59 
Bohem. worlicek, 'aquiline/ The corrupted Ger. name passed Into 
other languages as: Du. akelei, Swed. acketa, O. Fr. anguelie) Fr. 
ancolie, W^Woon acoPete, Ital. achellea, acquikgia, Span, quile.ila, Port. 
acquileja, Gael, acholmsin. In French the plant has likewise been 
called aiglantine (a dimin. of O. Fr. aiglant, from L. Lat. aciilentus, 
derivative from aculeus; referring, as in Ger., to the aculeate spurs), 
and, coxv\ix>t\Y, galantine. The flowers of the columbine have by 
some been likened to bells; hence Du. klokkebloem, 'bell-flower,' Dan. 
klokken, 'bells', Swed. tysk klockor * silent bells' Russ. kolokoltschikt, 
bell-flower/ Hung, harangvirag, 'bell-flower.' Finally, other popular 
names are: Fr. fieur de parfait amour, * flower of perfect love,' Ital. 
perfetto amore, 'perfect love,' Port, amor perfeito dos velhos, * old- 
folks' perfect love.' Polish rozycyka, 'little rose,' Fr. gant de notre 
dame, 'our^ lady's glove,' mantcau royal, 'royal mantle,' herbe de lion, 
* lion-wort,' and (as an offset to so much poetry) Swed. torrvdrks- 
gras, * rheumatism-grass..' 
^^ Spergula. — Said by Prof. Eaton (Manual of Botany) to be from 
Lat. spergo, 'to scatter,' from the dispersion of its seeds," a state- 
ment copied by Prof. Wood, in his Class-Book.* Dr. Gray, in his 
Manual, has corrected the Latin word to spargo, Spergula, how- 
ever, has nothing to do with spargo, but is merely a Latinized form, 
by Dodoens, of the German popular name spergeL 
Spergula arvensis, L., has for several centuries been cultivated 
throughout Germany as a forage-plant, and has hence received many 
popular names, several of which are corruptions of one and the same 
word. One of these names is sperg (found also in the forms spark, 
sperk, spirk, spork, spurk), of which spergel \% a dimintuive. Sperg is 
an abbreviation of spergis {spurgisy sporges), a corruption of M. Lat. 
sparagiis, for Lat. asparagus. The plant was so named from its re- 
semblance to the asparagus in its whorled branches and thread-shaped 
leaves. 
Brunella. — This word is, in botanical works, derived from Ger. 
braune (Gray), brune (Wood), breune (Darlington; Eaton). As a 
matter of fact, it is a Latinized form (by Brunfels) of the Ger, popu- 
lar name brunelle a dim, of M. H. Ger. brun, 'brown.' The plant was 
so named in German from the brown color of its calyx after flowering, 
and this, on the doctrine of signatures, indicated the use of the herb 
for the cure of quinsy, called in German braune, 'brownness,' 
alluding to the color of the fauces when afflicted with that disease. 
Trollius. — An abbreviation of trollius flos, a translation (by 
Conrad Gesner) of the Ger. popular name trollblumen, " Trollius 
flos, ut nostrum vulgus appellat." (Gesner.) The meaning of troll 
in the compound is not very clear. It is usually suggested that it is 
an old German word signifying *a globe,' or 'something round'; but 
there is no old German word having such a sense. 
Lepidium. — Gr. XeuiSiov^ ' little scale,' explained in all botani- 
cal works as alluding to the small pods; but the original species', Z. 
latifolium^ L., was so called from its supposed usefulness in lepra. 
CoRYDALTs. — From KopvSakk (deriv. fr. uopv?, a 'helmet, 
* Due to Linnaeus: ''Spergula, a sparsione seminis." Phil. Bot., Ed. Spreng. p. 255 
