23 JANUARY 1953, Page 5

I expressed last week my firm resolve to dissociate myself

completely from Hogmanay and its supposititious derivations. I have no intention of going back on that, except to observe that the Concise Oxford Dictionary, which thinks it knows better than its twelve-volume progenitor, ventures: " fr. 0. F. aguillanneuf (mod. Norman hoguignettes, Guernsey Izoginono) etym. dub., prob. containing tan neuf, the new year." The only word I really like there is dub. And here, with all grati- tude to many profferers of rival derivations, I take lasting leave