366
NO FES AND QUERIES. [ii s. xn. NOV. 6, 1915.
WOBDS IN BISHOP DOUGLAS'S ' ENEADOS,'
1513 (11 S. xii. 156, 177, 215, 235, 255, 281,
323). I wish to acknowledge the courteous
manner in which DR. W. A. CRAIGIE has
-commented on my word lists. These would
have been shorter if the ' Oxford Dictionary '
had been more copiously supplied with cross-
references. For instance, few persons would
seek " folding gates " under Folden, " on
the jar " under Chare, or " piggeis " (Lat.
carbasus) under Peggy-mast. They would
have been shorter also if my own work had
been more thorough. Several points invite
discussion ; but, as the topic has already
occupied much space, I will allude to one
only.
Virgil says of certain warriors, " Lsevas -cetra tegit." Douglas translates, " A ballen pavis coueris thair left sydis." The late Mr. Small, who edited the ' Eneados,' explains t his as a shield made of whalebone ; and DR. CRAIGIE, p. 281, approves this gloss, quoting as a parallel " Of balayn both scheeld and targe," in * Goer de Lion.' My sug- gestion was that " ballen " is simply " balled " or rounded. The words of Virgil have no reference to whalebone, while the cetra was a short shield, usually rounded, with a thong to pass the arm through. Further, batten is a trochee, while balayn is an iambus, and so is baleen. Neither point by itself is conclusive, but together they seem to me to establish a presumption on my side.
RICHARD H. THORNTON.
Sow METAL : PIG IRON (US. xii. 278). The following is in ' All Round the Welkin,' by Walter White, 1860, chap. xxvi. as part of the description of large ironworks in South Staffordshire, where molten iron was run off from the furnaces on to
- ' solid beds of sand, having formed on them a
- eries of gutters of which those running lengthwise
are as broad and deep again as those which formed
-at right angles Prom the appearance you
might fancy the large sand-bed covered by a
red-hot gridiron In the gridirons, as we have
called them, the principal channel is termed the "' sow ' ; the minor lateral channels are the ' Digs.'
TT^*^ A ^ ^."U J C . __ 15* XT o
Hence the term ' pig-iron.' "
W. B. H.
FRENCH " OF STRATFORD-ATTE-BOWE "
(11 S. xii. 301). Presuming, as I do, that
Mr. Skeat was right in his interpretation of
this passage, I venture to think that he was
unduly severe on modern writers, not all of
them journalists " who know only this one
line of Chaucer," if they choose to apply the
words to modern conditions. At present,
the French taught at Stratford-le-Bow would
hardly pass, either in England or out of it,
as being equal to Parisian ; and to my mind
there is some humour in using the line to
indicate that, however wide, or however
limited, the writer's knowledge of Chaucer
may be. ST. S WITHIN.
WEDDING RING AND " LEFT-HANDED " MARRIAGE (11 S. xii. 258, 310). En dediant les trois premiers dcdgtsde la main a la Sainte Trinite, 1'^glise chretienne a, sans doute, consacre un usage antique qui reservait le quatrieme a 1'anneau. Mais il s'agissait de la main droite, employee encore en Orient pour faire, avec les trois doigts unis, le signe de la croix en 1'honneur des trois personnes divines. C'est egalement a la main droite des epoux que le pretre officiant pratiquait, aux XII., XIII., et XIV. siecles, le cere- monial du mariage, en usage encore en Angleterre, mais abandonne de nos jours en France. Didron cite deux documents du moyen-age : le Rituel de Soissons et celui de 1'abbaye de Barbeau (Seine et Marne).
Pour savoir a quelle epoque ont change le ceremonial et, sans doute aussi, laccutume, il faudrait consulter les livres liturgiques et aussi examiner avec soin les collections d'anciennes peintures a portraits ou les manuscrits a figures.
Les expressions " mariage de la main gauche," " enfants de la main gauche," existent aussi en fran9ais, et sont surtout employees dans le langage pcpulaire.
II n'est peut-etre pas necessaire de recourir a la liturgie pour les expliquer. La main droite etant reservee aux fonctions les plus nobles le port de I'epee, la benediction, aussi qu'aux engagements solennels : ser- ments ou signatures la main gauche a pu se voir accorder une certaine responsabilite en d'autres matieres, moms officielles, sinon moins serieuses. La gauche comporte d'ailleurs generalement une signification pejorative, ce qui etait tout indique pour des unions peu avouees ou des naissances illegitimes. PIERRE TURPIN.
29, The Bayle, Folkestone.
ETRUSCAN SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS (US. xii. 260, 325). MR. PHILLIPS may perhaps like to be referred to the book if he does not already know it by Dr. John Stewart Milne on ' Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times,' which was published by the Clarendon Press in 1907. It has fifty- four plates, and is a remarkable revelation of the wealth of ancient instruments, many of which the progress of archaeological dis- covery has added to museums, at home and abroad. G. L. A PPERSON.
