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Page 37
_Grassum_ is the term commonly used in the northern parts of the kingdom to
signify the fine, or foregift in money, paid by a lessee for the renewal of
his lease from a lay or ecclesiastical corporation. It is derived from the
A.-S. _G�rsum_ or _G�rsame_, a treasure; the root of which is still
retained in the northern word _Gear_, goods or stuff.
[Delta].
Jan. 10. 1851.
_Portrait of Archbishop Williams_ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--Your correspondent
Y.Y. desires to be informed of the "locus" of the portraits of several
bishops, among them of _John Williams_, Archbishop of York. There is a
full-length in the hall of this college, which I shall have great pleasure
in showing to him should he ever find it convenient to pay Cambridge a
visit.
P.J.F. GANTILLON.
St. John's College.
_Swans hatched during Thunder_ (Vol. ii., p. 510.).--Some years ago I
purchased a pair of swans, and, during the first breeding season after I
procured them, they made a nest in which they deposited seven eggs. After
they had been sitting about six weeks, I observed to my servant, who had
charge of them and the other water-fowl, that it was about the time for the
swans to hatch. He immediately said, that it was no use expecting it till
there had been a rattling peal of thunder to crack the egg-shells, as they
were so hard and thick that it was impossible for the cygnets to break them
without some such assistance. Perhaps this is the reason why swans are said
to be hatched during a thunder-storm. I need only say, that this is a
popular fallacy, as swans regularly hatch after sitting six weeks, whether
there happens to be a thunder-storm or not.
HENRY E.
_Etymology of Apricot_ (Vol. ii., p. 420.).--I cannot agree in the opinion
expressed by your correspondent E.C.H., that this word is derived from the
Latin _pr�cox_, signifying "early-ripening,"--that the words [Greek:
prokokkia] and [Greek: prekokkia] are {76} Gr�cised Latin,--and that the
Arabs themselves, adopting the word with a slight variation, made it
_al-bercoy_.
The fact of the fruit itself being of Asiatic origin, renders it in the
highest degree improbable that the Orientals would borrow a name for it
from the Latin.
My own opinion is, that the reverse is the case--that the Latin is merely a
corruption of the Arabic; and that the Latins, in adopting the word,
naturally gave it the slight alteration which rendered the Arabic word, to
them unmeaning, appropriately significant of the nature of the fruit.
I find that in various languages the word strolls thus in the Latin of the
middle age, _avercoccius_--in the modern Greek, [Greek: berykokkion]--in
the Italian, _albercocco_, _albicocca_--in the Spanish, _albaricoque_--and
all these various words, undeducible from the Latin _pr�cox_, are readily
derivable from the Arabic word, the prefix _al_, which is merely the
article, being in some cases dropped, and in others retained.
I may add, as a curious fact, that, in the south of Italy, of which I am a
native, the common people call the apricot _verricocca_, and _the peach_
_precucco_, although the former ripen _earlier_ than the latter.
A.P. DI PIO, Italo-Gr�cos.
Carlisle.
_"Plurima gemma latet c�c� tellure sepulta"_ (Vol. ii., p.133.).--In the
course of my reading, some time back, I met with a passage which was given
as quotation from Bishop Hall. I transcribe it, as it appears to me to
approach nearer to the above hexameter than even Gray's lines:
"There is many a rich stone laid up, in the bowels of the earth; many a
fair pearl in the bosom of the sea, that never was seen, nor ever shall
be."
_Time when Herodotus wrote_ (Vol. ii., p. 405.).--The passage in Herodotus
which shows that he was still employed on his history when he was
seventy-five, is in his first book. But A.W.H. thinks, that, as it is a
general introduction, showing why he mentioned all places, small or great,
it must have been written at the beginning. I should infer the contrary;
that he would give an account why he had done so after he had done it, and
not while it rested merely in intention.
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