68 POPULAR NAMES 



DOG'S-TONGUE, a translation of L. cynoglossum, a name 

 given to it from its soft leaf, C. officinale, L. 



DOG'S-TOOTH-GRASS, Fr. ckien dent, from the sharp- 

 pointed shoots of its underground stem, 



Triticum caninum, Hud. 

 and Cynodon Dactylon, R. 



DOG-VIOLET, a scentless one, Viola canina, L. 



DOG-WOOD, not so named from the animal, but from 

 skewers being made of it. " It is rather a shrub than a 

 tree," says Threlkeld, " the dry wood wonderfully resists 

 the axe and the wimble, and is used for skewers by the 

 butchers." Dog, in this view of it, is the Fr. dague, It. 

 and Sp. daga, Fl. and Old Engl. dagge, equivalent to GK 

 dolch, a dagger, and A.S. dale or dole, a fibula, a brooch- 

 pin, and related to Skr. dag, strike. The verb dawk is 

 still retained in the Western counties in a Nursery rhyme : 

 " Prick it and dawk it, baker's man." This derivation of 

 the name is supported by its synonyms Prick-wood, 

 Skewer-wood, and Gadrise, but has been overlooked, and 

 the fruit, from a mistaken idea of its meaning, called a 

 Hountf s-berry . Cornus sanguinea, L. 



DOOB-GRASS, the name given in India to the dog's-tooth- 

 grass, Cynodon Dactylon, R. 



DOVE'S FOOT, from the shape of the leaf, 



Geranium molle, L. 



DRAKE, DRAWK, or DRAVICK, Du. dramg, W. dreiug, Br. 

 draok, darnel, cockle, or weeds in general, L. daucus, with 

 insertion of r, as in Sp. tronar from tonar. It is some- 

 times found spelt drank, a form of the word which seems 

 to have arisen, in the first place, from a mere misprint of 

 n for u. Bromus sterilis, and Avena fatua, L. etc. 



DROPWORT, according to Turner (b. iii. 31), from its 

 small tubers hanging by slender threads, 



Spiraea Filipendula, L. 



