lungen-wyrt

Old-English: lungenwyrt, lungenwvrt,

Latin (Machine generated): ELLEBORUS NIGER,

• A: plant: foreign
  Hieracium murorum L., golden hawkweed, Wald-Habichtskraut
• B: plant: foreign
  Helleborus niger L., christmas rose, Christrose

• Comment on (A): Hieracium murorum L., golden hawkweed, Wald-Habichtskraut

  OE lungenwyrt, like ModE lungwort, generally denotes Pulmonaria officinalis L., but as shown by Cockayne (cf. 1961,III,337) it can also refer to other plants. In LB it denotes H. murorum, indicated by the description: seo biþ geolu ufeweard. In ModE the plant is called 'golden lungwort' because of the lung-shaped leaves and the yellow flowers; the ML name was PULMONARIA (cf. Britten / Holland 1886,210); also cf. the Silesian name Lungenkraut for H. murorum (Pritzel / Jessen 1882,182).

• Comment on (B): Helleborus niger L., christmas rose, Christrose

  Cf. the ME glosses ELEBORUM, I. ellebre, I. lungwurt (WW 557,27); ELEBORUS NIGER ANCE longwort (WW 580,2). The name seems to be based on the use of the plant against lung diseases of animals: cf. Marzell (2001,2,88, referring to the ModE name 'setterwort' for Helleborus foetidus): "Gerard, Herbal 1597,979: 'Husbandmen are used to make a hole, and put a piece of the root into the dew-lap of their cattle, as a seton, in cases of diseased lungs; and this is called pegging or settering.'"