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Narcissus and Daffodil

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Folklore of <strong>Narcissus</strong> 21<br />

is the giving of red roses as a sign of love. In this tradition, the daffodil is for rebuttal<br />

in domestic situations: ‘I do not share your feelings’. However, in battle emblems<br />

the daffodil is for regard <strong>and</strong> chivalry (Greenaway <strong>and</strong> Marsh, 1978; Pickles, 1990).<br />

DERIVATION OF THE NAME DAFFODIL<br />

There are a number of thoughts on how the name daffodil came into being. The<br />

popular English names daffodowndilly, daffodily <strong>and</strong> affodily may be corruptions<br />

of asphodel, since the daffodil was thought to be identical with the blossoms<br />

mentioned by the ancient Greeks. Another school of thought is that the name<br />

comes from the Mediaeval Latin affodilus, Latin asphodilus or Greek asphodelus, which<br />

was the name of that plant which grew across the meadows of the underworld <strong>and</strong><br />

belonged to Persephone, the Queen of Hell (Grigson, 1996).<br />

Pliny describes the narcissus as ‘narce narcissum dictum, non a fabuloso puero’, which<br />

translated means ‘named narcissus from narce, not from the fabulous boy’. The<br />

Greek narkao, meaning to be numb, originates in the narcotic properties of the<br />

plant (Genders, 1985).<br />

The popularity of the daffodil in the British Isles is attested by the large number<br />

of common names used in various parts of the country (Dony et al., 1986; Grigson,<br />

1996; Grieve, 1998). These include:<br />

Popular name Place<br />

Affodil, Affrodil Cheshire<br />

Bell-Flowers Dorset <strong>and</strong> Somerset<br />

Bell-Rose Somerset<br />

Butter <strong>and</strong> Eggs Devon, Somerset <strong>and</strong> Northampton<br />

Churn Lancashire<br />

Cowslip Devon<br />

Cuckoo-Rose Devon <strong>and</strong> Somerset<br />

<strong>Daffodil</strong> Engl<strong>and</strong>, Scotl<strong>and</strong>, Irel<strong>and</strong><br />

Daffydowndilly Somerset<br />

Daffy-down-dilly Somerset<br />

Daffydilly Northamptonshire<br />

Dillydaffs Somerset<br />

Easter Lily Devon <strong>and</strong> Somerset<br />

Easter Rose Somerset<br />

Fairy Bells Dorset<br />

False <strong>Narcissus</strong> Devon<br />

Fleur de Coucou Devon<br />

Garden <strong>Narcissus</strong> Devon<br />

Giggary Devon<br />

Gylfinog Wales<br />

Gold Bells Wiltshire<br />

Golden Trumpets Somerset<br />

Gooseflop Somerset<br />

Goose-Leek Isle of Man<br />

Gracie Daisies Devon <strong>and</strong> Somerset<br />

Gracie Day Devon<br />

Hen <strong>and</strong> Chickens Devon<br />

Hoop Petticoats Dorset<br />

Jonquil Hertfordshire

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