408 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



had no difficulty in believing that the xotpoypvXXto? of the Alexandrian 

 Jews was identical with their marmot. Thus, the Latin glossarist 

 recently edited by Dr. Beck, in his definition of choirogryllus (which 

 implies x°'-P°yp'"^^°^^ another form of xotpoypvWios), follows St. Jerome 

 in every particular, except one : he refers the animal to Italy {i?i 

 Italia ahimdans), and not to Palestine. The Byzantines regarded 

 XoipoypvWios, dKavdoxoipos {hedgehog), and varpi^ {porcupine), as sy- 

 nonymous terms. 



A considerable number of plants and animals mentioned by ancient 

 Greek authors may be identified with the help of the modern language 

 of Greece, as spoken by the common people, provided the following 

 proposition be admitted ; that, ivhen the ancient name of a plant or 

 animal is still heard among the Greeks, the presumption is that it is the 

 traditional name of that plant or animal Thus, there is no reason 

 why the modern p.rjKid, apple-tree, avKid, fg-tree, 6^vd, beech, ^TeSia, 

 elm, (^CKvKa (also QCKvkl or 6\vki), Rhamnus alaternus, irpivdpt or -rrovp- 

 vdpi, Quercus coccifera, dpcos or dpd8i, Quercus Ilex, a-cpevTopi, map>le, 

 should not be regarded as the representatives of the ancient prfkia, 

 avKea, o^ia, TrreXea, (piKvKr], irplvos, dpla, acpevSapvos, respectively. At 

 the same time we must bear in mind that not unfrequently the same 

 plant has different names in different parts of Greece and Turkey. 

 We must remember, also, that the same name is sometimes applied 

 to different species of the same genus, or to different genera of the 

 same order. In some few instances the same name is given even to 

 genera belonging to two different orders. Thus, (})\6p.os or acpikopos 

 in most places represents the Verbascum of botanists ; but in Pelopon- 

 nesus (if I am correctly informed) it is used with reference to the 

 Euphorbia of botanists, elsewhere called yaXar^iSa (from yd\a, milk), 

 on account of its milky juice. 



Ancient Greek names of plants are often heard in regions that have 

 never been under foreign influence, such as the smaller islands of the 

 iEc^ean, and some of the mountainous districts of European Greece and 

 Turkey. As to the Greeks living among the Turks, they are apt to 

 call fomiliar objects by their Turkish names. In places once occupied 

 by Slavs, some plants have Slavic names ; as jSovft, dwarf-elder, from 

 the Russian buzina {hovCrj^d) ; 'keTTovvrid or XoTrowna or Xo/3oSta, clieno- 

 podium, from the Russian lebedd (Xebcda). 



A compound of aypios, ivild, in good Greek would naturally denote 



