Interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal, on the origins of floral terms.

http://online.wsj.com/article/...od=djemEditorialPage

(Let me know if the link does not work properly, and I'll post the text directly.)

Dandelion is quite interesting. As it says in the article it derives from the French "dent de lion" (lion's teeth). What I like is the fact that the English word is derived from the sound of the French word where the German word - Löwenzahn - is derived from the translation of the parts of the word.

Dandelion

Funny they didn't mention that dandelion is a euphemism in French for the real name of the plant which is pisenlit 'piss-a-bed'.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
Dandelion

Funny they didn't mention that dandelion is a euphemism in French for the real name of the plant which is pisenlit 'piss-a-bed'.

Which in turn is used in direct translation in some (including mine) regional slang variants for the plant.

Ain't language wonderful?

So if dandelions are a natural diuretic (http://www.safesupplements.co.uk/why-dandelion-natural-diuretic.html), and if the Greeks use it often in salads (http://greekfood.about.com/od/soupsstews/r/horta.htm), then that explains a few things about my childhood...

I think maybe dandelion is also called "pisalit" in French because of the way it smells. It's really not a very pleasing odor!

Wordmatic

That was a very nice article, Robert. Thank you! Because of the downsizing of the Chicago Tribune (economics) they have stopped their linguistics column, and I miss it terribly.

In 2005 the word a day was " clock ," which is the downy flower-head of the dandelion.