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stranger
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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welcome, Nereida!
my computer dictionary (which I believe is M-W) says this:
ORIGIN late Middle English : from French dent-de-lion, translation of medieval Latin dens leonis ‘lion's tooth' (because of the jagged shape of the leaves).
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Some etymologies suggest that it is the dandelion's diuretic properties that are being referenced. It's lion's teeth in most Romance languages. Latin aphaca 'dandelion' < Greek αφακη (apakē)'tare'; Greek αππαη (apapē) 'dandelion'. It was æg-wyrt (lit., egg-wort) in Old English.
The earliest citation I could find for French pisenlit is from the late 15th century book Évangiles des Quenouilles (The Gospel of Spindles), which a few years later translated into English and published as The Gospelles of Dystaues (The Distaff Gospel) by Wynkyn de Worde. Not sure what is was called in French before that or what it was in Norman French. The first citation for Middle English dentdelioun is as a name from the middle 14th century.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And considered a weed by so many.
A girl I once knew as a child, used to hold the
flower under everyone's chin and if a yellow
glow appeared (which it always did) she would
say "Oh, you like butter too". Interesting folk-ism
from somewhere.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And considered a weed by so many.
A girl I once knew as a child, used to hold the
flower under everyone's chin and if a yellow
glow appeared (which it always did) she would
say "Oh, you like butter too". Interesting folk-ism
from somewhere.
yup, did that!
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Étymologie du mot [modifier]
« Pissenlit » attesté dès le XVe siècle, est évidemment lié aux propriétés diurétiques de la plante. C'est-à-dire de certains des espèces du genre Taraxacum, notamment de la section Ruderalia.
Le pissenlit commun est aussi connu sous le nom de dent-de-lion, lié à la forme recourbée des dents de ses feuilles. Cette expression est bien sûr à l'origine du terme anglais : dandelion
Yes, < pissenlit > refers to the diuretic properties of the leaves, < dandelion > to the curved toothlike form of the leaves. The bleeched young rosettes of the leaves are a springtime (bitter) delicacy. The leaves are bleeched by covering them with a layer of earth when they have the right size. Because of the resemblance of this little heap of earth to a molehill we call it 'molsla' (molesalad). Not to be confused with the Mexican mole salad.
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stranger
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Thank you for the personal welcome, etaoin.
I only learned of the dandelion under the chin when I moved to Canada. No one wanted to touch a yellow dandelion in Australia, unless it was a gardener with a weeding implement. Dandelion clocks were okay, though.
I would have thought that Canadians would have this ptb association because of the French. How did it get to Australia?
I am still curious about how the French and English names diverged, and will stay with my theory about the Norman invasion until I learn otherwise.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Unless I missed something (who me?)
But what is a "dandelion clock" Nereida.
Yes, and welcome to the site!
----please, draw me a sheep----
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stranger
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When the dandelion flower had developed into a seed head, children in Australia [ Canada too ?] would pick it and blow the seeds away, the idea being that the number of times it took to send all the seeds off equaled the number of the hour of day.
This of course helps to account for the spread of what most consider a weed!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Fascinating. Thanks for the trivia. Appreciate it.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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