94 



POPULAR NAMES 



GOOSEBERRY, from the Fl. kroes or kruys bezie, Sw. 

 krusbdr, a word that bears the two meanings of " cross-" 

 and " frizzle-berry," but was given to this fruit with the 

 first meaning in reference to its triple spine which not un- 

 frequently presents the form of a cross. This equivocal 

 word was misunderstood and taken in its other sense of 

 " frizzle-berry," and translated into German and herbalist 

 Latin krausel-beere and uva crispa. Matthioli (ed. Came- 

 rarii, 1586) gives its German synonym correctly, as kretts- 

 beer. Lobel also (Krydtb. pt. ii. p. 239) gives it as Flem. 

 kroesbesim, G. kruzbeer. The Fr. groseilk, and Span. 

 grosella are corruptions of G. krausel. 



Ribes Grossularia, L. 



GOOSEBILL, or GOOSESHARE, clivers, from the sharp 

 serrated leaves being like the rough-edged mandibles of a 

 goose, Galium Aparine, L. 



GOOSECORN, from its growth on commons where geese are 

 commonly reared, and the grain-like appearance of the 

 capsules, Juncus squarrosus, L. 



GOOSE-FOOT, from the shape of its leaf, 



Chenopodium, L. 



GOOSE-GRASS, in Ray by mistake GOOSE-GREASE, Pr. Pm. 

 gosys gres, clivers, from a belief that goslings feed on it, 

 (R. Turner, Bot. p. 71), and that" geese help their diseases 

 with it," (Lupton, No. 60). 



Potentilla anserina, L. 



GOOSE-HEIRIFFE of W. Coles's Adam in Eden ; A.S. gos, 

 a goose, and hegerife, hedge-reeve, from its attaching itself 

 to geese, while they pass through a hedge. The occur- 

 rence of the name in this work of W. Coles is singular as 

 an instance of the retention into the seventeenth century of 

 an Anglo-Saxon word no longer understood. The name is 

 still retained in some counties as hariff. The Gooshareth, 

 Goshareth, and Gooseshareth of W. Turner's ITerball seem 

 to be corruptions of Goosehariff with a change of /to th 



