﻿Trees of New York State - 405 



literature. Most of their names come to us through the Latin as 

 has already been explained. Our word prune or plum has been 

 derived from tooo/ivov or -finMis; through the Latin Prunus. Many- 

 names came into the Latin after contact was common, and the 

 cultural Greek words may have supplanted an earlier Latin name 

 for certain trees, among which (p'ir''><, Fagus; v/y/"-', Mains; and 

 -xdravo?, Plataiius, may be mentioned. Others came as a result 

 of trade often accompanied by an actual transplanting of the 

 tree as in the case of akakia^ the Acacia from Egypt. 



Those which are strictly Latin in form are rare, and doubtless 

 i-epresent those which were restricted to Italy or were sufficiently 

 well known to withstand the Greek influence. Among this group 

 Quercus, the Oak ; Abies, the Fir ; Pyrus, the Pear ; and Fraxinus, 

 the Ash, are examples. It is but natural that the extensive trade 

 fostered by the Roman Empire should bring foreign trees to their 

 knowledge, and Persica, the Peach, from the Persian pars, appar- 

 ently came through the commercial route. 



The Teutonic from which our own language was developed has 

 furnished us with many common names, names originating after 

 the separation from the Hellenic and Roman branches, but which 

 had become so firmly rooted that they could not be replaced by 

 the more cultural terms brought by their southern conquerors. 

 Some of our best known words may be classified here, as for 

 example, the Aspen, Ash, and Hawthorn, The restriction of these 

 names to the common category is, of course, due to the early influ- 

 ence of the ecclesiastical Latin on literature and science. 



A knowledge of many species came into England as a result 

 of the Norman Conquest and later French influence. The Laurel 

 from the Fr. laurier, through the M. E. laurer, the Mulberry 

 from moVy through the M. E. mool, and the Sumach from sumac, 

 indicate that the continental doubtless introduced into the British 

 Isles those plants with which he had become acquainted by contact 

 with the peoples to the south. 



Very few names of trees are non- Aryan in origin, and one of 

 the best examples is that of the Maple, and its earlier L. name 

 Acer which is Celtic and may be a relic of the Roman occupation 

 as may also be true of sal-lis (Salix). 



Special incidents or changes in the lives of a people may exert 

 no small influence on the language, and in this connection it may 

 be well to mention two plants which came into England as a result 

 of Christianity. Rose is a direct descendant of the L. Rosa from 

 the Gr. <>> ; and the Lily, Or. ^.-:i/nir^^ comes from the same 

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