114 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



mythology. The context clearly shows what is im- 

 plied by the word baleful in this connection : 



"The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean, 

 O'ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe." 



Without any obscuring ideas as to Sun-myths, Shake- 

 speare sj)eaks here as an observer of Nature, and 

 instantly connects effect and cause — the miserable 

 trees with plants that prey on them. It requires 

 no great sledge-hanniier of myth to crack such a 

 little nut as this. 



With reference to the derivation of the word, it is 

 stated in the same work that "the word mistletoe 

 is a corruption of mistel-ta, where mist is the Ger- 

 man for 'dung,' or, rather, the 'droppings of a 

 bird,' from the notion that the plant ^vas so propa- 

 gated." Here the sun-myth is dispensed with, and 

 the idea implied in the old adage, Tiirdus inalii7n 

 sibi cacat, fixed on as the basis of the exj)lanation. 

 That mist is the German for dung is true, but that 

 the first four letters in the word mistel have a 

 similar signification is not very jDrobable. That the 

 German word 7nist means rather "the droj^pings of 

 a bird" than "dung" must be information to most 

 Germans. 



Several other etymological explanations of a 

 similar unsatisfactory kind have been made as to 

 this word. These I do not proj)ose to discuss, as a 

 simple and natural derivation recommends itself. 



I am of opinion that Prior is right in regarding 

 Mistel as simply the Anglo-Saxon word meaning 

 "diverse, different," and ta, a twig or little branch. 

 The "tawse" of our boyhood may, in some cases, 

 have imi3ressed a sufficient comprehension of the 

 word ta in its Scottish form taiv. The English 

 words toe and ten are closely allied, the latter being 

 a plural form that came into use as a number. 

 Mistletoe, then, simply means "the different twig," 

 — a very approjiriate name for the most character- 

 istic feature of the plant when observed growing, 

 and the one most likelv of all to attract the notice 



