156 English names for trees 



the history of man's progress and the gradual develop- 

 ment of his civilization. Some of the plants that were 

 familiar to our ancestors in central Asia bear with us to 

 this day the very names they bore there, and as distinctly 

 intimate by them the uses to which they were applied, 

 and the degree of culture which prevailed where they 

 were given, as do those of the domestic affinities the 

 various occupations of the primaeval family.' 



Those who think that the accepted Latin names of our 

 own day are the only ones with any pretence to 'science ' 

 may pause and reflect when they realize the age and use 

 of the name Oak in all northern writings. Thus in early 

 Anglo-Saxon we have ac and cec, in Scotch aik^ in Old 

 Norse eik^ in Swedish ek, in Danish and Icelandic eyk^ 

 in Low German eek and eik, in German eiche, and in 

 Old High German eih. Our best names are ages older 

 than the Linnaean system, and Linnaeus did one foolish 

 thing in changing the beautiful old name of the Holly 

 {Aquifolium) to Ilex. 



