_John--Pisan._--I will thank you to inform your correspondent "C." (No.
15 p. 234.), that we must look to the East for the "original word" of
John. In the Waldensian MSS. of the Gospels of the 12th Century, we find
Ioanes, showing its derivation from the Greek _Iohannaes_. The word
Pisan occurs in the 33rd vol. of the _Archæologia_, p. 131.

I have considered it was a contraction for _pavoisine_, a small shield;
and I believe this was the late Dr. Meyrick's opinion.

B.W.
Feb. 25.


Sir,--If the signature to the article in No. 16., "on Pet Names," had
not been Scottish, I should have been less surprised at the author's
passing over the name of _Jock_, universally used in Scotland for
_John_. The termination _ick_ or _ck_ is often employed, as marking a
diminutive object, or object of endearment. May not the English term
_Jack_, if not directly borrowed from the Scottish _Jock_, have been
formed _through_ the primary _Jock_--John--Jock--Jack?

EMDEE.


_Origin of the Change of "Mary" into "Polly"_ (No. 14. p. 215.).--This
change, like many others in diminutives, is progressive. By a natural
affinity between the liquids _r_ and _l_, _Mary_ becomes _Molly_, as
_Sarah_, _Sally_, _Dorothea_, _Dora_, _Dolly_, &c. It is not so easy to
trace the affinity between the _initials_ M. and P., though the case is