PLANT NAMES 31 



Cneorum, Colutea, Crinum, Crocus, Hellebore, Hedy- 

 sarum, Larix (from which is Larch), Linum (from 

 this word comes Hne, Hnen, Hneage, and Hnnet — i.e., 

 a bird that feeds on Flax-seed), Lotus, Mentha or 

 Mint, Melon,"^ Mulberry — i.e., the berry of the 

 Morea, the Greek name of the tree (it frequently 

 happened that the r and / were interchangeable, as 

 Pepper from Pippala, Plum from Prunus\)', the 

 southern part of Greece is called the Morea, as 

 shaped Hke a Mulberry leaf — Nemesia, Olive, Ornus, 

 Pea,% Rose, Rue, Eryngium. 



Latin. — Alnus (cognate with Alder), Armeria 

 (Thrift), Arundo, Beet, Cucumber (from Cucuniis), 

 Elm (from Ulmus), Dictamnus, Endive (from Intu- 

 bus), Fig (from Ficus), Fraxinus, Genista, Gourd 

 (from Cucurbita), Hibiscus, Juniper, Laburnum, 

 Laurel (from Laurus), Lupin, Oleander (from a Low 

 Latin name Lorandrum, which may be com- 

 pounded of lauro-dendron, the Laurel Tree, a hybrid 

 word), Pear (from Pirus), Poppy (from Papaver), 

 Rape, Service (from Sorbus), Tilia (the Lime), 

 Vaccinium (the Whortleberry), Viola, and Violet. 



* Melon is simply Greek for apple. From it comes 

 marmalade, which has descended to us through Portuguese 

 and French from melimelum, or honey-apple. 



t Compare colonel, from Latin columna, a column, which 

 in Spanish is turned into coronel, and this form is common 

 in Elizabethan EngHsh. This accounts for our pronuncia- 

 tion " kurnel." 



% Pea is a false singular, arising from the mistaken notion 

 that pease, from Greek pisos, was a plural noun; and so 

 pease soup came to be spelt pea soup. 



