DAVID STEVENS.

Godalming.

The Dodo (Vol. i., pp. 261. 410.).—­I have the pleasure to supply Mr. Strickland with the elucidation he desires in his Query 7., by referring to Hyde, Historia Religionis Vet.  Persarum, p. 312.

“Et ut de Patre (Zoroastris) conveniunt, sic inter omnes convenit Matris ejus nomen fuisse Doghdu, quod (liquescente gh ut in vocibus Anglicis, high, mighty, &c.) apud eos plerumque sonat Dodu; nam sonus Gain in medio vocum fere evanescere solet.  Hocque nomen innuit quasi foecundidate ea similis esset ejusdem nominis Gallinae Indicae, cujus Icon apud Herbertum in Itinerario extat sub nomine Dodo, cujus etiam exuviae farctae in Auditorio Anatomico Oxoniensi servantur.  Reliqua ex Icone dignoscantur.  Plurima parit ova, unde et commodum foecunditatis emblema.”

T.J.

“Under the Rose” (Vol. i., p. 214.).—­I find the three following derivations for this phrase in my note-book:—­

I.  “The expression, ‘under the rose,’ took its origin,” says Jenoway, “from the wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster.  The parties respectively swore by the red or the white rose, and these opposite emblems were displayed as the signs of two taverns; one of which was by the side of, and the other opposite to, the Parliament House in Old Palace Yard, Westminster.  Here the retainers and servants of the noblemen attached to the Duke of York and Henry VI. used to meet.  Here also, as disturbances were frequent, measures either of defence or annoyance were taken, and every transaction was said to be done ‘under the rose;’ by which expression the most profound secrecy was implied.”

II.  According to others, this term originated in the fable of Cupid giving the rose to Harpocrates, the god of silence, as a bribe to prevent him betraying the amours of Venus, and was hence adopted as the emblem of silence.  The rose was for this reason frequently sculptured on the ceilings of drinking and feasting, rooms, as a warning to the guests that what was said in moments of conviviality should not be repeated; from which, what was intended to be kept secret was said to be held “under the rose.”

III.  Roses were consecrated as presents from the Pope.  In 1526, they were placed over the goals of confessionals as the symbols of secrecy.  Hence the origin of the phrase “Under the Rose.”

JARLTZBERG.

Ergh, Er, or Argh.—­Might not these words (queried by T.W., Vol. ii. p 22.) be corruptions of “burgh,” aspirated wurgh, and the aspirate then dropped; or might not ark, argh, &c., be corruptions of “wark:”  thus Southwark, commonly pronounced Southark?  I merely offer this as a conjecture.

JARLTZBERG.