394
NOTES AND QUERIES. in s. ix. MAY ie, wu.
<Gothav'n 'speckshioner " as " He that led
the flinching in the fleets of fair Dundee";
and, by the way, what is " flinching " in this
connexion ? JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.
Godhavn or Godhaveri (with the a pro- nounced short), called also Lievly, is a little settlement on Disco Island or Kekertarssuak, situated in Disco Bay, off the west coast of 'Greenland, and is the residence of the Daoish Inspector of North Greenland. Discn Bay was once the chief resort for the whalers who frequented Baffin Bay, and Godhavn is a place where whaling and exploring ships frequently touch. An interesting article on Disco Bay, accompanied by a map, by my late friend Dr. Robert Brown, appeared in The Geographical Magazine, February, 1875, dealing with the geology, climate, Danish settlements, plants, and animals of this locality. FBEDK. A. EDWARDS.
The "'speckshioner" mentioned in Kip- ling's 'Last Chantey' is an official on a whaler usually called .a " spectioneer." His duty is to superintend the " flinching " that is, flaying of a whale. This is done by cutting through the skin and blubber by incisions made round its body. The strips resulting are hoisted on board by the " spec tackle," whence the name " spectioneer."
G. M. H. P.
The place would probably be Godhavn in S.W. Greenland. A " speckshioner " is not an inspector, though the derivation sounds plausible, but is a leading hand of a whaler's crew, and takes charge of the operation of " flensing " (Kipling has it " flinching "), i.e. the stripping of the blubber from the whate. "" Speckshioner " is probably derived from Dutch speck = fat, blubber.
GUY EVANS.
[MR. HENRY GUILLEMARD and MR. THOS. F. MANSON also thanked for replies.]
MRS. BERN'S ' EMPEROR OF THE MOON ' (11 S. ix. 231, 275). I have now been able personally to trace the origin of Mrs. Behn's capital farce, and as it may be of interest to your readers I append a brief note thereon.
' Arlequin Empereur de la Lune ' was pub- lished in 1684. It had been played in Paris by Biancolelli, a famous harlequin, and the leading member of the Italian theatre, 1660-88. The Italian scenes from which the French farce is taken belong, of course, to the " Commedia dell' Arte all' Improvviso." Evariste Gherardi, Biancolelli's successor, included several extracts from ' Arlequin
Empereur de la Lune ' in his ' Theatre
Italien,' 3 vols., Amsterdam, 1695. Further
quotations from references to the play will
be found in Maurice Sand's ' Masques et
Bouffons.' M. S.
SHAKESPEARE AND THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT (11 S. ix. 288, 337, 376). Mr. C. T. Onions in the Preface to his excellent ' Shakespeare Glossary ' (Clarendon Press, 1911) explains that it was part of his plan
" to bring together evidence to show the relation of the poet's vocabulary to that of the dialects of the midland area, and in particular the dialect of his own county."
Mr. Onions instances the following words :
balloic, ' Lear,' IV. vi. 248, North-Midland word for " cudgel."
Basimecu, ' 2 Henry VI.,' IV. vii. 31, still applied to Italian organ-grinders, with the pronunciation " boz imacu " in some parts of Warwickshire.
batlet, ' As You Like It,' II. iv. 48, current until recently in Yorkshire and Warwickshire.
blood-bolter' d, ' Macbeth,' IV. i. 123 : in Warwick- shire snow is said to " baiter " on horses' feet ; in Shropshire tangled or unkempt hair is called " bautered."
bum-baily, 'Twelfth Night,' III. iy. 197: -bail>j is the regular Midland form to this day.
chop, ' Richard III.,' I. iv. 161, a word of the modern Shropshire dialect.
door, " speak within door," ' Othello,' IV. ri. 144 : in Warwickshire the phrase " Speak within the house " was current till recently in the same sense of " Do not talk so loud."
elder-gun, ' Henry V.,' IV. i. 213 : " elderne gun " is used by Sir T. Overbury, a Warwickshire- bred man, and " eller-gun " is found in the modern Cheshire dialect.
father, ' Much Ado,' V. iv. 15 : till recently termed " father-in-church " in Warwickshire and Ox- fordshire.
galloic, ' Lear,' III. ii. 44 : used in South-West Midland.
geek, ' Twelfth Night,' V. i. 355 : survives in Midland dialect.
grow to, ' M. of Venice,' II. ii. 18 : in Warwick- shire used of milk, &c., that has caught in cooking.
hone i/ -stalks, ' Titus Andrpnicus,' IV. iv. 00 : " honeysuckle " was anciently a name for red clover, and is still in Warwickshire and other Midland districts.
line, " in his old lines," ' Merry Wives,' IV. ii. 22, cf. ' Troilus,' II. iii. 140 : perhaps to be con- nected with the modern Warwickshire "on a line "=in a rage.
mobled, ' Hamlet,' II. ii. 525 : survives in War- wickshire.
muss, ' Antony and Cleopatra,' III. xiii. 91 : survives in Leicestershire and Warwickshire.
pash, ' Troilus,' II. iii. 217, V. v. 10 : common in Warwickshire in this sense.
potch, ' Coriolanus,' I. x. 15 : survives in War- wickshire.
sheep and ship, ' Two Gentlemen,' I. i. 73 ; ' Errors,' IV. i. 94 ; ' Love's Labour 's Lost,' II. i. 219 : still pronounced alike in the Midlands.
sight, ' Lover's Complaint,' 282 : still a Warwick- shire use ( = pupil of the eye).
