_Chapels._--Perhaps the following remarks will be of service to "Mr.
GATTY" in the solution of his Queries touching the word _Chapel_ (No.
21.).
Spelman (_Glossary, sub voce_) endeavours to convince us that _capella_
is the same as _capsella_, the diminutive of _capsa_; thus making
_chapel_, in the first instance, "a small repository" (_sc._ of relics).
Richardson is also in favour of this etymon, notwithstanding its
harshness and insipidity. I think the common derivation (from _capella_,
diminutive of _capa_) very much preferable to any other, both on the
score of philology and of history. Ducange has quoted several passages,
all tending to evince that _capella_ (explained by the Teutonic
_voccus_) was specially applied to the famous vestment of St. Martin,
comprising his cloak and hood (not merely his _hat_, as some writers
mention). The name was then metonymically transferred to the repository
in which that relic was preserved, and afterwards, by a natural
expansion, became the ordinary designation of the smaller sanctuaries.
This derivation is distinctly affirmed by Walafred Strabo about 842, and
by a monk of St. Gall, placed by Basnage about 884. The earliest
instance where the word _capella_ is used for the vestment of St. Martin
appears to be in a "Placitum" of Theodoric, King of France, who ascended
the throne A.D. 672--"in oratorio nostro super capella Domini Martini
... hæc dibiret conjurare." In a second "Placitum," also quoted by
Ducange, of Childebert, King of France (_circa_ 695), the word _capella_
seems to mean a _sacred building_--"in oratorio suo seu capella Sancti
Marthini." And in a charter of Charles the Simple, _circ._ 900, the term
unquestionably occurs in this latter signification, disconnected from
St. Martin. Other illustrations may be seen in Ducange, who has bestowed
especial industry on the words _capa_ and _capella_.
With respect to the _legal_ definition of the modern _chapel_, I may
mention that, in stat. 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29. s. 10., it signifies,
according to Mr. Stephens (_Eccl. Statutes_, p. 1357.), "a chapel where
the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England are performed, and
does not include the chapels of Dissenters." In stat. 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c.
30., we read, notwithstanding, of "any _chapel_ for the religious
worship of persons dissenting from the United Church of England and
Ireland."
C.H.
St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.
_Chapels_ (No. 20. p. 333., and No. 23. p. 371.).--The opinion of the
"BARRISTER" that this term had come into use as a designation of
dissenting places of worship from no "idea of either assistance or
opposition to the Church of England," but only as a supposed means of
security to the property, is probably correct. Yet it is likely
different reasons may have had weight in different places.
However, he is mistaken in "believing that we must date the adoption of
that term from about" forty years ago. I am seventy-six years old, and I
can bear testimony, that from my infancy it was the term universally
employed in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, and, I think
probable, in the more northern counties. In common speech, it was used
as the word of discrimination from the Methodist places of worship,
which bore the name of _Meeting-houses_, or, more generally, _Meetings_.
But within the period (forty years) assigned by your learned
correspondent, I think that I have observed the habit to have
extensively obtained of applying the term _Chapels_ to the latter class
of places.
I have abundant evidence of the general use of the term for dissenting
buildings, back to the seventeenth century. From my early life, I
remember the current opinion to have been that _Chapel_ was the word in
use north of the Trent, and _Meeting-house_ in Nottingham and
southwards.
An eminent antiquary, the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., could cast a full
light upon this subject.
J.P.S.
Homerton, April 15.
_Beaver_ (No. 21. p. 338.).--The earliest form of this word is _fiber_,
which is used to signify the animal, the _Castor_, by Varro and Pliny.
The fabulous story of the self-emasculation by which the beaver eludes
pursuit, is thus introduced by Silius, in illustrating the flight of
Hasdrubal:-- {418}
"Fluminei veluti deprensus gurgitis undis,
Avulsâ parte inguinibus caussaque pericli,
Enatat intento prædæ _fibor_ avius hoste."
_Punica_, IV. 485-8, where see Ruperti.
The scholiast on Juvenal, xii. 34., has the low Latin _vebrus_. (See
Forcellini, Lex. in _Fiber_ et _Castor_, Ducange in _Bever_, and Adelung
in _Biber_.) Derivations of the word _bebrus_ occur in all the languages
of Europe, both Romanic and Teutonic; and denote the Castor. _Beaver_,
in the sense of a _hat_ or _cap_, is a secondary application, derived
from the material of which the hat or cap was made.