xiy 
INTRODUCTION. 
were generally introduced, with the knowledge of the plants them- 
selves, by the monks, and have either become anglicized, or have 
been simply translated. Thus the old Latin names Plantago, Bls- 
torta, Medicago, Rosa, Saxifraga, have become Plantain, Bistort, 
Merlick, Kose, and Saxifrage. The Greek Kopiavvov, 'A(r(f)6hXoy, 
and XeXiBbvior, have become Coriander, Daffodil, and Celandine. 
Coral-root, Leopard s-bane. Spleen- wort, and such like are mere 
translations from the Greek. 
Probably very few names have survived from the language of the 
ancient British inhabitants of these islands, except wdiere varieties of 
the so-called Celtic language are still spoken, as in Wales, the High- 
lands of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. There many of 
the old names are used, but we have not, as a rule, included them, 
because they are not strictly English, nor have we included old 
Cornish names, as these are now, with very few exceptions, obsolete. 
But even where the Celtic language is spoken a large proportion of 
the plant-names appear to be only translations of the Latin names met 
with in the herbals of three hundred years ago. Dr. Prior considers 
that only one name. Maple, can be distinctly referred to the language 
of the ancient Britons. It seems probable, however, that Kex, 
Grig, Wormwood, Grom well, Eluellin, and some few others, may 
very fairly be added to the list. 
A much longer list of names may be referred to the Anglo-Saxon. 
Instances will be found in Hawthorn, Hague, Herif, Couch, Scutch, 
Quicken, Skeatlegs, Groundsel, and many others. All names ending 
in “ lock ” or “ lick ” are derived from the Anglo-Saxon. In many 
of these Anglo-Saxon words, as indeed in all names, it is interesting 
to trace the gradations from the ancient to the modern form. 
Skeatlegs, the Kentish name of the Early Purple Orchis, Orchis 
mascida, is a particidarly interesting example of the meaning of a 
name. The A. S. word sccet, or sceat, meant any description of 
wrapping, or swathing, such as a sheet, which is from the same 
word ; sceata meant a woman’s skirt, and scced, a loose sheath. The 
appropriateness of the name Sceat-legs to most of the orchises will be 
easily recognised, as it exactly describes the stem or ‘‘ leg partially 
enveloped, as it always is, in a sheathing leaf ; and this is an excel- 
