THE HOLLY 11 



unlucky to bring it into a house before Christmas 

 Eve ; in Derbyshire it is said that, according as the 

 Holly brought into the house at this season be 

 prickly or smooth, the husband or the wife will be 

 master during the year. In some western counties 

 the boughs removed from churches are treasured 

 like the palms at Passion-tide, for luck throughout 

 the year following ; and in Germany, like the tapers 

 used at Candlemas, they are looked upon as a sure 

 protection against thunder. 



The name Holly is probably derived from the root 

 hid, or kul, connected with the Latin cul'men, a peak, 

 and culmus, having reference to the same character 

 as its modern specific name aquifo'lium, or " needle- 

 leaved." Though known as StecJqxdme in modern 

 German, it was formerly in that language termed 

 Hidis, Hulst, or Hulse. William Turner, in the 

 " Libellus de re Herbaria" (1533), his earliest 

 botanical work, speaking of it under the head of 

 Ruscus, says," Procerum aut galli housum, angli an 

 holy tre et an Huluar tre nominant, hec etiam arbor, 

 si Ruellio credimus, ilex aquifolia dicitur, 3 cujus 

 corticibus ipse admodum puer viscum confeci." 

 " But the French call the tall kind housum; the 

 English, an holy tre and an Hulvar tre. This treo 

 also, if we believe Ruellius, is called Ilex aqvAfolia, 

 from the bark of which I have formerly, when a boy, 

 made birdlime." The old French houlx still retains 

 its Teutonic form in the modern houx, and the name 

 hidver is in use in the Eastern Counties, not to 

 mention the name Jcnee-hul for the Butcher's Broom 

 (Rus'cus aculea'tus); whilst many a modern school- 



