Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/274

A 6L0SSABT OF DEVONSHIRE PUINT NAMES. 5 for "Chimney " and " Snag" for « Slag," &c. {Gf. Britten, p. 11 ; Prior, p. 4; and i^fra. Not to be confused with Anise, the common name for Pimpinella Anittum^ L., Prior, p^ 8.) Appls-pib Flowsb, Epilobium hirtndum^ L. {Of, Britten, p. 14.) The Willow Herb. Apsb, Populua trermda^ L. The name agrees with the Anglo- Saxon form better than the classical English asp. (Of, Britten, p. 15, and Prior, p. 12.) There is a tradition that the cross was made of the wood of this tree, but the story is attached to many other plants. (Gf. my Flower Lore^ chapter vL; Henderson's Folh- lore of N. Counties^ p. 152.) Arb-rabbit, Geranium Rohertianum^ L. For the sake of com- pleteness I add the note made last year on this flower and its name. This word is a corruption of Herb-Kobert" (Geranium Bobertlanum). I was passing through some lields near Newton Abbot one day with a friend, plucking flowers, and discussing them, when a woman who was passing by volunteered the follow- ing information : ** Us calls that Arb-rabbit. The oal people gathers it, an' lays'en up for winter, to make arb tea." The flowers are called by various names, as e.g. ^* Bird's-eye," or " Little Robins ;" and by the peasants in Sussex ** Little Bachelor Button." Herb- Eobert is also known as Stinking Crane's-bill " (the name, as in many other cases, being given to the flower on account of the shape of the seed-pods), the whole plant emitting a very unpleasant sm^ on being bruised. I extract the following note from Fragments of Thco Essays on Philology, by Eev. J. C. Hare, m.a. : " Herb-Robert, RobertskraiU or RupreclUs-kraut, a sort of wild geranium, flowers in April, the 29th of which was consecrated to St Eobert Adelung deduces the German name from a certain disease, which used to be called Sand Ruprechts-plagef and against which this plant was held to be a powerful remedy. But how then did the disease get this name ) Far more probably was it so called because St. Eobert cured it by means of his herb." There are at least half-a-dozen explanations of the name. Dr. Withering says it was given in honour of a celebrated curator in the Botanic Gardens at Oxford. Others derive it from its red colour (ruber), while yet others connect Eobert *with Eobin Hood. (The following references may be useful to the student : Wild Flowers, by Mrs. Lankester, p. 40 ; Wild Flowers, by Ward, Lock, and Co., pp. 7, 24, 25; Gomhill, June, 1882, p. 711; Britten, p. 259 ; Prior, 113, 114, &c See below under Herb-Eobbrt.) Arbs. The common pronunciation of the word Herbs in the west of England. The paper of Arbs is to be burnt, a small bit at a time." (Charm or recipe quoted in Bygone Days in Devon and Gomwall, p. 10. So HalliweU quotes a passage from an old work in which arbage stands for herbage : " Sir, afor the arbage, dout yt not," &C.) Archangel, Lamium album, L. See the note on this name in