Re: Anglo-Saxon Plant-Name Survey


Andrew Dalby wrote:
celia wrote:

... the plant we are trying to identify
here is 'Caulic' otherwise known as 'Cawel' which
translates as ' Colewort' I've seen so many times in
this survey the properties of a plant giving its name
that I am convinced that in a later European context
this has to be 'Colewort' otherwise known as Wood Avens
as this plant was also used for perfume and shared other uses
with the original. The Wood Avens is worthy of the name
the cabbage or kale isn't.
It could of course have been imported, as many plants
were, but it would then have been more likely to have
been known by the name of the original plant.
I'm willing to bet Andrew could throw light on this one.

Celia

Sorry, I may seem to have been asleep or out hunting. Finishing off a
piece of work of some importance (to me alone I fear) and no time even
to read the new Anglo-Saxon identifications! Shameful!

It may possibly be relevant that in ancient Greek the word that usually
meant cabbage (stalk) was also used, in context, as the name for the
stem of silphium = laser, to distinguish it from the root resin which
tended to be treated separately in trade and by pharmacologists. Hence
Latin caulis, which usually meant cabbage (stalk), would take on the
same range of meaning, especially when translating from Greek. I can
imagine confusion arising from this among 'Dark Age' herbalists, since
by that time it was too dark to see any silphium (long extinct) and too
far off to see any asafoetida (the comparable or possibly even
identical plant as grown in Afghanistan). If you think that isn't
relevant, ignore it ... I'll look further at this.

Andrew

http:/perso.wanadoo.fr/dalby/

Thanks, that would make sense.

Some suggestions for the unidentified plants;

Banwyrt = Field Pansy ( Viola arvensis)
Greate Banwyrt = Hearts Ease (Viola tricolour)

This is based on a suggestion in Grieves Herbal
She also quotes another use of 'Banwyrt' as Daisy'.

Cothuwyrt = Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
Although 'cothu' means 'disease or sickness'
in general I think the common name of 'Coltsfoot',
'Coughwort' is too close to ignore.

Githcorn = Corn Cockle (Agrostemma githago)
common name 'Gith'.

Celia

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Anglo-Saxon Plant-Name Survey
    ... translates as ' Colewort' I've seen so many times in ... this has to be 'Colewort' otherwise known as Wood Avens ... as this plant was also used for perfume and shared other uses ... the cabbage or kale isn't. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Anglo-Saxon Plant-Name Survey
    ... Flora" of the British Isles", ... and Warburg) and "The Craftsman's Plant Book" ... (Borago officinalis) ... Translates as 'Wood burr' I suppose it ...
    (soc.history.medieval)