Journal of Proceedings. xvii
and further that it is not necessarily more euphonious nor easier to
remember than the Latin one. Again, it must not be forgotten that
these much criticised Latin names could make out a very good case for
themselves if they were put on their defence. They are not to form the
subject of my few remarks this afternoon, so I will not dwell upon them ;
I will only, in passing, point out that by their aid men of science all over
the world can find a name for a given plant which shall be common to
and understood by all of them, and that they are often most expressive
of some prominent characteristic or some striking feature in the plants
on which they have been bestowed—or it may be they commemorate in
no unfitting manner the name and work of some distinguished botanist.
Turning, then, to English plant names, we shall find them originating in
a hundred different ways, many of them indicating in no uncertain
manner the period at which they came into existence. Many names
come to us from foreign tongues; many more are Anglicised or queerly
corrupted forms of Latin or Greek equivalents; others are connected
with the feasts and observances of the Catholic Church, and hence
clearly originated in days when these entered prominently into the
national life. A large class took their origin in the employment
medicinally of the plants bearing them. Some—a large number—from
a real or fancied resemblance to other objects ; some from their time of
flowering. It would not be difficult to bring out prominently enough
examples of all these classes; but time would not allow of this. I will
therefore take two or three of the more striking and try to give you
illustrations of them."
Mr. Britten gave many interesting and amusing illustrations of plant-
names under various heads of derivation. One curious tradition is that
which assigns misfortune to the gatherer of particular plants. In Cum-
berland the Common Red Campion (Lychnis diurna) is known as
"Mother-dee," and, said Mr. Britten,—
" I need hardly explain to you that ' dee ' is the Cumbrian pronuncia-
tion of ' die,' and among Cumberland children the tradition is current
that if the flower be plucked some serious misfortune, at least, will
happen to their parents. Now, observe how general is this superstition,
although in different places it is connected with different plants. In
Yorkshire it is attached to a particularly innocent-looking flower, the
Germander Speedwell; if it be plucked by a child its mother will die
within the year. Near Ingatestone, in Essex, if a branch of Hawthorn
be brought into a house, a death, or, at any rate, serious illness will
ensue to one of its inmates. In Norfolk an apple-branch in blossom in
Autumn portends a death in the direction in which the branch points.
In Gloucestershire, although the superstition itself seems lost, its former
prevalence is evidenced by the way in which the flowers of the early
Purple Orchis (Orchis mascula), there called by the ominous name of
' Bloody Man's Fingers,' are banished from the rustic nosegay and
forbidden to enter a house."*
In proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Britten, Prof. Boulger remarked
that he found in London two years ago the tradition concerning the
fatality of carrying Hawthorn into houses fully believed in, inasmuch as
a lady remonstrated pretty strongly with him for going near her house
* The full text of this address is withheld, at least for the present, at the request of
the author.—Ed.