17-06-2003, 11:32 PM
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Tamarisk: origin of "salt cedar"
(Mike Lyle) wrote (17 Jun 2003) in
om /
alt.usage.english:
Does anybody know the pedigree of the new, presumably American, name?
What is the oldest printed use we have? It's not in OED1, where
*tamarisk" is cited from 1400.
Mike.
It can't be that old, since COD10 has
salt cedar
· n. N. Amer. a European tamarisk with reddish-brown branches and
feathery grey foliage. [Tamarix gallica.]
NOAD has almost the same entry, adding that the family is Tamaricaceae.
'Tis strange that the baby Oxfords cited above have the American term
"salt cedar," but neither AHD4 nor MW10CD do.
The Britannica agrees that this term names not all 54 species of
tamarix: "The salt cedar, or French tamarisk (T. gallica), is planted on
seacoasts for shelter; it is cultivated in the United States from South
Carolina to California."
No, I can't tell you the history of this term.
--
Martin Ambuhl
now exiled to
Hurricane Bait, Texas
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