16 POPULAR NAMES 



BASIL, Gr. @a<n\iKov, royal, probably from its being 

 used in some royal unguent, bath, or medicine, 



Ocymum basilicum, L. 



FIELD-, Calamintha Clinopodium, Bent. 



BASIL-THYME, so called, says Parkinson (Th. Bot. p. 19), 

 " because the smell thereof is so excellent, that it is fit for 

 a king's house ;" Calamintha Acinos, Clair. 



BASSINETS, Fr. bassinet, a small basin, a skull-cap, from 

 the shape of the flower, Ranunculus, L. 



BRAVE-, in Lyte's Herball, Caltha palustris, L. 

 BAST-TREE, the lime-tree, from its inner bark furnishing 

 bast for matting, a word introduced with the material from 

 Germany or Denmark, and related to Skr. pas, bind, Pers. 

 benden, and Zend and Skr. bandh, whence Z. basta, bound. 



Tilia europsea, L. 



BAY, Fr. bate, formed, by the usual omission of c between 

 two vowels, from L. baca, often so spelt for bacca, a berry. 

 In old works bay means a berry generally, as " the bayes 

 of ivyne," but as those of the sweet bay, the lauri baccas 

 of Virgil, were an article of commerce, the term came to be 

 applied to them exclusively, and was thence extended to 

 other evergreens, much as is laurel at the present day. 



Laurus nobilis, L. 



,, DWARF-, Daphne laureola, L. 



BEAM-TREE, more properly WHITE BEAM, from A.S. 

 beam, a tree, O.S. bam, G. baum, Goth, bagms, O.N. batSmr, 

 words related to G. bauen, build. Beam, without the 

 White prefixed, is a vague term, meaning in A.S. a tree 

 generally, so that Beam-tree is a silly pleonasm, a tree- 

 tree. Pyrus Aria, L. 



BEAN, A.S. bean, O.N. baun, Du. boon, G. bohne, Da. 

 bonne, Sw. bona, is considered by W. and J. Grimm to be 

 connected with Lat. faba ; and there are in different 

 languages words in some degree intermediate between the 

 two ; not, however, that the Germans derived their word 



