172 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 S. X. MAR, 4, 1922.
became the property of M. Maelzel, who sold the key to Prince Eugene for 30,000 francs, repurchasing it for the interest on the money! Maelzel eventually arrived in London in 1819. Games played by the figure were taken down and published in a small volume by Mr. Hunneman in 1820. During this final visit to England several essays on the subject appeared, one by an Oxford graduate, 'Observations on the Automaton Chess-Player' (1819), giving a full description of the figure and its mode of play. Robert Willis of Cambridge (1800-1875, see 'D.N.B.') brought out an interesting work on the subject in 1821, 'An Attempt to Analyse the Automaton Chess-Player,' and this proves that a man might be concealed in the contrivance. Dr. Brewster copied this account in his work on natural magic. Walker now tells us that "the man who really played the Chess-Automaton was concealed in the chest," and describes how this could be so that he could move about while the works were being exhibited with apparent candour, and how he controlled the movements of the figure after the moves of the game had been indicated on the underside of the chess-board, but the ingenious details must be perused in Mr. Walker's book, as they occupy some space. Mouret, a great chess-player, was the chief "jack-in-the-box," for Maelzel, and they appeared in Spring Gardens and St. James's Street. The automaton travelled over Europe and eventually arrived in America. The last Mr. Walker tells us of it is that "for some years the figure has lain in a state of inglorious repose in a warehouse at New Orleans," so the note by L. L. K. in 'N. & Q.' that it perished in a conflagration is of interest; this may have occurred through the candle that was used when exhibiting the interior, or that used by the enclosed player, after taking up his final position. Russell Markland.
THE ENGLISH " H " : CELTIC, LATIN AND
GERMAN INFLUENCES (12 S. x. 32, 116).
Dropping the h origin of " India." The
Sanskrit word for the ocean, wide estuary,
great river, was (and is) Sindhu ; root Syand,
fluidity, seen in Syundu, the name of one of
the three principal rivers in Kashmir, still
called by ordinary Indians and Europeans
the Sindh. In contemporary vernacular
speech, the Sanskrit Sindhu became Sindh
and Bind, and was applied specially to the
great western river of Northern India, known
to us now as the Indus, and also to the delta
and country round it. Hence the modern.
Indian province of Sindh or Sind.
There is a well-known phonological law
by which the sibilant breathing s becomes
transferred lower down the mouth to the-
breathing h. Hence very long ago the name
Sind became Hind to the people west of
modern India, who still say Hind for Sind,
e.g., Persians and Arabs. Long ago, too
very long ago the Greeks, with their love
of fitting foreign words to their own tongue,
adopted 'Ivios for the river, and 'lv ia
for the country and land, with 'IvSoi for
the people. These the Romans transformed
again into " Indus," " India," without even
the very light breathing indicated by the
Greek spelling.
There was a clear dropping of h here, as the-
older form Hind is still in common use, as is
seen in the term Qaisar-i-Hind (Caesar of
Hind) for the title of the King of England as
Emperor of India ; while in poetical par-
lance Ind is still a common term. We still
use the aspirated form in the very common
terms Hindostan, Hindustani.
In fact, by the ordinary use of the forms
Sind, Hind and India, we are unconsciously
still disclosing the history of " India " in our
everyday speech.
There is yet another very interesting form,
Scinde, which was common until quite lately,
and is still sometimes seen as the name of
the province we now write as Sind. This was
due to the general European influence,
arising ultimately out of old Latin usage,
which produced such words as scimitar,
scion, scent and many others. I have often
wondered whether educated people grasp
that when our dear friends Tommy and his
wife talk about " Hindia," they are
etymologically right, as they are, by the way,
When, in discussing the late war, they talk
about " Wypers."
The use of the word "India" for that
portion only of the whole country which was
known to the speaker or writer has been
common through all history from the days of
the Persians, Greeks and Romans to those
of the Portuguese, English and other Euro-
peans, to say nothing of the Mughals or
Mongols. R. C. TEMPLE.
EBGHUM (12 S. 9, 55, 99, 136). I now
find that "Ralph de Urgham " occurs in
Hardy's ' Le Neve ' as prebendary of Decem
Libraru<m in Lincoln " some time between
1306 and 1360." J- T. F.
Winter ton, Lines.
