Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/518

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426


NOTES AND QUERIES. [io<- s. v. JUNE 2, 1900.


given by a Spanish scholar, Seilor Ramon Menendez Pidal, in some notes on Spanish etymologies printed in Romania (1900), pp. 334-79. In his article on roano he says that it is an adjective applied to a horse of a mixed colour of white, grey, and bay. In old documents the word appears as rodano (ann. 1055) and raudano (ann. 979). There occur in Old Portuguese the forms raudao, raudam, roudane. What is the etymology of O. Span, raudano? Prof. Pidal suggests the following sequence : Romanic ravdanus (ravidanus), formed with suffix -anus from Lat. ravidus, greyish, dark - coloured, a derivative otravus ("ravi coloris appellantur qui sunt inter flavos et csesios"). O. Span. roano is the source of F. roitan, which is found in the ' Grand Testament of Villon (see HatzfeldV French _ Dictionary,' s.v.). The suffix -an shows that it is a Southern word. The. It. roano is borrowed from French or Spanish, the It. form rovano being simply due to the intercalation of v to avoid the hiatus. Our word roan is probably borrowed from Spanish. The O. Span, form raudano proves conclusively that the word roan cannot be connected with Lat. rota, nor consequently with Fr. roue, dappled, as is suggested by Prof. Skeat. A. L. MAYHEW.

"DuMA." It may be worth while noting that the Russian name " Duma," applied to the new Parliament or National Council of Russia, is identical in origin with our word doom as well as with Old Norse domr, a court of judgment, sentence. X.

" SWERVE." 'The Century Dictionary' gives no meaning which exactly covers the sense in which the word "swerve" has been used in cricket for the last two seasons, as applied to the bowling of B. J. T. Bosanquet, of the Middlesex Cricket Club. The peculiarity of his bowling is that he inten- tionally imparts a direction to the ball in its flight through the air before it touches ground which takes it from the direct line, although intended to reach a definite point in a right line from the bowler to the wicket. In the Daily Mail of 16 April is an illus- tration of a figure delivering the ball in the game of baseball, showing three different lines the ball is made to take, or, to quote from the description, "how the pitcher makes the ball swerve in the air. By giving it a spin with the fingers, the ball is made to rise or fall after travelling in a straight line for twenty-five feet." RALPH THOMAS.

EDWARD IV. IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. LEO C., in calling attention (ante,


p. 227) to a misleading statement in the pedigree of the Royal Family in Burke's

  • Peerage.' reminds me that some years ago

I noticed that the inscription on the plate affixed to the portrait of Edward IV. in the National Portrait Gallery (Room II.) con- tains an inaccuracy. This king is there described as great-grandson of Edward III., whereas he was great-grandson of Edmond, Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III. On bringing this error to the notice of the Gallery authorities in 1897 I received a reply saying that it would be rectified. This has not yet been done. It is, no doubt, a small matter ; but in a National Gallery it is not too much to expect that our kings shall be correctly described in every particular. Edward III., m. Philippa of Hainault.

Edmond, Duke of York, m. Isabel, dau. of Peter, King of Castile and Leon.

Richard, Earl of Cambridge, m. Anne, dau. of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March.

Richard, Duke of York. m. Cicely, dau. of Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland.

Edward IV. CHARLES HERBERT THOMPSON.

KIPLING'S 'Wmi SCINDIA TO DELHI.' There is a singular and unexpected blunder in the opening verse of this poem : The wreath of banquet overnight lay withered on

the neck, Our hands and scarves were saffron-dyed for signal

of despair, When we went forth to Paniput to battle with the

Mlech, p]re we came back from Paniput and left a kingdom

there.

Of course Mlech should be pronounced with the soft sound of ch, as in tl church," and is no rime to "neck." The poet's error is similar to one often made in pronouncing the name Bechuanaland, where the ch should be soft, but is too frequently sounded as if it had something to do with Adolf Beck. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

"PANNIER MARKET." There has lately been much agitation in my old town of Launceston concerning the hours of what is called there the " pannier market," as dis- tinct from the cattle market ; and, as I am told that the former term is not to be found even in the greatest English dictionary, I may, perhaps, be allowed to explain what it means. I remember it well for the last seventy-five years as the Saturday market to which the regrators used to come from Plymouth and Exeter and other of the larger towns, and buy up in the morning