104: POPULAR NAMES OF PLANTS.—SPROT. 
in the midst of the Pulmonaree), which together make up the 
plant usually called H. Lawsoni in Britain, there are no specific 
limits to be found. 

On Popular Names of Plants—Sprrat or Sprot, the Scottish 
Name of Juncus lamprocarpus. 
Dr. Johnstone, in ‘ Botany of the Eastern Borders,’ says this 
name is probably derived from the German spréde, brittle. A 
more probable etymon is A.S. spreot, Ger. spriet, Swed. sprot, 
Dan. sprid, Icelandic sprote, which terms signify pike, spear, 
sprit in bow-sprit, or something pointed; or from sprytian, to 
sprout or spring ; or from spura, a spur, hence spear. These are 
like the Doctor’s etymons,—conjectural and unsatisfactory. They 
agree in sound with Sprat or Sprot, but they mean very different 
things. They are, however, preferable to spréde, brittle, inasmuch 
as the plant is not at all brittle, but rather tenacious, for in Scot- 
land it used to be platted or twisted into backbands, traces, and 
other horse and ox drawing-gear. The suggested etymologies 
are better, because they characterize the mode of growth or the 
sharpness of the points of most species of this genus. The etymon 
is to be found in the Greek language. The Greek word oaprn 
means a twisted cord, a line, lace, etc. The term o7zaptos, which 
is applied to several plants, both herbaceous and ligneous or sub- 
ligneous, from which ropes, cords, or ligatures of various kinds 
are or may be manufactured, is from omepw, I sow, hence 
ometpaw, I wind up or roll. The Latin verb sero has also two 
distinct. senses,—first, [ sow, second, I knit, plat, or join: hence 
Vossius learnedly observes, @ o7reipw, pro sero est, omaptor, 
pro eo unde aliquid sit ad nectandum ligandumque, “ anything 
employed for combining or uniting.” This is the property of all 
sorts of ligatures, whether cords made by twisting several fibres 
or strands together, or strips of leather or cloth, or parts of plants 
or entire plants. Varro states (Gell. Noctes Attic) “that the 
cord, rope, or line did not receive its designation from the vegetable 
which yielded it, but rather that 7¢ gave name to the various plants 
which produced cordage of any kind. Hence the name Spartium 
was given to shrubs, the slender pliant twigs of which were em- 
ployed to bind. Hence also we have two terms for one of our 
