A London photo every day. Some pictures will be there for their own sake, some because they are places you may like to see, all because they are part of what makes London what it is. Requests welcome!
Pages
▼
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The Dandy Lion
I may be in a small minority here, but I have gone for years without knowing the etymology of Dandylion, I thought (mistakenly) that it must have been something to do with the bold flower, a dandy indeed. I knew the French for dandelion - pissenlit - and that it was called such because of the diuretic properties of the roots. But I hadn't realised that there was another French word - Dent de Lion, or tooth of the lion seeing the shape of the leaves. The penny finally dropped. This is a London dandylion, though.
One of the few advantages of having a latin language (italian) as a mother tongue :)
ReplyDeleteDente di Leone in Italian
Dent de Lion in French
Dandelion in English
Easy :D
Interestingly it's also in the same in German:
ReplyDeleteLöwen (lion) + zahn (tooth) = löwenzahn (dandelion)