232 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vi. 



researches made as to the names of some common trees and 

 phmts. With the exception of the hazel-nut, and some other 

 wild berries, the Apple appears to be the only fruit known to 

 our European ancestors, as it is the only name not derived from 

 the Latin or French. In the Zend, or old Persian language, 

 and in the Sanscrit, the name for water is ap^ and for fruit 

 p'hala ; hence ethnologists think that the name is compounded 

 of these two words, meaning "water fruit," or '-juice fruit." 

 This corresponds with the Latin ncixaQ pomum, derived from ^jo, 

 to drink, which is a somewhat curious coincidence. In Welsh 

 it was formerly called apalis, now ap)fd ; in high-German, 

 aphol ; in German, ap/el ; in Anglo-Saxon, cepl, or, apjjel ; in 

 old Danish, epii ; in modern Danish, cf-^/e ; in Swedish, (;f;^?e ; 

 and in Lithuanian, oboli/s, or ohelis. This close similarity in 

 the name as used by these various nations, renders it highly 

 probable that they all come from the same root or stock, and 

 that such root or stock originally inhabited the western spur of 

 the Himalayan Mountains or northern Persia, 



Again, the name of Beech-tree, given to the Fagus sylvutica, 

 is another curious proof of our descent from Asiatic nations. 

 In Sanscrit the word boko signifies a letter, and the word hokos 

 writinsjs. In Swedish the name of the Beech-tree is hok : in 

 Danish, hog; in Dutch, henk ; in German, huch ; in modern 

 high-German, huoche ; in old high-German, puocha ; and in 

 Anglo-Saxon, hoc, hece, and beoce — names applied indifferently to 

 this tree and to a book, because the ancient books of these 

 different nations were w^ritten in their Buiiic characters upon 

 tablets or leaves made from the bark of this tree. Ethnoloi>'ists, 

 therefore, consider this as another proof of our descent from the 

 nations of TJj)per Asia, the more so as the use by the Greeks of 

 the word biblos, as signifying a book, is derived from the name 

 of an Egyptian plant that was used in making the material 

 upon which they wrote, showing that our ancestors received their 

 ancient alphabetic signs from India by the way of the north, and 

 not by a southern route. 



As a curious example of the way in which the names of 

 plants become transmitted in passing from one language to 

 another, we instance one of the names of the Carnation, or Dian- 

 tlius caryopJu/llus. Chaucer, in his Canterburij Tales, speaks of 

 " A primerole, a piggesnie." This last word, the glossaries state, 

 means "pig's-eye," the first cue meaning the primrose. Now 



