Chapter XXI Plant Names and Names of Animals
A few of the dialect plant-names have been noticed in previous chapters in connexion with superstitious beliefs, medical lore, &c., but there are a great many more, equally well worth considering. What one feels about them—and herein lies their chief attraction—is that they reflect the popular mind, and are not the result of mere peeping and botanizing. The rustic sees in the flower something which calls up in his mind a familiar object—a dish of eggs and bacon, the parson in the pulpit, a hen and chickens; or something which reminds him of a Bible story he has known from his childhood; or something akin to human nature, which draws forth a responsive recognition.
We naturally expect to find in the different dialects different names for one and the same flower, but it is strange to find up and down the country one and the same name attached to different flowers. An Oxford lady once pointed out to me some plants of the double garden daisy, which she called Bachelor’s Buttons. I declared this was a misnomer, for the Bachelor’s Buttons I had grown up with in Herefordshire were some kind of double ranunculus. Subsequent research, however, supported both sides of the argument, and showed further, that at least twenty more plants also bore the name of Bachelor’s Button in different parts of the country. Even a common name like Honeysuckle is not restricted to the fragrant climber Lonicera Peryclymenum with which we of the standard speech always associate it. The following plants may all be called Honeysuckle: 1. The purple clover, Trifolium pratense. 2. The white clover, T. repens. 3. The bird’s-foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus. 4. The dwarf cornel, Cornus suecica. 5. The great bindweed, Convolvulus sepium. 6. The white dead-nettle, Lamium album. 7. The lousewort, Pedicularis sylvatica. 8. The blossoms of the willow.
Plants associated with Biblical Names
The following are some of the names of plants associated with Biblical subjects: Aunt Mary’s Tree (Cor.) is the common holly; Virgin Mary (Lakel. Cor.), Virgin Mary’s Honeysuckle (Chs. Shr.), Virgin Mary’s Milkdrops (Mon. Wil.), Lady’s Milk-sile (Chs.), are names of the lungwort Pulmonaria officinalis, referring to the legend that during the flight into Egypt some of the Blessed Virgin’s milk fell on its leaves, as she nursed the infant Jesus. The same legend is also told to account for like spots on the leaves of the Blessed Thistle (War.), Our Lady’s Thistle, Carduus Marianus. Another legend says that the Virgin Mary, when thirsty, met with a cow, and after using the broad leaf of the thistle as a drinking-cup, willed that the species should ever after be called by her name, and bear the stains of the milk on its leaves. The lungwort is also called Mary’s Tears (Dor.), and the spots are traced to the tears shed by her at the Crucifixion. Legend tells that once the Virgin Mary plucked up a root of the crab’s claw, Polygonum Persicaria, and then threw it away, saying ‘that’s useless’, hence Useless (Sc.) has been its name ever since, and the blotches on its leaves are the marks of her fingers.
Plants associated with the Bible and with the Christian Seasons
Gethsemane (Chs.), the early purple orchis, Orchis mascula, is said to have been growing at the foot of the Cross, and to have received drops of blood on its leaves, the marks of which it has never lost. The same legend is attached also to the Calvary Clover, Medicago echinus, the leaves of which are marked with dull red, irregular blotches exactly like real blood-stains. The plant is much prized as a pot-plant, both for the sake of its leaves and for its curious seed-vessels, one of which was given to me a few weeks ago. It looks like a little prickly ball, and when thoroughly dry it can be unwound, spiral fashion, in two coils, an outer prickly one, and an inner smooth one which encases the twelve seeds. The ends can then be hooked one into the other, to form a miniature Crown of Thorns. The seeds, I was told, must be planted on Ash Wednesday, though probably an older version of the tradition would give Good Friday as the fitting date, but I have never heard of the superstition before. In parts of Cheshire Christ’s Thorn, Crataegus Pyracantha, is the accredited plant from which the Saviour’s Crown of Thorns was made. In parts of Yorkshire Christ’s Thorn is a name of the common holly, with its scarlet berries typical of His blood. The fame of having been cut to make the Crown of Thorns was given in Kent to the Jews’ Myrtle, the butcher’s broom, Ruscus aculeatus. The Eye of Christ (Wal.) is the germander speedwell, Veronica Chamaedrys, also known as Angels’ Eyes (Dev.).
The name Aaron’s Beard is applied to several plants; so is Aaron’s Rod, the latter name being perhaps most commonly given to the mullein, Verbascum Thapsus, because of its long, straight stem. The mullein also goes by the name of Adam’s Flannel (Yks. Chs. Lin. Nhp. War.), so called from the soft, flannel-like appearance of the leaves. The Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum multiflorum, is named David’s Harp, from the resemblance of the long curved flower-stalk with its pendent blossoms to the harp as it is portrayed in old pictures, where David is represented playing on an instrument shaped like half a pointed arch, hung with metal bells, which he strikes with two hammers. The Drops of Abel’s Blood (Dur.) are unopened flower-buds of the red fuchsia; Jacob’s Ladder is a name shared by various plants, garden-plants, and wild; Joseph’s Flower (Sus.) is the goat’s beard, Tragopogon pratensis, probably a reminiscence of pictures of Joseph as an old man with a long beard; Joseph’s Walking-stick (Hmp.) is another name for one of the Jacob’s Ladder flowers, Polemonium caeruleum; Lazarus Bell (Dev.) is the fritillary, Fritillaria Meleagris, Saint Peter’s Herb (Yks.) is the cowslip, the flower-head suggesting a bunch of keys; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Lin.) is a name of the garden comfrey, Symphytum officinale, as well as of other plants having flowers of different shades of colour on the same stem; several plants bear the name of Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel (Wil.) is the columbine, Aquilegia vulgaris, and other flowers in other localities; Mary and Joseph (Lin.) is the name of a garden variety of the forget-me-not; the common Virginian stock, on account of its numerous small flowers, is called the Children of Israel (Wil. Dev.); a kind of dark blue campanula is known in Sussex as the Twelve Apostles; the Rose of Sharon (Lan. Chs. Lin. War. Suf. Dor.) is the large-flowered St. John’s wort, Hypericum calycinum; the name of Good-Friday Flower (Dor.), given to the tuberous moschatel, Adoxa Moschatellina, is supposed to be due to the four-cleft corolla of the topmost flower, which suggested the Cross, and not to refer merely to the date of flowering, as is the case with the Good-Friday Grass (Sur.), the field woodrush, Luzula campestris; the Alleluia Plant (Dor.) is the wood-sorrel, Oxalis acetosella, so called because it blossoms between Easter and Whitsuntide, when in the Catholic Liturgy psalms ending with ‘Alleluia’ were sung in the churches. It is a very old name, cp. ‘Allelujah, wood-sorrel, Oxys,’ Coles, 1679, and one which occurs in other European languages. The name Epiphany (Cor.) for the hell-weed, Cuscuta Epithymum, is formed by popular etymology out of the French epithin, ‘the weed Dodder, especially that kind thereof, which grows twining about the branches of Time,’ Cotgrave. In the same way anemone has been corrupted sometimes into Enemy, and a single plant of phlox has been termed a Flock.
There is a touch of poetry in such names as: New Year’s Gift (Ess.), the winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis; Summer’s Farewell (Dor. Som.), a variety of the Michaelmas daisy, Aster Tripolium; Fair Maids (Nrf. Hmp.), or February Fair Maids (Wm.), the snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis; Golden Chain (Midl. s. and sw.Cy.), the laburnum. The reminiscence of the Northern god Balder in Balder’s Brae (Nhb.), a name for the wild camomile, Anthemis cotula, is probably a borrowing from Scandinavia, cp. O.N. Baldrs-brā. The same name occurs also in Swedish and Danish dialects. ‘Thou may’st have some idea of the beauty of his hair when I tell thee that the whitest of all plants is called Baldur’s brow,’ Mallet, Northern Antiquities, 1770.
Old Names of Plants
We may still hear the plant-names Shakespeare knew, such as: Honey-stalks (War.), the blossoms of the white clover, Trifolium repens; and Love in idleness (Midl.), the pansy, a name often corrupted into Love and idols, or Loving idols; and many which Dr. Johnson included in his Dictionary, for example: Ale-hoof (Yks. Shr. Sus. Dev. Cor.), the ground ivy, Nepeta Glechoma, cp. ‘Alehoof... Groundivy, so called by our Saxon ancestors, as being their chief ingredient in ale’; Ayegreen (Wm. Lan.), the house-leek, Sempervivum tectorum, cp. ‘Aygreen... The same with houseleek’; Prick-madam (Cum.), the crooked yellow stonecrop, Sedum reflexum, cp. ‘Prickmadam... A species of houseleek’; Herb of grace (Yks. Der. Lin. Som.), the rue, Ruta graveolens, cp. ‘Rue... An herb called herb of grace, because holy water was sprinkled with it.’
Here did she fall a tear; here in this place
I’ll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace:
Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen,
In the remembrance of a weeping queen.
Rich. II, III. iv. 104-7.
There are other old names which can be traced even further back, for example: Way-bread (Sc. n.Cy. Wor.), the greater plantain, Plantago major, O.E. weg-brǣde, literally way-breadth, cp. O.H.G. wege-breita, the plantain; and Withy-wind (w. and sw.Cy.), the great bindweed, Convolvulus sepium, and also the field bindweed, C. arvensis, O.E. wiþe-winde, bindweed. ‘He bare a burdoun ybounde with a brode liste, In a withewyndes wise ywounden aboute,’ Piers Plowman, B. v. ll. 524, 525.
Miscellaneous Plant Names
The smell of the common buttercup was formerly supposed to induce madness, hence the name Crazy (Midl. w. and sw.Cy.). In the same way poppies are called Headaches (Irel. Midl. e.An.), because it is believed that the smell of them will cause headache. Pick-pocket (Midl. Nrf. Sus. Wil. Dev.), the shepherd’s purse, Capsella Bursa-pastoris, is so named because it impoverishes the farmer’s land. Children gather it and repeat: Pick-pocket, penny nail, Put the rogue in the jail. The same plant is also called Pick your mother’s heart out (War.), or simply Mother’s Heart (Sc. n.Cy. Midl.). Children play a kind of game with the heart-shaped seed-pods. They get one another to pick one of these off, which done, there follows the accusing cry: You’ve picked your mother’s heart out. In parts of Yorkshire the derisive cry is: Pick packet to London, You’ll never go to London. In Dorsetshire Break your mother’s heart is the hemlock, Conium maculatum; and Pick your mother’s eyes out is the field speedwell, Veronica agrestis. In the Lake District certain curative properties are attributed to the Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum officinale, whence it is called the Vagabond’s Friend. It is said to be a remedy for black eyes, bruises, and broken noses. Courtship and Matrimony (Cum.) is the meadow-sweet, Spiraea Ulmaria, so called from the scent of the flower before and after bruising, which is thought to be typical of the two states in life.
Popular Names for Flowers
For the rest, the following miscellaneous list may serve as a fairly representative sample: Babes in the Cradle (Wil.), the water figwort, Scrophularia aquatica; Lords and Ladies (in gen. dial. use), the wild arum, Arum maculatum; Milkmaids, or Milkmaidens (Yks. Midl. Ess. Wil. Dev.), the cuckoo flower, Cardamine pratensis; Painted Lady (I.Ma. Wil.), the sweet pea; Mournful Widow, or Poor Widow (Dev.), the sweet scabious, Scabiosa atropurpurea; Ranting Widow (Chs.), the willow-herb, Epilobium angustifolium; Pretty Maids (Brks.), the white meadow saxifrage, Saxifraga granulata. Babies’ Shoes (Wil.), the common bugle, Ajuga reptans; Bird-een (Cum. Wm.), Primula farinosa, e.g. The lockety gowan [globe-flower] an’ bonny bird-een, Are the fairest flowers that ever were seen; Bleeding Heart (Wm. Wor. Glo. Som. Dev.), Dielytra spectabilis; Ear-drops (Sus. Som. Dev.), the flowers of the garden fuchsia; Geslins, or Goslins (common), the blossoms of the willow; Golden Knobs (Brks.), the marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris, much used for May-morning garlands; Grandmother’s Bonnets (Som.), or Grandmother’s Night-cap (Yks. Chs. Nrf. Ken.), the monkshood, Aconitum Napellus; Grandmother’s Slippers (Hmp.), the bird’s-foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus; Money in both pockets (Lakel. Ken. Wil. sw.Cy.), the common honesty, Lunaria biennis; Mother Shimble’s Snick-needles (Wil.), the greater stitchwort, Stellaria Holostea; Puppy-dog’s Mouth (Wil.), the yellow toadflax, Linaria vulgaris; Tailor’s Garters (Sc.), the ribbon-grass, Phalaris arundinacea variegata; Two faces under a hat (Sus.), the common columbine. Peace and plenty (Wil.), the London pride, Saxifraga umbrosa; Pretty and little (Dev.), the Virginia stock, Malcolmia maritima; Wink-a-peep, or Wink and peep (Lan. Chs. Stf. Shr.), the scarlet pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis. Aunt Hannah (e.An.), the white arabis, Arabis alpina; Bloody Warrior (common), the dark-coloured wallflower; Bobbin Joan (Nhp.), the wild arum; Bouncing Bess (Dev.), the red valerian, Centranthus ruber; Delicate Bess (Dev.), the white valerian, Valeriana celtica; Bridget in her bravery (Lin.), the rose-campion, Lychnis chalcedonica; Gill run by the ground (Lin. Bck. Som.), the ground-ivy; Grim the collier (War. Shr. Glo. Som. Sus.), the orange hawkweed, Hieracium aurantiacum; Jack in green doublet (Stf.), a variety of Primula vulgaris in which the calyx is transformed into leaves; John go to bed at noon (Chs. Nhp.), the scarlet pimpernel; Sweet Nancy (Lan. Chs. Nrf. Hmp.), the pheasant-eyed narcissus; Pink-eyed John (Midl.), the pansy; Robin Hood (w.Cy. Dor. Som. Dev.), the red campion, Lychnis diurna; Trembling Jock (Yks.), or -jockies, the quaking-grass, Briza media, dried in bunches, and kept on the mantel-piece, because it is supposed to be obnoxious to mice: A trimmling-jock in t’house, An’ you weeant hev a mouse.
Names for the common pansy are: Jump up and kiss me (Sus. Hmp.); Meet her in the entry kiss her in the buttery (Lin.); Kiss me behind the garden gate (Wor. Nrf. Suf.), or Kiss me at the garden gate (Nhp. e.An.); Kiss me John at the garden gate (Suf.); Meet me Love behind the garden door. Kiss behind the garden gate (Brks. Glo. Wil.), and Meet me Love (Dev.) are names also given to the London pride. Kiss me quick and go (Dev.) is a name for lad’s love, Artemisia Abrotanum; Lift up your head and I’ll kiss you (Wor.) is the Dielytra spectabilis; Kitty come down the lane jump up and kiss me (Ken.) is the cuckoo-pint, Arum maculatum; Granny jump out of bed (Wil.) is another name for the monkshood; Welcome home husband tho’ never so drunk (Suf.) is the yellow stonecrop, Sedum acre.
The hail-fellow-well-met spirit of the rustic towards the world of Nature and all that is therein, which shows itself in plant-names like Saucy Betty, is still more noticeable in his use of personal names for living animals—toads, and even insects included. According to Dr. Smythe Palmer in his book on The Folk and their Word-lore, some of these names are due to popular etymology, as for instance, Isaac, the hedge-sparrow, from hay-suck, O.E. hege-sugge, i.e. the hedge-sucker. In the same way Sweet Alice is said to be a corruption of sweet allison, Alyssum maritimum. But even if a few of the names admit of this prosaic derivation, it does but enhance their interest, by making them proofs of the common tendency towards individual names.
Personal Names for Birds
Amongst the names for the common sparrow is Philip (Chs. Nhp.), a name of very old standing. Skelton wrote an elegy entitled A litle boke of Philip Sparrow, being the lament of a nun for the untimely death of her pet sparrow, slain by a cat. The hedge-sparrow is Betty (War.), and Juggy (Not.), the latter name being given also to the wren (Lei. Sus.). It is a derivative of Jug, formerly a favourite female name, cp. ‘Jug, Johannicula’, Coles, 1679, and Shakespeare’s ‘Whoop, Jug! I love thee’, K. Lear, I. iv. 245. The missel-thrush is called Charlie-cock (e.Yks.); the starling, Jacob (Nhp.); and Joey (Oxf.), a name shared by the green linnet (War.), and the toad (Ken.); the redwing is Jan Shewall (Cor.); the goldfinch is Jack-a-nickas, or Jack Nicol (Chs. Wal.). A curious little instance of the way in which Dr. Johnson’s knowledge and love of his native dialect crops up in his Dictionary occurs under the heading ‘Goldfinch’, cp. ‘Goldfinch.... A singing bird, so named from his golden colour. This is called in Staffordshire a proud taylor.’ In most of the Midland counties, including Staffordshire, and in others to the north and south-west, the goldfinch still bears the name of Proud Tailor. The redstart is Katie bran’-tail (Shr.); the owl is Josey (Wor. Dev.); Madge-howlet (Wor. Nrf.), a name found in Jonson’s Every Man, 1598; and Billy-wix (e.An.). Maggie-monyfeet (Sc.) is a centipede. The very common name of Maggot, or Magotty-pie, for the magpie is the same word as Magot, a pet form, now obsolete, of the name Margaret, cp. Fr. Margot, ‘diminutif très familier de Marguerite, nom vulgaire de la pie,’ Littré. The heron is Moll-hern, or Molly-heron (Midl. Wil.), pronounced in Oxford Mollern, with the accent on the first syllable; Joan-na-ma-crank (Cum.); and Frank (Sc. e.An.), from its harsh cry which sounds like Frank! Frank! The whitecap is Peggy-whitethroat (Nhp.); the raven is Ralph (Chs. Nhp.): the cock bird in the poultry yard is Richard (Som.); the pied wagtail is Polly-dishwasher (Wil.), or Polly-wash-dishes (e.An. Dor. Som.). It is interesting to note in connexion with the geographical distribution of this name in modern times, that Dr. Johnson includes ‘Dish-washer’ in his Dictionary as: ‘The name of a bird,’ without being able to specify the kind of bird to which it belonged. No doubt he had heard the name casually, but neither he nor his Scottish assistants were familiar with its use.
Names for Birds and the Hare
The name Wat (Nrf. Cor.) for the hare occurs in Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, cp.:
By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill,
Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear.
In Cumberland the hare is Katie. In Herefordshire it was Sarah, so the gardener said, that came in the early morning hours, and while men still slept, browsed on the young green of the pinks in the big bed on our Rectory lawn. In Norfolk the marshmen call her Old Aunt. The rabbit in Cumberland bears the nickname of Johnny Wapstraw. A Berkshire mouse is sometimes called Moses, a name given in Kent to a young frog. In parts of Scotland the pig is familiarly addressed as Sandy Campbell. The toad is Thomas (Chs.); the cockchafer is Tom Beadle (Cum. Lan.); the guinea-fowl is Tom-pot (Dev.), so named from its peculiar cry. For the same reason it is called Swap-hats (w.Som.), and Come-back, this last being the most widely known dialect name for the bird.
Names given to Animals
The donkey goes by a number of names: Balaam (e.An.); Jeremiah (Suf.); Peter Moguz (Cor.), &c.; a female donkey in Lincolnshire is a Jen-ass. A tom-cat in Suffolk is a Jim-cat; and a she-cat is a Betty-cat. One is tempted to suggest that this last name is due to association of ideas—the domestic cat, the fireside, and the kettle singing on the hob—for in East Anglia the kettle is nicknamed Betty, and the common proverb takes the form of: That’s the saucepan calling the kettle Betty Black.
When the author of that delightful book The Rose and the Ring tells us how Valoroso XXIV, King of Paflagonia, gave a small family dinner-party in honour of Prince Bulbo, he writes: ‘You may be sure they had a very good dinner—let every boy or girl think of what he or she likes best, and fancy it on the table,’ with the added footnote: ‘Here a very pretty game may be played by all the children saying what they like best for dinner.’ So here I will leave my readers to amuse themselves by thinking of all the choice morsels of dialect lore, which they specially love, and which have not been recorded in the foregoing chapters; knowing as I do full well, that many a feast can yet be spread before the store of good things is exhausted.