Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
#167158 03/24/07 01:43 PM
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
This remote corner of the boards might take a plant post alongside the animals.

During the later years of her life , Mien Ruys, http://www.mienruys.nl/tuinen/ , a well known and respected Dutch landscape architect and writer of garden books passed the summertimes in her cottage next to her showgardens. By lucky chance I was among the people scheduled to do a few weeks of cooking for her during those periods. In exchange I could work on paintings in her gardens.(great after closing time) At sundown we had a small drink on her terrace and she talked. Of her past, career,plants and gardens.She always used latin names. I asked her (me no latinist) why all plant- freaks always use latin amongst eachother instead of the common names.I thought it a show off thing. My mistake.
She said working, talking about and the trade of trees/ plants and flowers would be impossible if common names were used. Even in small countries common names differ from region to region. And each species has too many variations. I understood , but still prefer to use the common names, if possible.( its a lot of latin )

Through being on this forum I learned that jonquil or buttercup is the American/English name for daffodil. The English use daffodil.
While the Dutch use the name 'narcis'. for all daffodil variations.

Narcissus: def.:
1. Bulbous plant having erect linear leaves and showy yellow or white flowers either solitary or in clusters.
2.(Greek mythology) a beautiful young man who fell in love with his own reflection.

"Narcissus" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "asleep", "to be numb", "astonishment", "stupidity".

I could not find the relation between definition 2. and the name explication.
I always assumed we call them narsissen , because there heads are looking down like Narcissus looked down on his reflexion in the water mirror.

Buttercup in Eglish and Dutch is understood as:
1. Any of various plants of the genus Ranunculus
Synonyms: butterflower (e), boterbloem (d), crowfoot (e), kraaiepoot (d), goldcup (n), kingcup (n).

Forget-me-nots of the Angels. The stars are so called by Longfellow. The similitude between a little lightblue flower and the yellow stars is very remote. Stars are more like buttercups than forget-me-nots.
"Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of Heaven,
Blossom the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of
The angels"

Forget- me-nots or Myosotis are generally the litte blue ones. But in some countries they have named other flowers as Forget-me-nots.
So I understood latin is crucial for keeping off confusion.





Last edited by BranShea; 03/24/07 04:28 PM.
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
I love forget-me-nots.


formerly known as etaoin...
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 74
journeyman
Offline
journeyman
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 74
You remind me of one of my favorite poems:

"The Daffodils"
by: William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
lovely.


formerly known as etaoin...
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Perhaps she was right BranShea. I can see where there could be some misunderstandings when using the common names for flowers. Here, there is a marked difference between buttercups and daffodils(also known as narcissus & jonquils.)

Here's what are known as daffodils:

Daffodil/Narcissus photo

Here's what are known as buttercups:

Buttercup photo

Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Thanks for the illustrations BelMarduk. Ay, she was always right on plant matters. Yes, buttercups are the shiny little ones that grow in meadows and marshlands .You could brighten your wildflower bouquet with them for a mom's gift.
If we would come home with daffodils she would ask where we had stolen them.(they grow unkept or in the wild in semi-woody spots but count as protected in our country). All parks and private gardens have them though. And no picking allowed there either.

Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
>>>If we would come home with daffodils she would ask where we had stolen them.

HA! That's just like little kiddies...they pick flowers in neighbours' gardens to give to Mom, their little hearts bursting with love and faces shining with pleasure. What is a Mom to do?

Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Matter of prolonged life or instant death: Put them in water. She can't put them back, so for that once it saves a trip to the florist.
Then tell the little ones to stick to the Ranunculus acris or buttercup for their next flower picking trip.

Last edited by BranShea; 03/28/07 11:35 AM.
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
T
veteran
Offline
veteran
T
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
Originally Posted By: BranShea
Matter of prolonged life or instant death: Put them in water. She can't put them back, so for that once it saves a trip to the florist.
Then tell the little ones to stick to the Ranunculus acris or buttercup for their next flower picking trip.

I dunno, Branshea. I told my little ones to stick to the ranunculus acris and they told me to stick my ranunculus acris up my nose but they didn't say "nose".

Speaking of...in case anyone has spoken of...jonquils and daffidils...I found a virgin cave back in 1971. I named it "Daffodil Cave" because the chert road leading to the cave was lined with scores of yellow daffodils. Then Doot, that beach, told me that my daffidils were actually jonquils so I got mad and named the damn cave "Graves Cave" after the family name of the landowner.

Remember Bill Haley and the Comets? Yeah, sure you do, then thirty years later when the real Haley's Comet returned in the summer of 1989, the silly media people took to pronouncing it "Hal-eys Com-met" in the manner of the Brits.

How stupid.


Last edited by themilum; 03/27/07 03:08 AM.
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Heh , Heh! Top speed ! That the South uses the word jonquil is quite logic seen the French influence .Both names are right. The French call them jonquilles, the variations: N.jonquilla and N.junctifolius growing wild in South West Europe.

A Narcissus Jonquil Cave ? (too late, too late)

I know the synonym for 'nose' butt... it's nice you use the euphemism. ;-)

And of course we just say :" Lay off daffodil picking!" in imperative non English. Though children like the word Ranunculus. As much as Rapunzel.
.

Last edited by BranShea; 03/27/07 11:51 AM.
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
T
veteran
Offline
veteran
T
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
“Rosebud”
A deathbed whisper of Orson Wells as Citizen Kane that
we moviegoers eventually understood to be an encapsulated
word symbol representing a childhood trauma which sublimated into a compelling edee force that directed the strange driven life of Orson Wells or Citizen Kane.

Thank you, Branshea, but for you my whispered word on my
death bed might have been “buttercup”.
Let me tell you why…

Maybe I was five years old, maybe six, but not seven, when I was
abruptly introduced to buttercups.

“Hey, new boy” a boy on the playground shouted.
“Would you like to smell some pretty flowers? They smell good; they
are buttercups.”

I looked at the flowers bunched up in his hand.
They were the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen.

“Come on – smell - they won’t hurt you” he said, coming over and positioning
the buttercups just below my face. As I bent to smell he slammed the bouquet
with his fist into my face.

“Ha, ha,” he laughed, pointing at me, “ Hey, everybody look at the new boy,
He’s got yellow stuff all over his face”
None of the other kids laughed.

I was humiliated. My nose was bleeding but what I learned hurt even more.
I learned that there are two kinds of people on this Earth –
the good, and the bad. Sure, I had even as a child seen hot anger and even violence, but never had I ever seen a human with a visceral need to intentionally hurt another of his own kind. Maybe because of this I’ve become a better man (I promised that day I would never, ever, hurt another person) but even so I didn’t think much of them damn buttercups.

Until Branshea’s postings.
Today I sit at the computer looking at four buttercups I just picked. These are the Alabama buttercups of my yesteryear. Not at all like the flowers that are called buttercups in the Netherlands or among the Google’s Images. These are more like the crepe paper looking yellow petals of the buttercup that belmarduk posted, but not creped and not yellow, instead smoothly curved with white petals that have a tinge of pink at the top that grades infinitely into a perfect ivory white at the bottom where spreads upwards five golden anthers heavily coated with bright pollen.
These are simply the most beautiful flowers in the World.


Last edited by themilum; 03/29/07 09:03 PM.
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956

Thank you for sharing that story with us themilum.

As a youngster we would hold a buttercup under our chins. If the reflection was yellow, you were healthy. If it were bright yellow, you were very healthy. It was only later in life that I associated the tone of skin with the brightness of reflection, darker seemed brighter.

Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
T
veteran
Offline
veteran
T
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
What an interesting and poignant custom, olly, and I'll bet that the Maori think that darker is brighter too.

Last edited by themilum; 03/30/07 07:33 PM.
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
Not quite a custom, more of a childhood frivolity. Children I think find flowers fascinating.

Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
in the U.S., there is a more pedestrian childhood custom..

Like the buttercup a dandelion in bloom held under the chin tells whether you like butter if there is a yellow reflection.

-joe (and a bouquet of dandelions, for mom) friday

Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Z
Zed Offline
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Z
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
And on the floral note our cherry blossoms are out. Hopefully our colder than usual weather will let them last longer before the pink snowstorms begin.

Zed #167357 04/05/07 08:05 PM
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
we just got a foot of snow. :¬ (


formerly known as etaoin...
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
T
veteran
Offline
veteran
T
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
Which, I'm sure, etaoin, you so richly deserve.

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Did wonders for the skiing industry.

Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
We got a dusting o' snow & ice, probly enough to scare away the budding flowers. :¬ (

Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,271
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 399 guests, and 3 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,502
LukeJavan8 9,915
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5