curmealle

Old-English: culmille, curmelle, curmille, curmeallan, culmillan,

Latin (Machine generated): CENTAURES, CENTAURIA, QRIGANUM,

• →culmille, lytle;
• →curmealle, læsse;
• →curmealle, māre;

• A: plant: native Several native species.
  Centaurea L., knapweed, a species of ~, Flockenblume, eine Art von ~
• C: plant: native
  Blackstonia perfoliata (L.) Huds., yellow wort, Durchwachsener Bitterling
• B: plant: native
  ?? Centaurium erythraea Rafn., common centaury, Echtes Tausendgüldenkraut

• Comment on (A): Centaurea L., knapweed, a species of ~, Flockenblume, eine Art von ~

  This identification seems more likely for the LA because in 158/10 it occurs along with →fēfer-fūge in the same recipe. The identification of this plant poses certain problems as Centaurea centaurium L. was not native to Western Europe and, therefore, was substituted with similar Centaurea species like Centaurea cyanus L., cornflower, Kornblume; Centaurea nigra L., black knapweed / iron-head, Schwarze Flockenblume; Centaurea jacea L., brown knapweed, Gemeine Flockenblume.[1] Pollington (2000,109) suggests: "curmealle may be a generic name referring to all centaurea plants, with separate names 'earthgall' and 'feverwort' for the greater and lesser varieties”.

  Etymology: according to Holthausen (1974, s.v. culmille) of uncertain origin. An original form of this plant name could have been OE ∗culmealle, which changed through dissimilation of l > r into curmealle. The forms curmille, curmelle, culmille (without dis­similation) are analog formations to plant names like →wurmille, -melle (Majorana hortensis Moench, marjoram, Majoran; Origanum vulgare L., marjoram, Gewöhnlicher Dost, cf. Holthausen 1974, s.v.), cunille (→cunelle: Thymus serpyllum L., breckland thyme, Sand-Thymian), gagelle, gagille (cf. s.v. →gagel: Myrica gale L., bog-myrtle, Moor-Gagelstrauch). A transformation of -mille to -mealle can be excluded because there are no records of analog forms.

  Based on the fact that the most distinct feature of Centaurea species is the head- or button-shaped inflorescence (cf. the depiction of Centaurea jacea L. in the image section, and the NHG popular names 'Trummachschlegel', 'Pau­kenschlegel' for C. jacea; or the ModE popular names 'drum-stick', 'button-weed', 'club-weed' for C. nigra L., or 'bachelor's buttons', 'loggerheads' for C. cyanus) and based on sound laws we can relate the OE plant name to the IGMC roots ∗geu-l-os 'round vessel, globe; rundes Gefäß, Kugel' (Pokorny 1989,1,393) and IGMC ∗mel- 'crush, batter, grind; zer­malmen, schlagen, mahlen' (Pokorny 1989,I,716f) for OE ∗cul-mealle, which would provide an original meaning 'rounded hammer, rounded mallet; Rundhammer, runder Schlegel'.

• Comment on (B): ?? Centaurium erythraea Rafn., common centaury, Echtes Tausendgüldenkraut

  Cf. Hunger (1935,167): Ch. VI: CENTAURIA MINOR = Centaurium erythrea.

• Comment on (C): Blackstonia perfoliata (L.) Huds., yellow wort, Durchwachsener Bitterling

  The use of →culmille, lytle in the LB and the occurrence 99/22 þa smalan →felterre, eagwyrt, [...] curmeallan suggest that this plant name denotes CENTAURIA MAIOR. Cf. Hunger (1935,167): Ch. V: CENTAURIA MAIOR = Chlora perfoliata. This identification seems more likely for the LA because in 158/10 curmealle occurs along with →fēfer-fūge in the same recipe.

• Etymology: Etymology-Comment:
• Word-Formation:
• Word-Formation-Comment: