9* S.V.JUNE 23, 1900. j NOTES AND QUERIES.
489
LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 23. 1900.
CONTENTS. -No. 130.
NOTES : The Bohemian Language, 489 Book Sale Cata- logues, 490 Loss of w in Scandinavian Danish Church, Wellclose Square, 492" Dorp " ' H.B.D.' : " Curse of Scotland " Dr. T. Wilson Hanover Square Concert Rooms, 493 ' Diary of Lady P. Pennoyer ' " Hoti " in Browning and;Howell Sir O. Cromwell and his Family Riding in Prussia, 494.
QUERIES : Derivation of Waddington Scrope the Regi- cide Stapleton's Mrs. Cadwallader J. Dilly Glover 4 John Bull,' a Paper Monastery at Biarritz Eighteenth- Century Sporting Record House Inverted, 495 Michael Marks Garth's ' Dispensary 'Soldier Ancestors Samuel Clarke, M.P. Counting Another's Buttons Lollard Towers Philology and Ethnology Charleton : Carey Latin Quotation Archidiaconal Visitations, 496 Ancient Towers in Sardinia St. Thomas's Day Custom Moyse Hall Gordon of Grenada Authors Wanted, 497.
REPLIES : " Inundate," 497 " Chink " English Mile, 498 Cockayne Clifford : Braose "Kidcoat" Politician, 499 Fonblanque ' ' Nesquaw "Cutting Babies' Nails, 500 Borough-English " Petigrewe " Game of Tables French Society in the Last Century Stamp Collecting, 501 " February Fill-Dyke " Beezeley Royal Arms- Tennyson Query, 502 Weather Folk-lore C. Merrett Proverb "Lazy Laurence," 503 The Strappado Mazes cut in Turf " Intentions " Old Songs " Several " "Viridical," 504 Rogers's ' Ginevra ' " Wound " for "Winded "Johnson's Birthplace" Spotted negro boy," 505 Bernard and Bayard, 506.
NOTES ON BOOKS :-Coleridge's 'Works of Byron' White's ' Sweet Hampstead ' Hoste's ' Johnson and his Circle 'Jackson's ' Glossary of Botanic Terms ' Richard- son's ' Coutts & Co.' Kidson's ' British Music Publishers.'
Notices to Correspondents.
THE BOHEMIAN LANGUAGE.
A RECENT lecture by Count Liitzow has
drawn attention to a language and literature
of which there are probably few students in
this country. The fact that the lecturer re-
futed ideas that Bohemian was connected with
gipsies is a proof of this, and the mysterious
Bohemia of which Thackeray and others give
us glimpses somewhat resembles the old
Alsatia, though the latter was, of course, far
more lawless. The late Mr. A. H. Wratislaw,
a deep scholar of the Slavonic languages,
especially of the Bohemian language and
literature, was descended from a family of
that nationality. The indefatigable Keader
in the Slavonic Languages at Oxford* has
followed up his series of Slavonic grammars
with one of Chekh, which has certain advan-
tages over the preceding ones. As in the
case of his Bulgarian grammar, Mr. Morfill
provides extracts in prose and poetry from
Kollar, Sladek, and others for reading-lessons.
- Since this was written Convocation has con-
stituted Mr. W. R. Morfill professor of these languages at Oxford University.
The name Bohemia (Bohmen), home of the
Boii, is paralleled by the French name for
Germany, Allemagne, from the forgotten
Alemanni. The derivation of the native
Cechy, adjective Cesky (usually represented
in English and German by the Polish Czech,
but sometimes transliterated Chekh, French
Tcheque), is apparently obscure. The name
of the country is plural, as in the sentence
" Cechy isou casti Rakouska," Bohemia are a
part of Austria.* Like Polish, the Bohemian
language is written with compounds of Latin
letters, while the other Slav tongues Russian,
Servian, and Bulgarian employ the Cyrillic
alphabet, with certain modifications and varia-
tions peculiar to each. The nasals have been
practically lost in all the Slav tongues except
Polish, of which Mr. Morfill observes, "As
regards phonological subtleties, Polish is one
of the most remarkable languages of Europe."
Declensions of substantives and adjectives in
Chekh follow broadly the lines of the cognate
tongues, perhaps approaching to Polish more
than to the others, especially in the case of
some dative forms. Irregular substantives,
such as nebe, the sky; oko, eye ; ucho, ear ; mati,
mother, &c., are common to all. The infini-
tive suffix ti of Slavonic verbs, as in vesti, to
lead ; brati, to take ; jiti, to go, is retained in
Bohemian and Servian, but lost in the other
tongues, except in a few Russian verbs. The
Polish tu, here, becomes " there " in Chekh,
in which " here " is expressed by zde (Russian
zdies), a word which nas lately got soldiers
into trouble. In the Slav tongues the word
kral (korol) is used for king, from the name
of Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse). There is a
curious Chekh word, mistr (from L. magister),
resembling our Mr., applied to one who has
obtained the degree of M.A. The words for
prince, knize (Russian kniaz), and priest, knez t
are derived from the same Gothic root. The
word kostel (Polish kosciele), from L. castellum,
is employed as well as cirkev (Russian tserkov)
for a church.
There are numerous words of foreign origin, e.g., farar (G. Pfarrer), pantofel, parlament, personalia, rytir (G. Bitter), sice (G. sicker), Vanocni (adjective from G. Weihnacht). It is not easy to recognize such names as Vaclav and Vladislav under the forms of Wenceslaus (hero of a popular Christmas carol) and Ladislaus. It is worthy of note that the motto of the Prince of Wales, Ich dien, from the arms of the blind King John of Bohemia, slain at Cregy, is German, and not Slavonic. The king, however, was a member
- This recalls the plural word Bucharest, dis-
cussed lately by MB. JAMES PLATT in these columns.
