46
NOTES AND QUERIES. [* s. v. JAN. 20, MOO.
lein, sub voce). Like quagga, gnu is a Xosa
word. It will be duly found on p. 149 of the
1 Dictionary of the Kaffir Language,' by the
Rev. W. J. Davis (London, 1872). Davis spells
it ngu t or, with the nominal prefix of Bleek's
ninth class, in-nqu. His q represents the
palatal click, which is pronounced "by
placing the tongue against the roof of the
mouth and suddenly withdrawing it." The
Kaffir clicks are all sounded simultaneously
with the nasal or other consonant which
accompanies them, as I have myself observed
from the pronunciation of a young Xosa ;
hence although Davis writes the nasal first
and the click second, the order might just
as well be reversed, which seems to account
for our gnu instead of nqu.
JAMES PLATT, Jun.
1900 AND THE " STYLES." There is one in- teresting fact connected with the year 1900 which I have not, so far, seen commented upon. This being the hundredth year of a century not divisible by four, February has only twenty-eight days ; but in Russia, where the Julian calendar is still in operation, it will, as a fourth year, have twenty-nine days. As a consequence, from and after 13 March (29 February, O.S.) the difference between the Russian calendar and ours will be thirteen days, in place of twelve as now. The "lost" eleven days over which such a commotion was raised when the Gregorian calendar was adopted by our legislature in 1752 became twelve in 1800, through the omission of a leap year, and after the date above named they will be raised to thirteen. Christinas Day in Russia now falls on 6 January and New Year's Day on 13 January ; in future the dates will be 7 and 14 January respectively. There will be no further dislocation of the calendars for two hundred years, by which time Russia will probably have brought itself into line with the rest of the European nations.
ALEXANDER PATERSON.
Barnsley.
SEASONABLE MISPRINT. The Standard of 23 December, 1899 (p. 2), has a paragraph stating that
"the Queen sent to Viscountess Duncannon for a box of her Garryhill work from which to choose Christmas presents, and Her Majesty purchased several dozen of dollies [sic], handkerchiefs, tea- cloths, &c., all beautiful Irish hand-made cottage work, for which the school founded by Lady Dun- cannon has become famous."
Is not "dollies" a misprint for doilies, the small napkins used at dessert ? Dolls at the above date would have constituted a most opportune purchase as Christmas-tree gifts
for the little ones, but a sober newspaper
notice would hardly have mentioned them by
the childish diminutive, nor does it seem
probable that dolls or other toys are among
the articles for which Lady Duncannon's
Irish school has happily become famous.
Apropos of dolls, I have seen none prettier
than those in the St. Petersburg toyshops,
dressed in the picturesque and graceful old
national costume, including sarafan and
kokoshnik) still worn by the ladies at Court,
but generally eschewed by the peasants, who
now appear to much less advantage in the
humdrum plain-looking frocks of Western
Europe. Twenty-five years ago it was no
uncommon thing for women from the country
to retain the national attire after entering
service here, but now the only ones who do
so are the mamki (wet-nurses), some of whom
are very gorgeously apparelled (in red if their
nurslings are girls, in blue if boys), the
cynosures of numerous eyes. H. E. M.
St. Petersburg.
" COMPARISONS ARE ODIOUS." (See 9 th S. iv. 534.) This saying, it is there observed, is "as old as Don Quixote." The * Oxford Dictionary' shows it to be as old as Lydgate ; and, not improbably, it is still older. The next autho- rity for it, after Lydgate, given in the 'O.D.,' is Lyly (1579). But he was preceded by W. P. (? 1550) in 'Pasquine in a Traunce' (1566), fol. 4; by Lodowich Lloyd (1573) in 'The Marrow of History' (1653), p. 19; and by Gabriell Harvey (1592) in 'Four Letters' (' Archaica,' vol. ii. p. 23). Occurrences of the proverb but little later than these are abun- dant. The 'O.D.V quotation for it from Donne should be dated 1619, not 1635. F. H.
Marlesford.
A "SUNDAY" HARE. Although an old sportsman, I heard the above expression, a " Sunday " hare, for the first time a few days ago. On asking the meaning, my friend, married to a Yorkshire lady, said it was a Yorkshire expression for a hare coursed by lurchers on a Sunday, and that these hares were considered very tender. C. R. T.
Miss ADELAIDE KEMBLE. In Cruikshank's ' Omnibus,' which was published in 1842, is a whole-page engraving of this lady in the character of Norrna, in which she appeared at Covent Garden Theatre in 1841. She is represented as a very fine woman, with handsome though rather masculine features, wearing a low-cut dress with short sleeves, and has her right foot, sandalled, on the steps of the altar. The face is in profile, and underneath is a facsimile of her autograph.
