Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/504

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416


NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii 8. vi. NOV. 23, 1912.


proprietor of Pulman's Weekly News, pub- lished at Crewkerne, and thoroughly enjoyed such gatherings.

Most of the village clubs are rapidly disappearing now that the Insurance Act has come into operation. C. T.

' GULYAS " (11 S. vi. 208). As goulash this dish has for long figured in the bills of fare of the cheaper New York restaurants, where its introduction is due to the large Hungarian element of the population. It consists of a stew of beef or veal, with potatoes and vegetables, to which a 'certain amount of seasoning is added.

MARY P. JACOBI : MRS. ELMS (11 S. v. 289, 397, 498). For the main facts of Mrs. Ellis's life and a list of her writings see the article on her husband, William Ellis, in the ; D.N.B.,' xvii. 296-7.

WILLIAM AMHERST, 1767 (11 S. v. 488). The officer inquired for appears to have been the fourth son of Jeffery Amherst of Riverhead, barrister, and Bencher of Gray's Inn (1677-1750); see Burke's 'Peerage,' s.v. ' Amherst.' This son (1732-80) attained the rank of lieutenant - general, was aide- de-camp to George III., and successively became Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth, Governor of St. John's, Newfoundland, and Adjutant- General of the Army.

The. Duke of Cumberland died on 31 Oct., 1765. N. W. HILL.

San Francisco.

" YELVER " IN PLACE-NAMES (11 S. vi. 191, 238. 297, 352). In the discussion on this subject no mention has been made of Yelverton, near Tavistock in Devon. The etymology of this place-name can, I think, be illustrated from the 'names of other places in' the West of England ending in -vert on', such as Dulverton, Milverton, Silver- ton, St a vert on, Thorverton, Tiverton. The etymology of the name of Tiverton in Devon is quite clear, and was correctly explained by Camden. Tiverton is a word compounded in Old English of twlford (in locative twl- fyrde), " double ford," and tun, " town." The first element, Tiver-, in Tiverton is identical with the place-name Twyjord,

  • ' the double ford, "'in Berks. We see, then,

that the termination -verton represents O.E. ford and tun, and means " a place near a ford " ; there can be no doubt, I think, that -verton has the same meaning in the place- name Yelverton. The element Yel- probably represents a river-name. Compare II- in Ilchester, Ilminster.


This account of the etymology of Yel- verton may be supported by the analysis of the name Silverton, which is composed of O.E. sylh+fyrde+tun : sylh is locative of O.E. sulh (Lat. sulcus), used here in the sense of " a sunk road or furrow." Silverton means, therefore, " a place near a ford approached on one or both sides by a sunk road or gully." The O.E. place-name Sulhford appears in Charter II. of the Craw- ford Collection ; see ' Anecdota Oxoniensia,' 1895, p. 47, where there is a good note on this name. A. L. MAYHEW.

BOTANY (11 S. vi. 368). As to lichens used in dyeing, see Lindsay's ' Popular History of British Lichens,' 1856, pp. 88- 90. The species which were most used seem to have been Rocella tinctoria and fuciformis and Lecanora tartarea - the former for making orchill, the latter for cudbear. J. F. R.

The following British lichens give a red dye : Ramalina scopulorum, Parmelia saxatilis, Parmelia omphalodes, Lecanora tartarea, Lecanora parella, Urceolaria scru- posa, Umbilicaria pustulata.

Lecanora tartarea is used by the pea- santry of Northern Europe to furnish a red dye.

Cudbear, Lecanora tartarea :

" The name was derived from Dr. Outhbert Gordon, who first introduced the manufacture [of the dye from this plant] in Glasgow."- .Tamieson.

" The most useful and best known of our native dye-lichens is the rock-moss or cudbear (Lecanora tartarea)."^ Macniillan's ' Footnotes from Nature.'

Lecanora tartarea grows on rocks and tree trunks. Very probably crohil geat is Lecanora tartarea. See also. ' N.E.D.* under "Cudbear." W T M. Moss.

Bolton.

LONDON BRIDGE (11 S. vi. 209, 318). I am greatly obliged to R. B. P. for his reference to The Mechanic's Magazine, as possibly providing the identification of the writer of the pamphlet I cited at the first reference. The contributions on this subject by Mr. Christopher Davy were already familiar to me, but I dismissed his claims to the supposed authorship as he is thanked in a preliminary paragraph of the pamphlet for the use of his illustrations and data. In The Mechanic's Magazine of 6 Aug., 1831, p. 368, there is the following reference amongst the ' Interim Notices ' :

" It has been thought advisable to incorporate the observations intended for our present number on the opening of the New London Bridge in a