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Bear's breeches [Was: Lidl Gardening week]
Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message from "Mike Lyle" [...] is/was also called "Bear's Foot", and in Medieval Latin _branca ursina_, "bear's claw". [...] It has a long medicinal history. Culpeper's herbal refers to acanthus as "brank-ursine". I'm wondering if the brank, refers to the OE/old celtic word branks meaning a scolds bridle, a sort of metal helmet for women who talked too much ( sucks to anyone who thought this thread had escaped from all that! ) .Variations of the scolds bridle were given animal names. The acanthus flower could be imagined to look rather helmet-like. I think the English is just an adaptation of late Latin _branca_, "paw". "Brank[s]" for "scold's bridle" is a Scots word of unestablished origin. In English English "Brank" was also used for buckwheat, but I don't think there's a connection there. -- Mike. |
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