Re: [tied] berbery, barberry

The pompedulon/quinquefolium is what we now call the cinquefoil, _Potentilla_, a small herb with characteristic compound leaves, each of five leaflets. It doesn't even remotely resemble the barberry in any way. Besides, you may need a new pair of glasses for reading. The text has <procila> (probably a shortened or otherwise distorted variant of <propedila, propedula>, itself apparently a folk distortion of the Gaulish word), not "drocila". Here's another sardonic smile for you:

;-}

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: alexmoeller@...

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 11:27 PM

Subject: [tied] berbery, barberry

Tthe latin name of this bush beeing "Berberis vulgaris" The romanian name of this is "drãcila" I atake a look in DEX and I read as fallow: drãcila: bushy shrub, with pale-green deciduous leaves, etc. Etymology: slavic "draCi", "dracije" OK, I found it, I have the etymology , I am happy until I read in another book this passage: Apuleius: "Galli popmpedulon, Dacii propedula alii d r o c i l a , Itali quinquefolium" Should I be surprised? Or the best thing to do is to consider it a more coincidentaly cognates?