folklore and poetry and song, such as still echoes among the vales of
Sparta and along the Bosphorus. Greek words are rather rare here, and
those that one hears--such as _sciusciello, caruso, crisommele,_
etc.--have long ago been garnered by scholars like De Grandis, Moltedo,
and Salvatore Mele. So Naples is far more Hellenic in dialect, lore,
song and gesture than these regions, which are still rich in pure
latinisms of speech, such as surgere (to arise); scitare (excitare--to
arouse); e (est--yes); fetare (foetare); trasete (transitus--passage of
quails); titillare (to tickle); craje (cras--to-morrow); pastena (a
plantation of young vines; Ulpian has "pastinum instituere"). A woman is
called "muliera," a girl "figliola," and children speak of their fathers
as "tata" (see Martial, epig. I, 101). Only yesterday I added a
beautiful latinism to my collection, when an old woman, in whose cottage
I sometimes repose, remarked to me, "Non avete virtu oggi "--you are not
_up to the mark_ to-day. The real, antique virtue! I ought to have
embraced her. No wonder I have no "virtue" just now. This savage
Vulturnian wind--did it not sap the Roman virtue at Cannae?

All those relics of older civilizations are disappearing under the
standardizing influence of conscription, emigration and national schooling.
And soon enough the _Contranome-_system __will become a thing of the
past. I shall be sorry to see it go, though it has often driven me
nearly crazy.

What is a _contranome?_

The same as a _sopranome._ It is a nickname which, as with the Russian
peasants, takes the place of Christian and surname together. A man will
tell you: "My name is Luigi, but they call me, by _contranome,_
O'Canzirro. I don't know my surname." Some of these nicknames are