394
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. XH. NOV. w, 1903.
Ollantigh, Wye. This " Lady Anne Skip
worth " is mentioned in the will of her mother
Dame Dorothy Kempe, dated 14 November,
1626, which also mentions Sir Henry and his
children William Skipworth and Elizabeth
Skipworth. Edmund Kemp of Virginia acted
as attorney for Sir Robert Kempe, of Finch-
ingfield, Essex, Knt., who was brother-in-
law to Sir Robert Kempe, of Gissing, Norfolk,
Bart, and Knt. ; but these two Sir Roberts
were of entirely different stock, both from
one another and from the Kemps of Wye.
FRED. HITCHIN-KEMP. 6, Beechfield Road, Catford, S.E.
On the authority of Burke in his * Peerage and Baronetage,' it is stated in 5 th S. i. 87 that
"Sir William Skipwith married, secondly, Alice, daughter and heir of Sir Lionel Dyrnoke, of Scriyelsby, in the county of Lincoln, and by her acquired a considerable estate, and left an only child, Henry, ancestor of the Skipwiths of Prest- would."
Alice Skipwith died 8 November, 1554.
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.
"THE SOLENT" (9 th S. xii. 248). The channel which separates the north-west coast of the Isle of Wight from Hampshire is probably so called from the Greek 2wAr)i/, a canal, channel, or aqueduct, and its name may perhaps be accounted for by the fact of the Greeks of Marseilles, who first followed the Phoenician voyagers, having begun to share with them the trade in tin about 200 B.C., when the staple was removed from the Scilly Isles to the Isle of Wight.
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
I have often seen the etymology given as "Sol vena," and the reference as 'from the Latin name of "Mare Solvens."
JOHN A. RANDOLPH.
SWEYN : ITS PRONUNCIATION (9 th S. xii. 329). The spelling Sweyn exhibits ey, a Norman substitution for the Norse ei. ' The true Old Norse form was Sweinn, but this was changed to Sveinn in the usual (later) MSS. In A.-S. it was written Swegen; but the g was a mere glide (Norman ey), and the second e was needless. The pronunciation is exactly preserved in the modern Eng. swain which is the same word. The most interest- ing point is that the Norse and Norman diphthong ei (not found in A.-S.) is one of the very few sounds that have been preserved unchanged for the last thousand years, and at the same time is phonetically spelt, denot- ing the sound of Latin e (as in Ital. vena) followed by i, which is only a slight glide
It is also preserved in French, as in F. veine,
pareil. It occurs in English in veil, feign,
rein, reins (of the body), reign, vein, &c. It is
written ey in convey, obey, purvey, survey, prey.
See Sweet's 'History of Eng. Sounds,' p. 150 ;
Skeat, 'Principles of Eng. Etymology, 'Second
Series, p. 112; 'Extraits de la Chanson de
Roland,' par Gaston Paris, p. 22 ; Mayhew's
' Old Eng. Phonology,' 99. I beg leave to
suggest that these and similar books should
be consulted for pronunciations of English
words. Questions of pronunciation are quite
unsuitable for general discussion, as they are
frequently complex and can only be under-
stood by such as are familiar with the
elements of phonetics, the least intelligible
of all sciences to the general public.
WALTER W. SKEAT.
King Sweyn pronounced his name exactly like the English word swain. His Scandi- navian subjects wrote it Sveinn, but the sound intended was the same. The Old Norse diphthong ei or ey is pronounced as in the English grey or gray, not as in German. It is a pity Longfellow, in his ' Saga of King Olaf,' elected to use the more modern Danish orthography Svend, which is picturesque, but corrupt and misleading. From Sweyn is derived an old family name in the Hebrides, which in his ' Life of Johnson ' (chap. xii. in the edition of 1848, p. 364) Boswell writes McSweyn, but which is now spelt and pronounced McSwan. JAS. PLATT, Jun.
CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS (9 th S. xii. 269). I do not think there is any book specially devoted to this subject, but in many local Notes and Queries occur from time to time extracts from churchwardens' accounts, with occasional meanings of the obscure words to be found in them. At the present time, for instance, the 'Wardens' Accounts of More- bath ' are appearing in Devon Notes and Queries. Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries often has extracts, and no doubt other periodicals for other counties contain refer-
nces or extracts.
If Miss E. LEGA-WEEKES would give a few instances of her difficulties, no doubt there would be plenty of your readers ready to assist her. E. A. FRY.
Birmingham.
Your correspondent may find some of the following references of service :
Gardner's ' Hist. Dunwich,' 154.
Wing, Bedfordshire, Athenceum, 30 July, 1881, p. 154.
Tavistock, Academy, 7 April, 1888, 234.
Hythe, Archcvologia Cantiana, x. 244.
East Dereham, Norfolk, Archceologia, x. 196.
Eltham, Kent, ibid., xxxiv. 51.
