"Under yon yew trees lay thee all along, Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground; Shakespeare also refers to the custom of sticking yew in the shroud in the following song in "Twelfth Night" (Act ii. sc. 4)— "My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, Oh, prepare it; My part of death, no one so true Did share it." Unhappy lovers had garlands of willow, yew, and rosemary laid on their biers, an allusion to which occurs in the "Maid's Tragedy ”— Among further funeral customs may be mentioned that of carrying a garland of flowers and sweet herbs before a maiden's coffin, and afterwards suspending it in the church. Nichols, in his "History of Lancashire" (vol. ii. pt. i. 382), speaking of Waltham in Framland Hundred, says: "In this church under every arch a garland is suspended, one of which is customarily placed there whenever any young unmarried woman dies." It is to this custom Gay feelingly alludes— "To her sweet mem'ry flowing garlands strung, Indeed, in all the ceremonial observances of life, from the cradle to the grave, flowers have formed a prominent feature, the symbolical meaning long attached to them explaining their selection on different occasions. CHAPTER XIII. PLANT NAMES. THE origin and history of plant names is a subject of some magnitude, and is one that has long engaged the attention of philologists. Of the many works published on plant names, that of the "English Dialect Society" is by far the most complete, and forms a valuable addition to this class of literature. " 1 Some idea of the wide area covered by the nomenclature of plants, as seen in the gradual evolution and descent of vernacular names, may be gathered even from a cursory survey of those most widely known in Apart, too, from their our own and other countries. etymological associations, it is interesting to trace the variety of sources from whence plant names have sprung, a few illustrations of which are given in the present chapter. At the outset, it is noteworthy that our English plant names can boast of a very extensive parentage, being "derived from many languages-Latin, Greek, ancient British, Anglo-Saxon, Norman, Low German, Swedish, Danish, Arabic, Persian." 2 It is not sur 1 "Dictionary of English Plant Names," by J. Britten and Robert Holland. 1886. 2 "English Plant Names," Introduction, p. xiii. prising, therefore, that in many cases much confusion. has arisen in unravelling their meaning, which in the course of years would naturally become more or less modified by a succession of influences such as the intercommunication and change of ideas between one country and another. On the other hand, numerous plant names clearly display their origin, the lapse of years having left these unaffected, a circumstance which is especially true in the case of Greek and Latin names. Names of French origin are frequently equally distinct, a familiar instance being dandelion, from the French dent-de-lion, "lion's tooth," although the reason for its being so called is by no means evident. At the same time, it is noticeable that in nearly every European language the plant bears a similar name; whereas Professor De Gubernatis connects the name with the sun (Helios), and adds that a lion was the animal symbol of the sun, and that all plants named after him are essentially plants of the sun.1 One of the popular names of the St. John's wort is tutsan, a corruption of the French toute saine, so called from its healing properties, and the mignonette is another familiar instance. The flower-de-luce, one of the names probably of the iris, is derived from fleur de Louis, from its having been assumed as his device by Louis VII. of France. It has undergone various changes, having been in all probability contracted into fleur-de-luce, and finally into 1 See Folkard's "Legends," p. 309; Friend's "Flowers and Flowerlore," ii. 401-5. 1 fleur-de-lys or fleur-de-lis. An immense deal of discussion has been devoted to the history of this name, and a great many curious theories proposed in explanation of it, some being of opinion that the lily and not the iris is referred to. But the weight of evidence seem to favour the iris theory, this plant having been undoubtedly famous in French history. Once more, by some, the name fleur-de-lys "has been derived from Löys, in which manner the twelve first Louis signed their names, and which was easily contracted into Lys. Some consider it means the flower that grows on the banks of the river Lis, which separated France and Artois from Flanders. Turning to the literature of the past, Shakespeare has several allusions to the plant, as in "I Henry VI.," where a messenger enters and exclaims 'Awake, awake, English nobility! Let not sloth dim your honours new begot; Spenser mentions the plant, and distinguishes it from the lily "Show mee the grounde with daffadown-dillies, 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, 1 See "Flower-lore," p. 74. |