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The nature of the problem
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 December 2009
Summary
Man's highly developed constructive curiosity and his capacity for communication are two of the attributes distinguishing him from all other animals. Man alone has sought to understand the whole living world and things beyond his own environment and to pass his knowledge on to others. Consequently, when he discovers or invents something new he also creates a new word, or words, in order to be able to communicate his discovery or invention to others. There are no rules to govern the manner in which such new words are formed other than those of their acceptance and acceptability. This is equally true of the common, or vulgar or vernacular names of plants. Such names present few problems until communication becomes multilingual and the number of plants named becomes excessive. For example, the diuretic dandelion is easily accommodated in European languages. As the lion's tooth, it becomes Lowenzahn, dent de lion, dente di leone. As piss-abed it becomes pissenlit, piscacane, and piscialetto. When further study reveals that there are more than a thousand different kinds of dandelion throughout Europe, the formulation of common names for these is both difficult and unacceptable.
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- The Names of Plants , pp. 1 - 3Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008