Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/308

A GLOSSARY OF DSVONSHIBB PLANT NAMES. 39 MooB, or More, (1) a root, (2) a plant I 've a got a fine mme of tihat in my gaiden," the people will say, when speaking oj a flower, plant, or shrub. Professor Earle's note is so apposite that we quote it in full " Mora (A.S.) : fdd wxmi (carrot), toeajl mom (parsnip). The carrot is in German mo^re, in O.H. Grerman nwraha; and Fuchs tells us the druggists call it mote. In Russian it is morkovi ; lith., morkOj morkva (Pictet) ; and Grass- mann adds Old Indian m4la, root, with a diminutive invlakci. So that here we seem to have a very old word for Root, which has become special for the most conspicuous tap-roots. [Cf. Root, i^flra.] There is Welsh 77wron (pL) for tap-roots, comprising carrot, parsnip, radish. In Devonshire I remember when more (pronounced broadly mower) was the sole word for Root with the labouring classes, and perhaps it is so stilL" Tes, to a very large extent {Qf. Britten, p. 340.) HaUiwell gives " Turnips " as the translation or equivalent of tilie Devonshire word *' Moors." (See Devonshire Courtship^ pp. 4, 64, 68 : " Zo her zaid ; and the flower mores that creas'd too much, hei* zet in the field, and prick'd out the toppings of rosen and jasmine in the hedges." See Notes and Queries^ 4th ser. vi 259 ; and especially Traris, Devon. Assoc: viL pp. 505-6 for a valuable collection of illustrations from various authors. Moot. A stump or root of a tree. Still used about Torquay and other parts of Devonshire. (Qf. Trans, Devon. Assoc, vii. 509, 510.) MoBE. Mos& A squat down upon the mares of a great oak, and looked stark at some mose a had a' grabbl'd vro the tree." — Devon. Courtship^ p. 4. (Qf. German "Moos;" AS. "Meos.") MoTHER-o'-MiLLioNS, Ltnaria Gymbcdaria, MilL (See next entry, with which name this frequently interchanges. Mother-o'-Thousands, (I) Gorydalis liUea^ DC. (Fumaria luiea^ L.) The yellow-flowered Fumitory, sometimes found in gardens, but fond of sharing old walls with the Toad -flax, on which account it may perhaps partly have gained its name. (2) Linaria Cymhcdaria^ MilL A very common name for the prolific Toad-flax in many other parts of England as well as Devon. (3) Saxifraga sarmentosa, L. The rambling plant known as " Aaron's Beard," " Spider-plant," " Strawberry-plant," &c., which see. {Cf. Britten, p. 343 ; Prior, p. 160.) The latter writer, whose explanations are often more ingenious than accurate, says the name, as applied to the Linarict^ is a pun on its old name of Penny-wort. If so, why was the name given to so many other plants f Certainly because of their prolific nature. And so we may urge of this. It should be noted that " miUions " and thousands " interchange. Motherwort, Lysimachia Niimmtdarioy L. By confusion with Moneywort, the common name of this plant MoTHERWouTH. A eomiptiou of Motherwort.