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OP I am curious about the word dandelion in English. Based on my few years of high school French, I guessed it started out a" dent de le lion", teeth of the lion, maybe because of the resemblance of the flower to a lion's mane, and assumed that this was its name in French as well. In my homeland of Australia, we also called this flower " pee the bed" because of the supposed effect on those unwise enough to touch it [ or maybe drink dandelion wine?]
When I took up residence in bilingual Canada, I was amused to discover that in French the name is actually "pis en lit" [ pee the bed ]. Now I wonder how Aussies had the association with the French term, but used another name entirely .
I know that Norman French entered the English language after 1066. Was dent de le leon the Norman name? Did the English say
" pee the bed " and the Normans adopt a new name? Did the English new comers take this association to Australia?
Anyone have any other ideas?
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