PLANT NAMES 55 



resemble a dog. The name was given in contempt, 

 implying a poor sort of wood or Rose, and recalls the 

 time when the dog was not as valued a friend of man 

 as he is now. The word in " dog tired," " dog 

 cheap," is different. It is there just the Swedish 

 word for " very." " Dog watch " at sea is different 

 again. It is there the " Dodge watch." Parallel 

 with Dog Rose is Toadflax — that is, a spurious or con- 

 temptible kind of Flax, although it is not really a 

 Flax at aU.* A Bulrush, on the other hand, is a 

 strong and sturdy sort of rush, like bulldog, bull 

 frog. Horse-chestnut is a puzzle to me. "Horse" 

 seems here to have the same sense as in Horse- 

 radish or Horse-leech, where it is a form of hoarse 

 or coarse. We find it in such words as " horse- 

 play," a " horse-laugh." The Horse-chestnut would 

 then be contrasted with the Sweet or Spanish 

 Chestnut, Castanea sativa (perhaps from the inferior 

 edibility of its fruit), with which it was supposed to 

 be akin. But the botanical name of the Horse- 

 chestnut is Msculus hippocastanea. Hippos is 

 Greek for a horse. How did it get in here ? Can 

 this name have been a late one, given after " hoarse " 

 was corrupted into " horse," and was supposed to 



Anglo-Saxon ancestors would have coined a hybrid word 

 for a common weed. 



* It has been suggested that " toad " here is from an 

 old English word tod, a bunch or cluster, from the plant 

 presenting the appearance of a mass of threads like Flax 

 matted together. Equisetum, the Horse-tail, which grows 

 on the margins of ponds, is sometimes called Toadpipe, 

 perhaps for the same reason. 



