixed race." It means properly " adopted," and in Spain during the reign of the Omaiyades the Spaniards who had embraced the religion of Muhammad were so called. This is far away from the meaning of " mulatto." Besides this objection, the phonetic diffi- culties are insuperable. How could mulato possibly come from muwallad ? How can a Port, t be derived from an Arabic d ?' How can one explain the disappearance of the strongly stressed syllable in the Arabic word ?
Doubtless ' N.E.D.' will derive " mulatto ' r from " mule," and will be able to give a satisfactory account of the difficult Port, suffix -ato. A. L. MAYHEW.
Oxford.
ROYAL KEPIER SCHOOL, HOTTGHTON-LE- SPRING. An attempt is being made to gather as complete a record of the alumni of the above school as it is now possible to make. Founded by Bernard Gilpin in 1574, it was for more than two centuries one of the principal centres of education in the north of England. The School Register includes the names of many eminent men ; for ex- ample, George Carleton, Bishop of Landaff ; Hugh Broughton, the Hebraist ; Henry Airey, Provost of Queen's College, Oxford ; Ralph Ironside, father of the Bishop of Bristol, and grandfather of the Bishop of Hereford of that name ; Robert Surtees, the historian ; and Robert Henry Allan,, the antiquary.
Lists of, or notes relative to, scholars prior to 1860, when the existing Register com- mences, will be gladly welcomed by either the head master, Mr. F. L. Gaul, M.A., or myself. H. R. LEIGHTON.
East Boldon, R.S.O., co. Durham.
SUBSIDY ROLLS. Has any one attempted to arrive at an intelligible conclusion as. to the method employed by the assessors of mediaeval and Tudor subsidies ? How were the lands valued, and how were goods ? We are accustomed to regard these taxes as unjustifiably severe. To me they seem not only very light, but also levied in a singularly partial fashion. I will not speak
