A Dictionary Of English Plant Names And Some Products Of Plants

Excerpt from A Dictionary of English Plant-Names The object, then, of collecting and studying the English names of plants, is not to introduce a system of English nomenclature to the botanical student but to rescue from oblivion a vast number of old-world words, derived from a variety of languages, and therefore often carrying us back to the early days of our country's history, and to the various people who, as conquerors or colonists, have landed on our shores, and left an impress on our language. Many of these old-world words are full of poetical associations, speaking to us of the thoughts and feelings of the old-world people who invented them. Others tell na of the ancient mythology of our ancestors of strange old medicinal usages of superstitions now almost forgotten; they appeal, in short, not to the botanist, but to the antiquarian and the philologist; and form a not unimportant chapter in the history of our language. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Old English had a large number of plant names: more than a thousand are attested. These are listed here, including parts of plants and products of plants. In the main list the following kinds of information are provided: the spelling (including spelling variants), the literal meaning, the etymology (native word or loan-word) and word-formation, equivalents in Modern English, in the Linnéan terminology, and in German, as well as the older Latin names. Cross-references to etymologically or semantically related names are also given. It is furthermore noted if the etymology or the identification of the plant is unclear. The main list is made more accessible and is supplemented by several indices and supplementary lists; these collect, for example, those Old English plant names that survive in Modern English, Old English names for fruits and products of plants, tree names, the Latin names according to the Linnéan system, the Modern English equivalents, and the Modern German equivalents.

Stearn's classic dictionary of the meaning and origin of some 6,000 botanical names

This volume provides the origins and meanings of the names of genera and species of extant vascular plants, with the genera arranged alphabetically from A to C.

Names are important elements to handle the diversity of items in daily life - persons, objects, animals, plants, etc. Without such names, it would be difficult to attach information to such items and to communicate information about them, and names are usually used without giving them much thought. This is not different for plants. When dealing with plants, however, it soon becomes apparent that the situation is somewhat more complex. Botanists use Latin names to bring order into the vast diversity, while everyday usage resorts to vemacular or "popular" names. As practical as these vernacular names are (it is not suggested that you should ask your greengrocer for a kilo gram of Solanum tuberosum or Musa paradisiaca subsp. sapientum), their most important draw back is the fact that they vary widely, not only from one language to another but also from coun try to country, even from region to region within a large country. More importantly, vemacular names in any given language are usually only available for the plants growing locally, or for plants of some special importance, such as crops and vegetables, medicinal plants, or important garden plants. For all other plants, the Latin names used by botanists and other scientists have to be employed. Such names often appear complicated or even awkward to the ears of those not accustomed to them.