i57 
HIPPOHAE RHAMNOIDES L. AND ITS NAMES. 
ARTHUR BENNETT. 
In The Naturalist , 1905, p. 21, at the end of a note on f Good 
King Henry/ I asked the question whether any explanation 
of the name ‘ Wye-bibbles/ given to the Sea-buckthorn by 
the natives of Winterton, in Norfolk, could be suggested. 
So far as I know, no reader has suggested any. The plant 
grows in its native state abundantly in Kent, on Deal sand- 
hills ; at Thorpe, near Aldborough ; in Suffolk ; from Caistor to 
Winterton, in Norfolk; near Skegness, in Lincolnshire; and at 
Spurn in Yorkshire. South of Skegness, Mr. J. T. Carrington 
remarks ‘ the growth is simply magnificent.’ I know of no 
local name in Kent, but in 1714, in J. Sherards and J. Petiver’s 
Journey into Kent, they gathered it near Deal, and called it 
‘ Oleaster.’ I could hear of no Suffolk local name. In Nature 
Notes, 12 (1899), Mr. H. Mason remarks : f The poor people 
and fisher -folk call it Wyrables. I asked what the word meant, 
and was told, “ it means nothing, and is only the name we 
know for it.” ’ To which there is an editorial note, f This 
name appears as winivole, or wyrviole for Norfolk, in Messrs. 
Britten and Holland’s “Diet, of Eng. Plant Names.”’ In 
Dutt’s Book on the Norfolk Broads, p. 256 (1903), the Rev. 
G. H. Harris says the natives of Winterton call the edible 
orange berries by the curious and underivable name of 
‘ Wye-bibbles.’ 
This remark suggested to Mr. Southwell, of Norwich, 
writing to the Rev. C. H. Bird, Rector of Brumstead, Norfolk, 
who replied, ‘ The Rev. G. H. Harris wrote me in 1897 that he 
first heard the name at Scratby, Norfolk, and then wrote to 
Dr. Wright about it, and he replied that it was new to him, 
but in his English Dialect Dictionary will be found : — 
“ Wyebibble ” Wyetfl, see Wirwiole, Wali v. 2 (well 
selected, choice). 
Wirwiole st. E. Anglian, also in form Whybibbles Norf. 
The Common Sea-buckthorn, the berry of the plant.” 
In some way it seems to have descended from the Icelandic 
(Wale) velga ; Danish, valge ; Swedish valja ; all meaning 
choice, excellent, and the Scotch ‘ the best,’ c the pick.’ 
But the present European names give no clue to the name. 
That of the Dutch islands, ‘ Dune-thorn,’ being equivalent 
to the Yorkshire (Spurn) name for it. 
In Science Gossip, p. 278 (1873), it was suggested that the 
Norfolk name comes from Anglo-Saxon ‘wir, a myrtle, and 
wifel a barb or arrow.’ Certainly the spiny branches might 
suggest this. 
I am indebted to the Postmaster at Winterton (Mr. Coffin), 
1922 May 1 
