INTRODUCTION. CV 



of rose-briar. Thus Chaucer in The Rime 

 of Sire Thopas : — 



And swete as is the bramble flour, 

 That bereth the red hepe. 



In our Lists heope translates hutunus, 

 and this requires a word of explanation. 

 This hutunus is not in the Herbals, nor in 

 Du Cange; it is the French houton (mo- 

 dern English button), which was used for 

 a rosebud, and which is Englished hothum 

 by Chaucer in the Romaunt of the Rose. 



But after all, wrecked as our plant-names 

 are, they present to the philologer a field of 

 fascinating interest, and perhaps something 

 may be done by diligent comparison of 

 dialects to restore in some measure the 

 ancestral catalogue. How much help to- 

 wards such a work the ancient German lists 

 may be able to contribute, is doubtful until 

 they have been more strictly examined. The 

 few old German lists I have met with give 

 me the idea of thinly-disguised imitations 

 of Anglo-Saxon names. The following are 

 culled from among some lists in Graff, 

 Diutiska^m. 154: — 

 h 



