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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. v. MAR 23, 1912.
LATTER LAMMAS (11 S. iv. 469; v. 18
75, 155). I do not think your correspondent
quite understands my point of view. The
truth of an etymology does not depend upon
anybody's opinion ; it is a mere question
of evidence and matter of fact. It is true,
not because I or any one else approve of it,
but because, the evidence is, in this case, so
clear and complete that there is no more
to be said.
I am glad to be told that the deviser ol this "new" etymology is Mr. Birkbeck who gives " Late-math " as " the only pro- bable derivation of Lammas." Unfortu- nately, the deplorable condition of etymology in Mr. Birkbeck's time does not in any way preclude us from supposing that he was positively asserting a mere guess of his own. He is careful not to give any authority for the use of Late-math ; and my own belief i certainly that he could have given none. Of course it was evolved out of the genuine Lattermath.
But (see ' X.E.D.') Lattermath is no older than 1530, at any rate as far as is recorded ; whereas it was King Alfred himself who used the form hlafmcesse (loaf -mass) as a name for the 1st of August. It should be needless to go through the story all over again, as it is accessible to all who consult the ' N.E.D.' or my ' Etymological Dictionary.'
I have already given the name of the book where " hlafmsesse daeg " is explained, viz., Bosworth and Toller's ' Anglo-Saxon Dic- tionary.' But perhaps it will be as well to give, for once, the whole set of the principal references, as already given in my ' Etymological Dictionary,' with one addition.
1. " On the tide of the calends of August, on the day which we call hlafmaesse " ; King Alfred, translation of Orosius, bk. v. chap, xiii., ed. Sweet (E.E.T.S.), p. 246, 1. 16 (where the original A.-S. text is given, which I here translate).
2. Weed-month, or August, brings to all our people " hlafmaessan daeg," when the harvest comes, &c. The A.-S. text of this (see all the context) is in Appendix A, 1. 140, to the ' A.-S. Chronicle,' ed. Plummer, vol. i. p. 277.
3. On the calends of August, that is, on that day, at " hlafsenunga," or the loaf- blessing. The A.-S. text is given in ' King Alfred's Book of Martyrs,' as printed in ' The Shrine,' ed. O. Cockayne, p. 112, 1. 7. ,*|
4. Of the hallowed loaf, which is hallowed on Lammas-day ; ' Leechdoms.' ed. O. Cock- ayne, in the Roll; Series, vol. iii. : A.-S.
text on p. 290 ; translation on p. 291.
The A.-S. text has " hlafmsesse daeg " ; the
translation has " Lammas day."
5. A.-S. text " fiftyne nihtum asr hlaf- maesse " ; translation " fifteen nights ere Lammas " ; ' Leechdoms,' vol. ii. pp. 146, 147.
6. In that same summer, between " hlaf- maesse " and Mid -summer (which does not mean that Mid-summer came later than " hlaf-maesse," for every one knew the contrary to be the case) ; ' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,' an. 921 ; ed. Plummer, vol. i. p. 101,1. 5.
Miss Gurney's translation has " between Lammas and midsummer " ; see Bohn's edition of the translation of Bede's ' Eccl. History,' ed. J. A. Giles, 1859 ; p. 372, 1. 1.
7. Then came, soon after " hlammsesse," the vast hostile army ; ' A.-S. Chronicle,' an. 1009 ; ed. Plummer, vol. i. p. 139, 1. 9 ; and translation (as above), which has " soon after Lammas " ; p. 400, 1. 14. Observe the later spelling, which substituted mm for fm, in conformity with the usual Old English euphonic laws : a simple fact which explains the whole matter at once.
All the above references I have given already in my ' Dictionary.' I add another, in which the initial h is dropped, because it belongs to a later date.
8. He came to Salisbury at " lammsesse " ; 'A.-S. Chron.,' an. 1086 (miswritten 1085); ed. Plummer, vol. i.p. 217, 1. 2. Translation (as above) has " at Lammas " ; p. 459, 1. 12.
9. Till " Lammasse " time ; ' Piers the Plowman,' text B, vi. 291 ; text C, ix. 314 ; with a note referring to Chambers, ' Book of Days,' ii. 154. WALTER W. SKEAT.
MONTAIGNE ON THE SUPPRESSION OF TACITUS (11 S. v. 127). Are we obliged to suppose that when Montaigne wrote " pour cinq ou six vaines clauses, contraires a nostre creance," he had in his mind any definite enumeration of passages that had offended, or were likely to have offended, Christian readers ? Does he mean any more than that Tacitus's works were destroyed because they contained half a dozen sentences that gave offence ? Certain statements in the account of Nero's persecu- tion of the Christians after the burning of Rome (' Annals,' xv. 44), and in the descrip- tion of the Jews in Book V. of the ' His- tories,' might be referred to generally as " five or six idle clauses." A scrutiny inspired by religious zeal would probably lave counted up a larger number. But is it necessary to explain the imperfect pre- servation of what Tacitus wrote as due to
