journal of linguistic studies

houndstongue (R limba câinelui); viper’s bugloss (R viperină); common storksbill (R
ciocul berzei with the variant ciocul-cucoarei) – we find the same Romanian translation
for cut-leaved crane’s-bill/bloody crane’s-bill, crane meaning cocor/cucoara in
Romanian; bird’s-foot trefoil (R unghia-găii – gaie is chough, a bird related to the crow),
dog’s mercury (R buruiană câinească); bird’s-nest orchid (R cuibul rândunelii), bee
orchid (R albină), lousewort (R păducherniţă), cowslip (R ţâţa vacii with the variant
ciuboţica cucului, cuc meaning ‘cuckoo’), goatsbeard (R barba caprei, ţâţa caprei),
common horsetail as well as water horsetail, wood horsetail and mare’s tail (R coada
calului, with the variants barba ursului, urs meaning ‘bear’, and coada iepei, iapă
meaning ‘mare’).
As for the idioms containing other animal names, we have: oyster fungus (R păstrăv
de fag – păstrăv meaning ‘trout’, still an aquatic animal but from another phylum);
stagshorn clubmoss (R brânca ursului/barba ursului – urs meaning ‘bear’); horse
chestnut (R castan porcesc – instead of horse we find porc ‘pig’, still a mammal, but
again a different order); alder buckthorn (R lemn câinesc – instead of buck we have câine
‘dog’); black horehound (R urechea porcului – again the animal name in Romanian is
‘pig’, a mammal but from another order), common duckweed (R linte broştească where
‘duck’ is replaced by broască ‘frog’, animals from different phyla).
There are also instances where the Romanian common plant does not include an
animal name (e.g. wolf-fart puffball R pufai, turkey tails R iască, stagshorn clubmoss R
pedicuţă, dogwood R sânger, cowberry R merişor, smirdar, afin roşu, afin, coacăz de
munte, gooseberry R agriş, sea buckthorn R cătină albă, crab apple R măr pădureţ, bird
cherry R mălin negru, dog rose R cacadâr, măceş, răsură, rujă, rug sălbatic, trandafir
sălbatic – even though there are several Romanian names, none of them contains a colour
name, etc).
A last category of English common plant names containing colour names is the one of
such names where we did not find a Romanian common name: frog orchid, pignut,
horseshoe vetch, monkey flower, fly orchid, greater butterfly orchid, common watercrowfoot,
etc.
We also found 56 Romanian common plant names containing an animal name.
Although all had an English counterpart, none of the English equivalents contained an
animal name (e.g. R buretele viperei – death cap; R pita vacii – cep; R băşina calului –
giant puffball; R păstrăv de pădure – peppery milk cap; R pălăria-şarpelui, burete
şerpesc – parasol mushroom; R băşica porcului – puffball; R burete păstrăv – dryad’s
saddle; R spinarea lupului – lady fern; R coada rândunicii – liverwort; R cerga ursului –
bracken; R struţişori – lesser clubmoss; R coada-mâţei-de-baltă – sphagnum moss; R
lemnul câinelui – spindle tree; R porumbel – blackthorn; R coada şoricelului – yarrow; R
ochiul lupului, limba-boului – bugloss; R oiţe – wood anemone; R porumbul şarpelui –
lords and ladies; R iarba limbricilor – milk vetch; R cireaşa lupului – deadly nightshade;
R guşa porumbelului – bladder campion). However two of them contained animal body
parts (R copita calului – hoof fungus; R untul vacii – green winged orchid, lady orchid).
As for the animal names in the Romanian common plant names we analysed, they range
from insects (e.g. iarba limbricilor – the animal name used here is ‘round worm’) to fish
(e.g. limba peştelui the animal name used here is ‘fish’) amphibians (e.g. izma-broaştei –
the animal name used here is ‘frog’), reptiles (e.g. buretele viperei – the animal name
used here is ‘viper’), to birds (e.g. coada rândunicii - the animal name used here is
‘swallow’) and mammals (e.g. ţolul lupului – the animal name used here is ‘wolf’).
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