278 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



drawn up bv Th. Tusser, and published by Phillips;' 

 and even in the time of Gerard, in 1597,^ its cultivation 

 was rare, and the plant had no particular name.^ Lastly, 

 there are French and Breton names which indicate a 

 cultivation anterior to the Normans in the west of 

 France. 



The old names in France are given in the dictionary 

 by Menage. According to him, red currants are called at 

 Rouen gardes, at Caen grades, in Lower Normandy gra- 

 dilles, and in Anjou castilles. Manage derives all these 

 names from rubnus, rubicus, etc., by a series of imaginary 

 transformations, from the word ruber, red. Legonidec * 

 tells us that red currants are also called Kastilez (1. liquid) 

 in Brittany, and he derives this name from Castille, as if 

 a fruit scarcely known in Spain and abundant in the 

 north could come from Spain. These words, found 

 both in Brittany and beyond its limits, appear to me 

 to be of Celtic origin ; and I may mention, in support 

 of this theory, that in Legonidec's dictionary gardis 

 means rough, harsh, ^pungent, sour, etc., which gives a 

 hint as to the etymology. The generic name Ribes has 

 caused other errors. It was thought the plant might be 

 one which was so called by the Arabs ; but the word 

 comes rather from a name for the currant very common 

 in the north, ribs in Danish,^ ris-p and resp in Swedish.^ 

 The Slav names are quite different and in considerable 

 number. 



Black Currant — Cassis; Ribes nigrum, Linnjeus. 



The black currant grows wild in the north of Europe, 

 from Scotland and Lapland as far as the north of France 

 and Italy ; in Bosnia,' Armenia,* throughout Siberia, in 

 the basin of the river Amur, and in the western Hima- 



* Phillips, Accovmt of Fruits, p. 136. 

 " Gerard, Herlal, p. 1143. 



* That of currant is a later introduction, given from the resemblance 

 to the grapes of Corinth (Phillips, ibid.). 



* Legonidec, Diction. Celto-Breton. 



* Moritzi, Vict. In^dit des Notus Yulgaires, 

 ' Linnaeus, Flora Suecica, n. 197. 



' Watson, Compend. Cylele, i. p. 177 ; Fries, Svmma Veg, Scand., p. 

 39 ; Nyman, Conspect. Fl. Europ., p. 266. 

 ' Boissier, Fl. Or., ii. p. 815. 



