THE STEM. 105 



got ' stipula,' the thin stem of straw : which rustles and rip- 

 ples daintily in verse, associated with spica and spiculum, used 

 of the sharp pointed ear of corn, and its fine processes of fairy 

 shafts. 



28. There are yet two more names of stalk to be studied, 

 though, except for particular plants, not needing to be used, 

 namely, the Latin cau-dex, and cau-lis, both connected 

 with the Greek KauAo's, properly meaning a solid stalk like a 

 handle, passing into the sense of the hilt of a sword, or quill 

 of a pen. Then, in Latin, caudex passes into the sense of 

 log, and so, of cut plank or tablet of wood ; thus finally be- 

 coming the classical ' codex ' of writings engraved on such 

 wooden tablets, and therefore generally used for authoritative 

 manuscripts. 



Lastly, 'caulis/ retained accurately in our cauliflower, con- 

 tracted in 'colewort,' and refined in ' kail,' softens itself into 

 the French ' chou,' meaning properly the whole family of 

 thick-stalked eatable salads with spreading heads ; but these 

 being distinguished explicitly by Pliny as 'Capitati,' 'salads 

 with a head,' or ' Captain salads,' the mediaeval French soft- 

 ened the ' caulis capitatus ' into ' chou cabus ; ' or, to sepa- 

 rate the round or apple-like mass of leaves from the flowery 

 foam, ' cabus ' simply, by us at last enriched and emphasized 

 into 'cabbage.' 



29. I believe we have now got through the stiffest piece of 

 etymology we shall have to master in the course of our botany ; 

 but I am certain that young readers will find 'patient work, 

 in this kind, well rewarded by the groups of connected 

 thoughts which will thus attach themselves to familiar names ; 

 and their grasp of every language they learn must only be 

 esteemed by them secure when they recognize its deriva- 

 tives in these homely associations, and are as much at ease 

 with the Latin or French syllables of a word as with the Eng- 

 lish ones ; this familiarity being above all things needful to 

 cure our young students of their present ludicrous impres- 

 sion that what is simple, in English, is knowing, in Greek ; 

 and that terms constructed out of a dead language will ex- 

 plain difficulties which remained insoluble in a living one 



