DECEMBER 4, 1943. NOTES AND QUERIES.
355
to the desk, taking the pen from his fingers
and urging Moore to stop work in order to
play with the cat. One of Mr. Hilaire Bel-
loc's most charming essays is called ' Conver-
sation With a Cat,' and indeed, gives its name
to the volume. I believe that W. B. Yeats
was also fond of cats, but I have lost the
reference.
SAMUEL J. LOOKER.
fFHE WORKMAN FAMILY .(clxxxv. 258).
•*• —Members of the Worcestershire branch
of this family were prominently associated
with Evesham and its neighbourhood for
many years in the nineteenth century
•and the name is still represented there. Ben-
j amin Workman was Mayor of Evesham in
1838, and Henry Workman also filled that
office for five successive years, beginning in
1851. Various references to Henry Workman
will be found in ' Evesham and Neighbour-
hood,' the official guide to Evesham, of which
the sixth edition, revised by Kenneth Gill
Smith, was published in 1937.
E. A. B. BABNABD.
St. Catharine's College, Cambridge.
TUDAS ISCARIOT (clxxxv. 197, 266).—In
•** the British Weekly, Professor J. Alexan-
der Findlay answers questions raised by diffi-
culties in the Bible. Recently, discursing the
case of Judas, he suggested that the word
" Iscariot " represents the Latin sicarius,
assassin, literally, " dagger-man." This was
applied to advanced revolutionaries who
believed in violent action. According to this
•solution of the personal name, Judas belonged
to them and was addressed in Matt. xxvi. 50
as'Eraipe, translated " f r i e n d " in the A.V..
and R.V. A closer rendering would be " com-
rade," a word now familiar among members
•of the advanced Left in thought. But the
margin gives two references to the Psalms,
passages which speak of attacks by a familiar
•companion one would naturally trust. This
point does not seem to me worth much. But
the Professor gives it in support of his ex-
planation and it is well to consider what the
latest learning regards as probable. There
are several difficulties about Judas but the
text itself does nothing to remove them.
T. C. C.
According to the ' Concise Dictionary of the
Bible,' edited by Dr. William Smith, D.C.L.,
LL.D., Judas Iscariot is sometimes called the
son of Simon, but more commonly Iscariotes.
The name Iscariot has received many inter-
pretations more or less conjectural. The most
probable are (1) From Kerioth (Josh, xv, 25),
in the tribe of Judah. On this hypothesis
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his position among the Twelve, the rest of
whom belonged to Galilee, would be excep-
tional ; and this has led to (2) From Kartha
in Galilee (Kartan, A.V., Josh xxi, 32). (3)
From Scortea, a leathern apron, the name
being applied to him as the bearer of the
bag, and=Judas with the apron. Of the life
of Judas, before the appearance of his name
in the lists of the Apostles, we know absolutely
nothing.
Kerioth (1) is the name of a town which
occurs among the lists of the towns in the
southern district of Judah. According to the
A.V. (" Kerioth and Hezron ") it denotes a
distinct place from the name which follows
it; but this separation is not in accordance
with the accentuation of the Rec. • Hebrew
text, and is now generally abandoned, and
the name taken as " Keriyoth-Hezron, which
is Hazor."
Dr. Robinson and Lieut. Van de Velde
propose to identify it with Kuryetein (" the
two cities " ) , a ruined site which stands about
10 miles S. from Hebron, and 3 from Main
(Maon).
(2). A city of Moabj named by Jeremiah
only. By Mr. Porter it is unhesitatingly
identified with Kureiyeh, a ruined town of
some extent lying between Busrah and Sulk-
had, in the southern part of the Hauran. The
chief argument in favour of this is the
proximity of Kureiyeh to Busrah.
In an ancient map of Palaestina (issued by
Messrs. George Philip & Son, of London and
Liverpool), Kerioth is shown at 31.32N.,
35.8E. and Kerioth, Kureiyeh at 32.34N.,
56.37E.
JAMES SETON-ANDERSON.
Seton Cottage, Springholm-by-Castle-Douglas.
p CATOCHE (clxxxv. 291).—" Cabo "
is Spanish for " Cape." " Catoche " is a
Mexican colloquialism meaning " ill-
humour " introduced into Spanish and recog-
nised by the Spanish National Academy.
SAYAH.
On consulting Bensley's Spanish Dictionary
I find that Catoche is a medical word mean-
ing " the apopletic rigidity of the muscles."
I presume that the cape ie so named, because