22
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9*s.vm. JULYS, 1901.
alteration is sometimes by adding, sometimes by
rabbating, of a sillable or letter to or from a word
either in the beginning, middle, or ending.
He goes on to say that " your figures of addi-
tion or surpluse be three," and " your figures
of rabbate be as many " ; and of the latter he
gives such examples as " 'twixt " for betwixt,
" sovran " for sovereign, " morn " for morning.
See Arber's reprint, p. 173. I have chosen
only such examples as are still in use, and
have given their modern forms. C. C. B.
"A Glossary, or Collection of Words, Phrases, <fec., by Robert Nares, A.M., &c., a new edition, 1888," vol. ii. p. 716, has "Rab- bate, to abate or diminish," and enumerates various examples, such as "and this altera- tion is sometimes by adding, sometimes by rabbating of a syllable or letter, or both."
H. J. B.
BELL INSCRIPTION AT PUNCKNOWLE, DORSET, OF DATE 1629 (9 th S. vii. 365). The doubtful word in the inscription, as J. T. F. suggests, may be a mistake of the bell-founder ; but it may also be noted that lather is a very com- mon dialectal form of the word "ladder." So that, from this point of view, the couplet, He that wil pvrchas honor's gayne Mvst ancient lathers stil mayntayne, is perfectly clear as it stands.
R. OLIVER HESLOP. Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
SCOTTISH UNIVERSITY GRADUATES (7 th S. vii. 388, 454, 493). The list formerly given by me of books containing lists of graduates of the Scottish universities may be supple- mented as follows :
8. Fasti Academic Mariscallanse Aberdonensis, 1593-1860. Edited by P. J. Anderson and J. F. Kellas Johnstone. 3 vols. Aberdeen, 1889-98. Ihe lists are in the second volume.
9. Officers and Graduates of King's College, Aber- deen 1495-1860. Edited by P? J. Anderson. Aberdeen, 1893.
i JS* ifen 1 * A1 umni of King's College, Aberdeen, 1596-1860. Edited by P. J. Anderson. Aberdeen, 1900.
ioin < lp W- eti j a J Lisfc of Gra duates of Edinburgh, 1859-88. Edited by Thomas Gilbert. Edinburgh, Io89.
?; ?K H w f T Gradu A a ies of Glasgow, 1727-1897. Edited by W. Innes Addisou. Glasgow, 1898. ioli ^ alendar of St. Andrews University for 1S50- 1851. St. Andrews, 1850. This contains a list of honorary graduates for the half-century 1800-50, which is not reprinted in the new series of Calendars beginning in 1865.
P. J. ANDERSON. University Library, Aberdeen.
VERBS FORMED OUT OF PROPER NAMES (9 th
L V1 \V 18 ' 263 ' 393 > 493 )-~ Ifc seems to me that MR. OLIVER'S remark about "guillotin"
is scarcely relevant to mine. What I in-
tended to point out was that the English
verb is (at least, I have never seen it
otherwise ) not " guillotin," but " guillo-
tine " ; not formed directly out of the
proper name (and therefore scarcely coming
under the category in question), but from
the instrument. I could not help thinking
of the story current when I was learning
French of the patient who was said to have
swallowed his "medecin" instead of his
"medecine." W. T. LYNN.
Blackheath.
"TOUCAN" (9 th S. vii. 486). MR. PLATT states that " nobody seems to have taken the trouble to find out whence Buffon derived his information" concerning this bird. If your con- tributor will but refer to the article ' Toucan ' in the last edition of the ' Encyclopaedia Bri- tannica,' or as it is reprinted, with some additions, in the 'Dictionary of Birds,' I think he will find that the subject has been pretty well gone into. In fact, one has only to follow the indications given by Buffon himself, who cites Lery among other autho- rities, to trace it completely. Not being an etymologist, I do not presume to offer any opinion as to the derivation or original sig- nification of the name. I was content to accept PROF. SKEAT'S statement, but I can hardy accept that of MR. PLATT to the effect of Montoya in 1639 being "nearly contem- porary " with Lery, who sailed for Brazil in 1556, returning in 1558, the year in which Thevet, to whom we owe the publication of the word, brought out his * Singularitez de la France Antarctique.' I wholly agree, how- ever, with MR. PLATT in the desirability of " going to the fountain-head for facts."
ALFRED NEWTON.
Magdalene College, Cambridge.
In * Chambers's Encyclopaedia,' under ' Tou- cans,' we read that they were formerly placed near the hornbills (Bucerotidse), which offer several points of analogical resemblance to them, and are often "improperly" termed toucans in the East, &c. It is, however, not stated by whom the hornbill is improperly termed a toucan. I suppose the Malays have a right to make use of their own language. It appears also that the bird of tropical America has now been more correctly classi- fied under Rhamphastidse ; but if naturalists incorrectly classed the first specimens with the Bucerotidse, would they not also call them by the same general name i.e., call them also toucans? Afterwards, discovering that these American birds were not identical with the Bucerotidse, the naturalists formed them
