10 s. vii. JAN. 19, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
51
est de la braise, on de la thune, ou de la bille'
(Mornand). 'Nous attendions la sorgue pour
faire du billon ' (Vidocq)."
Sorgue or sorge means evening, night.
" Time : Piece de cinq francs. ' J'allais dans les bureaux de placement avec une tune ' (Beauvillier). Abbrev. de thune."
(Eil-de-bo3uf is not given. There is
" (Eil : credit. Se trouve dans le Dictionnaire de Cartouche de Grandval (eel. de 1827). *.Jfl vous offre le vin blanc chez Toitot ; j'ai 1'ceil' (Chenu).
- La mere Bricherie n'entend pas raillerie a' Particle
du credit. Pluto t que de faire deux sous d'ceil, elle prefe'rerait,' &c. (Pr. d'Anglemont)." " (Eil (avoir I') : Avoir credit."
ROBERT PIEBPOINT.
MB. PLATT is correct in saying that thune, or tune, is a 5-franc piece. Other synonyms in argot are breme de fond, dardunne, roue de derriere, the first of which, bream, perhaps points to Fr. thon (Lat. thunnus), tunny, being the origin of thune. Compare Fr. argot br ernes, playing-cards, with " broads " in our current slang. Braise and peze (pese) are Fr. argot for money generally ; sigue, maltaise, bonnet jaune, for 20-franc pieces (thieves' slang) ; as also linve for franc, and patard, rotin, beogue (cf. Eng. " tack " in Farmer and Henley), for a sou. H. P. L.
"FIBGUNANUM" (10 S. vii. 7). MB. HEWETSON must, I think, have misunder- stood the late President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, who certainly could not have told him that this word is
- ' the Irishism of Firgananaim," since the
latter is itself (badly spelt) Irish, and Firgunanum only a rather more illiterate, or perhaps more phonetic, attempt to spell it. According to MB. HEWETSON, Firga- nanaim is " a curious compound of Greek, Latin, and Irish," viz., of " vir, man ; gan, without ; a, a ; naim, name." This ex- planation, by the way, seems rather to be " a curious compound " of Latin, Irish, and English (or Scotch) : where is the " Greek " ? But in truth there is neither Latin, Greek, nor English in it. As any Irish speaker would have told him, and saved him " very much research," fear gun ainm is simple everyday Irish for " a man without name " : fear, man ; gun, without ; ainm, name. The plural of fear is fir, and if the phrase were fir gun ainm, the meaning would be " men without name." J. A. H. M.
This word is not a compound of Greek, Latin, and Irish. Nor can it be analyzed as equivalent to Lat. vir, man ; Irish gan, without ; Eng. a ; and Irish naim, name. The word stands for a genuine Irish phrase,
which would be written in modern Irish
fear gan ainm, a man without a name. In
older Irish fear would be written fer ; fir is
the genitive form. A. L. MAYHEW.
Oxford.
TH. T. W. also thanked for reply.]
DUKE OF MEBCIA : JEvmc SYL-
VATICUS (10 S. vi. 469). In reply to A. S. B.,
it may be noted that Edric, or Eadric,
Streona was Earl not Duke of Mercia in
1007, not 1003 ; he married Egitha or
Egytha not ^Edena daughter of Ethel-
red II. ; he was slain by Canute on Christmas
Day in 1017.
Edric Sylvaticus, or " the Wilde," " whose descendants assumed the name of Wild," and were known to the early and later chroniclers almost indiscriminately as Wilds, Wylds, Wildes, Wyldes, Weldes, De Weldes, and Welds, may be shown to have been the son of Alfric, the brother of Eadric Streona, from the following excerpts (one reference out of many), which are also a reply to the other questions asked :
1. "Eotempore extititquidamprsepotens minister Edricus, cognomento Silvaticus, filius Alfrici fratris Edrici Streone." ' Symeon of Durham,' vol. ii. p. 185, Roll Series.
2. "At perfidus dux Edricus Streone gener regis (habuit enim in conjugio filiam ejus Egitham)," &c. Ibid., p. 141.
3. "Ac in Nativitate Domini, cum esset Londonia?,. perfidum ducem Edricum in palatio jussit [Canute] occidere, quia timebat insidiis ab eo aliquando circumveniri sicut domini sui priqres Egelredus et Eadmundus frequenter circumventi sunt ; et corpus illius super murum civitatis projici ac insepultum pnecepit climitti." Ibid., p. 155.
It may be of interest to A. S. B. to know that Edric " the Wild," or Sylvaticus, besides being the " great-nephew-in-law " of Ethelred II., was also a kinsman viz., a first cousin " twice removed " of King Harold II., whose sister Edith married King Edward the Confessor. Harold himself married the granddaughter of the far-famed Godiva, the wife of Leofric, an Earl of Mercia.
The sheriff referred to was known as either Wild or Weld. B. W.
Fort Augustus.
Burke's ' Commoners,' vol. iv. p. 334, under Lowndes of Hassall, gives the infor- mation which is asked for by A. S. B.
R. C. BOSTOCK.
SPELLING CHANGES (10 S. vi. 403, 450, 493). With all deference to the valuable communications of PBOF. SKEAT, I think it would have been possible to point out, even at the risk of repetition, that the proposal was
