176 POPULAR NAMES 



from the Italian name under which it was introduced 

 from the South, Lapazio, a corruption of L. lapathum, 

 having been mistaken for la Passio, the Passion of Jesus 

 Christ, Rumex Patientia, L. 



PAUL'S BETONY, a name given to it by Turner, as being 

 the plant described as a betony by Paul ^Egineta, 



Veronica serpyllifolia, L. 

 PAWNCE, in Spenser, the Pansy. 

 PEA, in old works PEASE, a word that has either arisen 

 from Fr. pois, pronounced, as it used to be, pay, or from 

 the old form pease being, like cerise, a cherry, mistaken for 

 a plural. The Lat. pisum, from which it is derived, means 

 brayed in a mortar, pinsum, or, as it is spelt in Apuleius, 

 pisatum, Gr. tna-o^, from Skr. pish, bray, whence pesckana, 

 a quern or handmill. Tusser makes the plural peason 

 agreeably to a practice of ending the plural with n, when 

 the singular ends with s, as e.g. oxen, housen, hosen, from 

 ox, house, hose. Pisum sativum, L. 



CHICK-, Cicer arietinum, L. 



CHICKLING-, Lathyrus, L. 



EVERLASTING-, Lathyrus latifolius, L. 



,, HEATH-, Orobus tuberosus, L. 



SWEET-, Lathyrus odoratus, L. 



WOOD-, Orobus tuberosus, L. 



PEACH, in old works spelt PESKE, PEESK, PESHE, and 

 PECHE, O.Fr. pesche, L. persica, formerly called malum 

 persicum, Persian apple, from which the Arabs formed 

 their name for it with the prefix el or al, and thence the 

 Spaniards alberchigo, Amydalus Persica, W. 



PEACH-WORT, from the resemblance of its leaves to those 

 of the peach, Polygonum Persicaria, L. 



PEAR, a foreign word adopted from the Southern into 

 the Germanic languages, It. and Sp. pera, Fr. poire, pro- 

 bably once pronounced paire, from L. pyrus, 



Pyrus communis, L. 



