OF BRITISH PLANTS. 71 



more than a rose of any kind indifferently. Indeed, Milton 

 in the expression " twisted eglantine," is supposed to have 

 meant the woodbine. The derivation of the name is ob- 

 scure. Diez, the highest authority in questions of French 

 etymology, derives it from Lat. aculeus, a prickle, through 

 aculentus, whence 0. Fr. aiglent, covered with prickles, 

 and aiglentier, which became eglantier, and eglantine, and 

 in this view is supported by Em. Egger. The name seems 

 in ancient French works to have been given to the wild 

 roses. In our own early writers, and in Gerarde and the 

 herbalists, it was a shrub with white flowers that was 

 meant. At the present day by Eglantine is usually 

 understood the sweet-brier, Eosa rubiginosa, L. 



ELDER, A.S. ellen and ellarn, in Pierce Plowman eller, 

 words that seem to mean "kindler," and to be derived 

 through A.S. celd, Da. ild, Sw. eld, fire, from celan, kindle, 

 and related to Du. helder, clear, whence op-helderen, kindle 

 or brighten up, a name which we may suppose that it ac- 

 quired from its hollow branches being used, like the bam- 

 boo in the tropics, to blow up a fire, Sambucus nigra, L. 

 DWARF-, Sambucus Ebulus, L. 



WATER-, Viburnum Opulus, L. 



ELECAMPANE, L. Enula campana, by countrymen, says 

 Isidore, called Ala campana, the latter word from its 

 growing wild in Campania, the former from L. Inula, a 

 word of uncertain derivation, Inula Helenium, L. 



ELEVEN O'CLOCK LADY, Fr. dame d'onze heures, from its 

 waking up and opening its eyes so late in the day, 



Ornithogalum umbellatum, L. 



ELF-DOCK, the elecampane, from its broad leaves called a 

 dock, and from some confusion between its Italian name, 

 etta, and the Dan. elle, an elf, deriving its prefix, 



Inula Helenium, L. 



ELM, a word that is nearly identical in all the Germanic 

 and Scandinavian dialects, but does not find its root in any 



