"
Spenser mentions the plant, and distinguishes it from the lily:--
"Show mee the grounde with daifadown-dillies,
And cowslips, and kingcups, and loved lillies;
The pretty pawnee,
And the cherisaunce,
Shall march with the fayre flowre delice."
Another instance is the mignonette of our French neighbours, known also
as the "love-flower." One of the names of the deadly nightshade is
belladonna which reminds us of its Italian appellation, and "several of
our commonest plant names are obtained from the Low German or Dutch, as,
for instance, buckwheat (_Polygonum fagopyrum_), from the Dutch
_bockweit_." The rowan-tree (_Pyrus aucuparia_) comes from the Danish
_roeun_, Swedish _ruenn_, which, as Dr. Prior remarks, is traceable to the
"old Norse _runa_, a charm, from its being supposed to have power to
avert evil." Similarly, the adder's tongue (_Ophioglossum vulgatum_) is
said to be from the Dutch _adder-stong_, and the word hawthorn is found
in the various German dialects.
As the authors of "English Plant Names" remark (Intr. xv.), many
north-country names are derived from Swedish and Danish sources, an
interesting example occurring in the word _kemps_, a name applied to the
black heads of the ribwort plantain (_Plantago lanceolata_).
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