Enter your vote today! A new poll has been created for the
UKBotany group:
What colloquial name do you use in preference for Prunus spinosa ?
You have to choose one.
o Blackthorn
o Sloethorn
o Other
To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKBotany/surveys?id=2217598
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Thanks!
At the risk of being a killjoy, I wonder what the point of this poll is?
Simon Harrap
On 2 May 2006, at 18:23, paul_mabbott wrote:
I've never heard of sloethorn. I'm sure that most people call it
blackthorn or sloe .....
Enter your vote today! A new poll has been created for the
UKBotany group:
What colloquial name do you use in preference for Prunus spinosa ?
You have to choose one.
o Blackthorn
o Sloethorn
o Other
Yahoo! Groups Links
----
Simon Harrap
1 Norwich Road
Edgefield
Melton Constable
Norfolk
NR24 2RP
Telephone 01263 587736
Hello
The way I see it is it's either Blackthorn or Sloe, just as it's either
Blackberry or Bramble. Both terms are commonly used and everyone knows
what is meant by either.
I have never heard of Sloethorn either! There is no mention of in the
Oxford Dictionary of Plant-Lore.
There are a number of Folk-lore anecdotes, one says that Sloes are known
as bullums in Plymouth, Devon.
From north-east England and south-east Scotland this farming saying is
applied:
When the slae tree is white as a sheet
Sow your Barley, wither it be dry wet
In Gloucestershire
When the Blackthorn's blossom's white
Sow your Barley day and night.
Ray
Anne Harrap wrote:
At the risk of being a killjoy, I wonder what the point of this poll is?
Simon Harrap
On 2 May 2006, at 18:23, paul_mabbott wrote:
I've never heard of sloethorn. I'm sure that most people call it
blackthorn or sloe .....
Enter your vote today! A new poll has been created for the
UKBotany group:
What colloquial name do you use in preference for Prunus spinosa ?
You have to choose one.
o Blackthorn
o Sloethorn
o Other
Yahoo! Groups Links
----
Simon Harrap
1 Norwich Road
Edgefield
Melton Constable
Norfolk
NR24 2RP
Telephone 01263 587736
Yahoo! Groups Links
Hello Simon,
Its etymological research.
Andy Horton
--- In UKBotany@yahoogroups.com, Anne Harrap harrap@... wrote:
At the risk of being a killjoy, I wonder what the point of this
poll is?
Simon Harrap
On 2 May 2006, at 18:23, paul_mabbott wrote:
I've never heard of sloethorn. I'm sure that most people call it
blackthorn or sloe .....
Enter your vote today! A new poll has been created for the
UKBotany group:
What colloquial name do you use in preference for Prunus
spinosa ?
You have to choose one.
o Blackthorn
o Sloethorn
o Other
Yahoo! Groups Links
----
Simon Harrap
1 Norwich Road
Edgefield
Melton Constable
Norfolk
NR24 2RP
Telephone 01263 587736
Hello,
BLACKTHORN
1. a. A common thorny shrub, bearing white flowers before the leaves and very small dark purple plums; called also the Sloe (Prunus spinosa): the name is probably due to the dark colour of the naked branches, with which the white flowers strongly contrast. Its wood is prized for walking-sticks.=
1388 WYCLIF Dan. xiii. 58 Vndur a blak thorn [1382 plum tree]. 1496 Bk. St.=
Albans, Fysshynge 8 Take a fayr shote of blacke-thorn; crabbe tree; medeler= .
1578 LYTE Dodoens VI. xlvii. 721 The wilde Plumme tree, Blacke thorne, and =
Sloo tree. 1634 HABINGTON Castara II. =A72. xix, Love shall in that
tempestuous showre Her brightest blossome like the blacke-thorne show. 1842=
TENNYSON May Queen II. 8, I shall never see The blossom on the black~thorn,=
the leaf upon the tree. 1882 Garden 8 Apr. 241/1 One of the best flowering =
shrubs we know is the double-flowered Blackthorn.
b. A walking-stick or cudgel made of the stem of this sh= rub.
1849 W. H. MAXWELL Stories Waterloo, An hundred blackthorns rattled above m= y
head.
c. attrib., as in blackthorn leaves, winter. Also Comb.,= as
blackthorn-fleeced adj.
1789 G. WHITE Selborne (1813) II. 292 Blackthorn..usually blossoms while cold N.E. winds blow; so that the harsh rugged weather obtaining at this season, is called by the country people, blackthorn-winter. 1824 SCOTT St. =
Ronan's xv, Tea, madam! I saw none. Ash leaves and black-thorn leaves were =
brought in. 1898 C. M. YONGE John Keble's Parishes xvi. 214 Black~thorn winter is supposed to bring fresh cold in spring, when the bushes almost look as if covered by hoar-frost. 1905 Daily Chron. 11 Apr. 4/7 'Blackthorn=
winter' is the Gloucestershire name for the fit of January weather that almost always follows the flowering of the beautiful wild sloe blossom. 194= 6
L. B. LYON Rough Walk Home 28 Pray blackthorn-winter's dawn may rediscover =
us. 1948 C. DAY LEWIS Poems 1943-47 84 Walking by blackthorn-fleeced Hedges=
to church.
2. U.S. A species of hawthorn (Crat=E6gus tomentosa), al= so called
Pear-thorn. Webster 1864, and Miller Plant-n. 1884. In W. Indies, a species=
of Acacia (A. Farnesiana).
-------------------------
1. a. The fruit of the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), a small ovate or globos= e
drupe of a black or dark-purple colour and sharp sour taste.
c725 Corpus Gloss. B75, Bellicum, sla. a1000 Voc. in Wr.-W=FClcker 196 Brumela, bellicum, vel sla. c1000 Saxon Leechd. II. 32 enim onw=E6re slah..=
wring urh cla on =E6t eae. c1340 Nominale (Skeat) 679 Appul, pere, and slo.=
?c1366 CHAUCER Rom. Rose 928 Blak as bery, or any slo. c1440 Promp. Parv. 459/2 Slo, frute, prunum, vel spinum. 1483 Cath. Angl. 342/2 A Sla, spinum,=
mespilum. 1558 T. PHAER =C6neid III. Hiv, For hunger, sloes hath ben my foo= d.
1582 STANYHURST =C6neis III. (Arb.) 91 My self I dieted with sloas. 1620 VENNER Via Recta vii. 118 The iuyce of them, especially of Sloes,..is of excellent efficacy. 1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg. IV. 215 He knew to..tame to Plumbs, the Sourness of the Sloes. 1713 STEELE Englishm. No. 7. 47 He will =
swallow, with Transport, what was squeezed from the Sloe. 1774 PENNANT Tour= s
Scotl. 214 Sloes are the only fruits of the island. 1842 Dumfries Herald Oct., Sloes..are almost always plentiful. 1885 TENNYSON Flight iv, The
blackthorn-blossom fades and falls and leaves the bitter sloe.
a1000 Voc. in Wr.-W=FClcker 269 Moros, slan. 13.. K. Alis. 4983 (Laud MS.)= ,
Oer mete ai ne habben Bot hawen, hepen, slon, crabben. 14.. Ms. Harl.= 3388
in Cockayne Saxon Leechd. III. 345/1 Succus prunellarum immaturarum, grene =
slane wose. c1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 86 Take and gedre e a good
quantite of sloon, at bene rype. 1573 BARET Alv. (1580) Fiij, Haw~bearies, =
sloen, gooseberries and such like. 1601 HOLLAND Pliny II. 169 Bulleis,
Skegs, and Slone (which are the berries, as it were, or fruit of the wild Plum tree). 1633 HART Diet of Diseased I. xvi. 63 Plummes..are of two sorts= ,
either wilde, called sloes or slane [etc.].
1589 GREENE Menaphon (Arb.) 86 Slowes blacke as ieat. 1604 DRAYTON Owle 70= 2
The Hip, the Haw, the Slow, the Bramble-berrie. 1657 R. LIGON Barbadoes (1673) 11 As far..as the best Abricot is beyond the worst Slow or Crab.
a1585 MONTGOMERIE Cherrie Slae 322, I saw..A bush of bitter Slaes. [= See
also SLOCKEN v. 3.]. 1786 BURNS Holy Fair iii, Their visage wither'd, lang =
an' thin, An' sour as ony slaes! a1802 Cospatrick xx. in Scott Minstrelsy, =
To the grene wood I maun gae, To pu' the red rose and the slae. 1828 CARR Craven Gloss., Slaa, sloe. 1837 R. NICOLL Poems (1843) 75 To feast on the bramble-berries brown An' gather the glossy slaes. 1838 HOLLOWAY Prov.
Dict., Slaigh, the fruit of the black-thorn.
b. As the type of something having little or no value. (= So OF. parnele,
=3D F. prunelle.)
c1250 Orison our Lady 28 in O.E. Misc. 160 is liues blisse nis wur a slo. a1300 Havelok 2051 Of hem ne yeue ich nouht a slo. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 141 =
er nas man in al is londe..at bireft him wor of a slo [C. sloo]. c1412
HOCCLEVE De Reg. Princ. 1120 ou schalt do so, And by desir of good, nat sette a slo. c1450 LOVELICH Merlin 7152 Al availled hit hem not a slo.
c725 Corpus Gloss. N119 Nigra spina, slahorn. Ibid. S474 Spina nigra,
slahorn. c1000 Saxon Leechd. II. 86 Wice, ac, slahorn, bircean, elebeam. c1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 163 Le fourder, slo-thorne. c145= 0
MS. Sloane 4 fol. 80 The kanker yt bredyth yn the Slo~thorne. 1615 R.
BRATHWAIT Strappado, etc. (1878) 290 Sad Philomela..sung with a pricking slothorne at her brest. 1825 SCOTT Betrothed xxiii, Small
eminences..overgrown with hazel, sloethorn, and other dwarf shrubs. 1854 H.=
MILLER Sch. Schm. (1858) 404 A dreary moor, bristling with furze and =
sloe-thorn.
attrib. c1000 Saxon Leechd. II. 98 Nim onne apuldor rinde,..slahorn rinde, =
wir rinde. 1804 GRAHAME Sabbath (1808) 62 He hid beneath the milk-white sloe-thorn spray. 1815 SCOTT Guy M. iii, She..had in her hand a goodly
sloethorn cudgel.
----------------------------------------------------
Oxford English Dictionary
Comment:
Blackthorn is the wood. Sloe are the berries.
Sloethorn went out of fashion in Saxon times. It may have persisted a littl= e
bit into medieval times and even later.
Colloquially, I have never heard Blackthorn used. I am not sure that
everybody will recognise the name. Usually the context is collecting = sloes
from the ????
Andy Horton
I did a quick vox pop. - of the fourteen people interviewed, seven
didn't know what I was talking about or said, 'It's your round.'. The
other half said 'blackthorn' sloes are the fruit.
Going back to the etymology: I was always told that blackthorn
is 'sloe' in comparison to the other common hedging shrub, the
quickthorn ....
Paul M
Its etymological research.
Andy Horton
I did a quick vox pop. - of the fourteen people interviewed, seven
didn't know what I was talking about or said, 'It's your round.'. The
other half said 'blackthorn' sloes are the fruit.
Going back to the etymology: I was always told that blackthorn
is 'sloe' in comparison to the other common hedging shrub, the
quickthorn ....
Paul M
Its etymological research.
Andy Horton
