英语词汇dogwood tree的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

dogwood tree. This common tree has a mysterious name. John C. Loudon wrote in The Hardy Trees and Shrubs of Britain (1838) that the beautiful tree “is called Dogwood because a de- coction of its leaves was used to wash dogs, to free them from vermin.” This may be true, but no evidence has been found to support the theory. The popular ornamental (Cornus florida) was in early times called the “dogger tree,” the “dogge berie tree,” the “hounder tree” and the “hounde berie tree” as well as the dogwood, so it surely has some connection with dogs. An- other possibility is that it was named the “dogberry tree” be- cause its dark-purple berries resembled the berries of another, unknown tree that was used as a medicine for dogs, and that dogberry became dogwood in time. No link between the tree’s wood and dogs has been found; we only know that in the past its wood was used to make toothpicks and that its crushed bark was thrown into the water to intoxicate fish and make them easy to catch by hand. John Ciardi proposes in A Second Brows- er’s Dictionary (1983) that “Dog is a simple corruption of OE dagge, spit, skewer, because the wood of the European dog- wood, being hard and smooth-grained, was commonly used for spitting meat.” See cornelian cherry.

词汇	dogwood tree
词源	dogwood tree. This common tree has a mysterious name. John C. Loudon wrote in The Hardy Trees and Shrubs of Britain (1838) that the beautiful tree “is called Dogwood because a de- coction of its leaves was used to wash dogs, to free them from vermin.” This may be true, but no evidence has been found to support the theory. The popular ornamental (Cornus florida) was in early times called the “dogger tree,” the “dogge berie tree,” the “hounder tree” and the “hounde berie tree” as well as the dogwood, so it surely has some connection with dogs. An- other possibility is that it was named the “dogberry tree” be- cause its dark-purple berries resembled the berries of another, unknown tree that was used as a medicine for dogs, and that dogberry became dogwood in time. No link between the tree’s wood and dogs has been found; we only know that in the past its wood was used to make toothpicks and that its crushed bark was thrown into the water to intoxicate fish and make them easy to catch by hand. John Ciardi proposes in A Second Brows- er’s Dictionary (1983) that “Dog is a simple corruption of OE dagge, spit, skewer, because the wood of the European dog- wood, being hard and smooth-grained, was commonly used for spitting meat.” See cornelian cherry.
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