proposed in explanation of it, some being of opinion that the lily and not
the iris is referred to. But the weight of evidence seem to favour the iris
theory, this plant having been undoubtedly famous in French history.
Once more, by some,[4] the name fleur-de-lys has been derived from
Löys, in which manner the twelve first Louis signed their names, and
which was easily contracted into Lys. Some consider it means the flower
that grows on the banks of the river Lis, which separated France and
Artois from Flanders. Turning to the literature of the past, Shakespeare
has several allusions to the plant, as in "I Henry VI," where a messenger
enters and exclaims:--
"Awake, awake, English nobility!
Let not sloth dim your honours new begot;
Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms;
Of England's coat one half is cut away."
Spenser mentions the plant, and distinguishes it from the lily:--"Show mee the grounde with daifadown-dillies,
And cowslips, and kingcups, and loved lillies;
The pretty pawnee,
And the cherisaunce,
Shall march with the fayre flowre delice."
Another instance is the mignonette of our French neighbours, known
also as the "love-flower." One of the names of the deadly nightshade is
belladonna which reminds us of its Italian appellation, and "several of
our commonest plant names are obtained from the Low German or
Dutch, as, for instance, buckwheat (Polygonum fagopyrum), from the
Dutch bockweit." The rowan-tree (Pyrus aucuparia) comes from the
Danish röun, Swedish rünn, which, as Dr. Prior remarks, is traceable to
the "old Norse runa, a charm, from its being supposed to have power to
avert evil." Similarly, the adder's tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum) is
said to be from the Dutch adder-stong, and the word hawthorn is found
in the various German dialects.
As the authors of "English Plant Names" remark (Intr. xv.), many
north-country names are derived from Swedish and Danish sources, an
interesting example occurring in the word kemps, a name applied to the
black heads of the ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata). The origin of
this name is to be found in the Danish kaempe, a warrior, and the reason
for its being so called is to be found in the game which children in most
parts of the kingdom play with the flower-stalks of the plantain, by
endeavouring to knock off the heads of each other's mimic weapons.
Again, as Mr. Friend points out, the birch would take us back to the