The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-12-22
STRANGE WORDS
IN SIR NIGEL
Explanatory Notes on the Chap
tiers in The Journal IS Next
Sunday Magazine.
Explanatory Notes of tSn Nigel In
the Magazine for Dec. "a.

Explanatory Notes Of '.sr Nigel in
the Magazine for Dec. "a.
The following notes explanatory Of
in the Sunday Magazine section may
serve to aid and interest the reader who
happens not to have access to a good
reference library. Hereafter they will
appear in the magazine in more con-
densed form at the end Of each install
ment.
The term 3Fhundred' 'as applied to
origin. Blackstone explains it thus:
~ AS ten families Of freeholders made
up town or tithing, SO ten fittings
composed superior division called a
hundred, as consisting of ten times ten
Families
Rape is from an old Morse word
meaning share or allotment. Sussex,
districts intermediate between the an
cient hundred and a shire. II
frequently in "Sir Nigel' is a minced
oath which was as common, or common
er, in olden days as Dieu is in French
today. Meaning literally HBy God,'
it was not used with the intensified
meaning which those two words have
in English today.
A la bonnie heure is literally, cat the
good hour,'' that is, opportunity. The
French word for happiness is simpli-
fcation of this phrase into "bonheur.'
Quarterings, impalements, lozenges
and approximations are heraldic terms
denoting the marshaling. or disposal of
two or more escutcheons in one, in order
to denote the several alliances of one
family with the heiresses. of others, or,
as in the. case Of augmentation an
additional charge to coat armor
granted as a mark of honor. -.
Fire-powder is plainly gunpowder. It
may surprise the reader that gunpowder
vas in use at so early an age, but Sir
Conan Doyle is corroborated by. nearly
tionary says: 1.-THE invention Of gun
powder in Europe has been ascribed to
Roger Bacon (about l214-94) and to a
German monk named Schwarz (about
| 1920, but it was probably introduced
into Europe thru the medium Of the
Moors early in the fourteenth century.
It's common, use in warfare dates from
! the sixteenth century,
rather veronicula, and the vernicle as
worn by pilgrims was a copy of the
handkerchief of st. Veronica which was
miraculously impressed with the fea:
lures of our Lord. The vernicle of
Saint Thomas has reference to similar
emblems carried by the pilgrims to the
shrine of Thomas -a-Becket, archbishop
murdered in the great cathedral at the
foot Of the altar Of St. Benedict, Dec
20, ITO. Two years later he was can
onized by the pope, and in 1920 his
bones were removed to Trinity chapel
Where for several centuries, they were
the object of pilgrimages from all part!
of Christendom, and as amany as 100000
| nil orir ST or "
Canterbury. The Pilgrims Way was thu
and as the author states elsewhere, THU
highway ignored London, the grea
Mecca Of the modern and more com
Ampullae were ancient Roman bot
ties with narrow necks and more O
less globular bodies. Those Of the mid
] die ages were small TASKS Of glass, lea,
Thomas shrine,. as at others, to Civ
or sell to the pilgrims small objects a
4 evidence Of their visit. Sometimes
\ was medal, ampulla or a she'll bearin
I the. name Of monastery, church o
! shrine. A scallop or cockle-shen wa
i an emblem that the bearer had visite
4 the Holy Land, and one Of the scallop
is known as st. James shell from .thi
4 the pilgrim IS shell is a carved peal
s. she'll such as are brought by traveller
3 from the Holy Land.
The ale-stake was a. stake having
garland or bush of twigs at the top G
q it, set up as a sign before an alehous
a Ruth is here used in the sense Of con
: passion, pity or mercy, and as such
e9usin to to o J: ee modern word "rue,
= from the same Anglo-Saxon and midi
ri ENGLISH root