Leechdoms, wortcunning, and starcraft of early England. Being a ...

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392 GLOSSARY.
)>eo)iocb]jembel cont.
Lb. III. xxix. 1. The berries are exceedingly
loved by stags, Cotgrave, v. Eourdaine.
Gerarde.
lieojiofc cjiop, Lb. I. vi. 3, probably a
bunch of the flowers of hart wort, or
seseli.
(Nemnich, Cotgrave.)
]>eo)iC cl3C):]ie, hcn't clover or medic, medicago
maculata. In lib. xxv. Hart clover
is made germander, tcucrium chama'drijs,
and there is no doubt about the identity
of germander with the chamscdrys
of the Latin ; the name germander is a
gradual alteration fi-om the Hellenic
word, and in MS. G. the plant is drawn.
In MSS. "V. and A. we see something
more like anagallis arvensis, but we must
make concessions to these old artists.
There is, however, no doubt but that
clffijjie is clover, " trifillon [_trefoil'], clfc-
" )iie," Gl. Somn. p. 64 a, 3. " Trifo-
" Hum rubrum, reade cleaure," Gl. Dun.
" Calesta vel calcesta, hvit cleaure," Gl.
Dun. That we find " trifolium, s^ace-
" rupe," Gl- Somn. p. 66 [63] b, line 11,
may be satisfactorily explained by looking
at the Oxalis Acetosella, -which
is a trefoil sorrel, abounding in groves
and thickets in the spring. The same
wort is meant by " Calcitulium, geaces
" swre," Gl. Dun. ; for calta is clover
with the Saxons ;
" Calta siluatica, vude
" cleaure," Gl. Dun. ;
" wood sorrel
is a frequent name of it at this day ; it
was panis cuculi, Fr. pain de cocu (Lyte).
The tradition of the word " hart " is
sufficient for us ;
probably, however,
in. falcata and m. sativa were embraced
under the name. These were once known
as "horned clauer," or clover (Lyte);
and since the melilot m. officinalis, was
called hart clauer in Yorkshire (Gerarde),
that also may have been set down for a
vaiiety. Culpepor calls melilot, kings
claver. " Cenocephaleon [AeaJCyno-],
" heort cleaure," Gl. Dun., may be a
misreading of a drawing, since toadflax
and melilot hang their heads in the same
)>eopt clseyjie
cont,
manner. " Camedus," Gl. Brux., that
is,
chanicedrys, germander.
^^yy gG°' ~C' fem., hive. Hb. vii. 2. Lye.
Leechd. Vol. I. p. 397.
)>ill])y]it, fem., gen. in -e, " hillwort,
cahnnintha riepeta. Hillwort is pulegiuni
montanum in the glossaries, to be distinguished
by name and habitat from
I)ulegium regale or penny royal. Now
the Bergpoly of the Germans, Teucrium
polium, is not a native of England,
we must then select, as above, a plant
which grows on " dry banks and way
" sides on a chalky soil," with " odour
" strong resembling mentha pulegium,"
(Hooker). But if the words be of the
savour of a version from the Latin, then
hillwort will be teucrium polium. See
lib. Iviii. ; Promp. Parv. p. 399.
]>ymele, gen. -an, the hop plant, humnlns
hipidus = hvim]Q (Dansk)=humall, masc.
(Islandic). Hb. Ixviii. The female plant
is evidently meant by the ewehymcle,
coj'ohumelan. Lb. III. Ix.
The statement that men mix hymele
with their ordinary drinks, shows what
plant the writer of Hb. had in his mind.
That he identifies it with bryony is an
error in his Greek. Lovells Herball
(16.59) thus, "Hops, lupulus. In fat
" and fruitful! ground, the wild among
" thornes. The flowers are gathered in
" August and September. Bpvov kcu
" Ppvonvia, lupus salictarius et reptitius."
Most of the early glossaries translate
however, bryonia by Wilde nep, and
Dioskorides(iv. 184, 185) describes what
is certainly not the hop plant.
Columella
is charged with having confused the
bryony with the hop. Lib. x. p. 350.
" Qurcque tuas audax imitatur Nysie
" uites,
" Ncc metuit sentes, nam uepribus
" improba surgens
" Achradas indomitasque Bryonias
" alligat alnos."
The lines hardly support the charge.