I just dont trust them. Their name means “lion’s tooth” in many languages, and dates back to the 1300s in Europe, where there were no lions in Europe at the time.
Oh sure, the Greeks/Romans knew what lions were (leo) through their conquests, and placed them in their stars, but how did your average north european peasant look at the flower and say “yep, looks like a lion” or even “that’s a lion’s tooth” without this frame of reference.
There must have been other names for it, and yet none are so widespread as dandelion.
I just dont trust them. Their name means “lion’s tooth” in many languages, and dates back to the 1300s in Europe, where there were no lions in Europe at the time.
Oh sure, the Greeks/Romans knew what lions were (leo) through their conquests, and placed them in their stars, but how did your average north european peasant look at the flower and say “yep, looks like a lion” or even “that’s a lion’s tooth” without this frame of reference.
There must have been other names for it, and yet none are so widespread as dandelion.
I just dont trust it.
Piss-en-lit in French.
Huh, is it not dent-de-lioun?
That’s where the English word comes from, but I was taught piss-en-lit for French: https://wordhistories.net/2016/07/21/dandelion-pissenlit/