Britain is derived from _briot_, painted, and _tan_, a country--_i. e._ "the country of the painted people." It is a matter of history, that the people of Britain dyed their bodies with various colours. _Tin_ is from the Celtic _tin_, to melt readily, to dissolve. It is also called _stan_: Latin, _stannum_. Hercules is from the Phoenician or Celtic, _Earr-aclaide_, pronounced _Er-aclaie,_ i. e. the noble leader or hero. Melkarthus is derived from _Mal-catair_, pronounced _Mal-cahir_, i. e. the champion or king of the city (of Tyre). Moloch cannot be identical with the Tyrian Hercules, as Moloch was the god of fire: probably a name for the sun, from the Celtic _molc_, i. e. fire. FRAS. CROSSLEY. * * * * * {346} YEW-TREES IN CHURCHYARDS. (Vol. viii., p. 244.) Whilst offering a solution to the Query of R. C. WARDE, as to the placing yew-trees in churchyards, I am obliged to differ from him _toto coelo_, by considering the derivation of the name of the plant itself, though I must candidly confess that the solution of the Query and the derivation of the word are my own. _Yew_ is ancient British, and signifies _existent_ and enduring, having the same root as _Jehovah_; and _yew_ is Welsh for _it is_, being one of the forms of the third person present indicative of the auxiliary verb _bod_, to be. Hence the yew-tree was planted in churchyards, not to indicate _death_, despair, but _life_, hope and assurance. It is one of our few evergreens, and is the most enduring of all, and clearly points out the Christian's hope in the immortality of the soul: _Resurgam_. Whilst on the word _yew_, I may perhaps observe that I am hardly inclined now (though I once was so) to derive from it, as the author of the _Etymological Compendium_ does, the name _yeoman_: I think that yeoman is not _yew_-man, "a man using the yew-bow," but _yoke_-man, a man owning as much land as a _yoke_ of oxen could plough in a certain time. J. G. CUMMINGS. The following extract frown the _Handbook of English Ecclesiology_, p. 190., may be of some assistance to your correspondent: "YEW. These were planted generally to the south of the church, to supply green for the decoration of churches at the great festivals; this tree being an emblem of immortality. It is a heathen prejudice which regards it as mournful. It is not probable yews were used as palms; the traditional name given to the withy showing that this was used in the procession on that festival." WILLIAM W. KING. Instead of troubling you with a particular answer to MR. WARDE'S inquiry, let me refer him to the _Forest Trees of Britain_, by the Rev. C. A. Johns, p 297. _et seq._, where, among many other curious and interesting facts, he will find the various reasons assigned by different authors, ancient and modern, for the plantation of yew-trees in churchyards. I do not find, however, that the origin ingeniously assigned by MR. WARDE is among the number.