Is a Dandelion Named After Lions?
Who Put The Butter in Butterfly by David Feldman (p.196)
"Yes. The English had long called the dandelion a lion's tooth, but in the sixteenth century, for some reason, they adopted the French namme for the flower, dent de lion, which, appropriately enough means "lion's tooth." Why the English would choose to borrow a literal French translation of a perfectly fine English expression and then proceed to mangle both the spelling and pronunciation of dent de lion I leave to an Anglophile prepared to explain the glories of English cuisine and the popularity of Rick Astley.
Why would France and England call this flower, which is yellow but looks nothing like a lion's tooth, a dandelion? The name refers not to the flower itself but to the surrounding leaves which are deeply indented and resemble teeth."
"Yes. The English had long called the dandelion a lion's tooth, but in the sixteenth century, for some reason, they adopted the French namme for the flower, dent de lion, which, appropriately enough means "lion's tooth." Why the English would choose to borrow a literal French translation of a perfectly fine English expression and then proceed to mangle both the spelling and pronunciation of dent de lion I leave to an Anglophile prepared to explain the glories of English cuisine and the popularity of Rick Astley.
Why would France and England call this flower, which is yellow but looks nothing like a lion's tooth, a dandelion? The name refers not to the flower itself but to the surrounding leaves which are deeply indented and resemble teeth."
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didnt realize that dandelion is a type of weed, a pretty type weed though. :) it's a flower to me.
Posted by
Laural |
8:59 PM