PLANT NAMES 49 



it was laid among freshly washed clothes. (We 

 have this word in lavatory, laundry, deluge, etc.) 

 Ligustrum, the old Latin name for the Privet, is 

 supposed to be from ligo, to tie, from the use made 

 of its flexible shoots. Privet refers to its use in 

 making hedges. It seems to be a corruption of 

 primet, from an old word to prime or clip trees. 

 This word is connected with prim, neat, and comes 

 from prime, first, the sense being first grown, and 

 therefore small and delicate. So, at least, says 

 Skeat, one of our greatest etymological authorities. 

 I confess doubts. Phlomis is said to be from 

 phlox, a flame, because the down on its stems was 

 used for making wicks. A more certain derivation 

 is Phormium, the New Zealand Flax, from phormos, 

 a wicker basket. Flax is an Anglo-Saxon word 

 alUed to Greek pleko, to weave. Sambucus, the 

 Elder, is said to be from a musical instrument, 

 sambuke, made from its wood. In the same way 

 the Spindle Tree, Euonymus, got its name from the 

 spindles (used in spinning) which its wood suppHed. 

 Thuja, or Thuya, is a Greek name from thuos, 

 incense (see Rev. xviii. 12), as providing the resin 

 used for that purpose. Thuos is from thuo, to offer 

 a sacrifice. It then came to mean anything frag- 

 rant, and so Thyme got its name. Viburnum and 

 Vinca, the Periwinkle, have the same root vi, which 

 contains the idea of binding or winding round some- 

 thing. So also Vitis, the Vine. From this root 

 vi also came the Greek cine and oinos, whence Vine 

 and wine. 



