Our German poet, Wolfgang Schriefer was still incapacitated in April with his broken toe, but I have it on good authority that he will attend in June, following his holiday in May in Normandy. Gute Besserung und gute Erholung, Wolfgang! The historians amongst you will know that the area of France how known as Normandy, to the south west of Pas de Calais, and famous for its cider apples, was once colonised and settled by the Vikings, the Norsemen, who came from the north, i.e. Scandinavia. Like good immigrants anywhere, these Vikings assimilated into French society and mastered the French language very well. So well, in fact, that when the Norman king William the Conqueror became the last successful invader of England in 1066, after defeating another Viking-origin king, King Harold, he managed to change the English language in a much greater way than the earlier English Vikings had ever managed. However, they had already experienced nearly two centuries of settling in England. Following the conquest by William and the French-speaking Normans, English changed fundamentally, and French now became the language of the English royal court. I attended school in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, a small market town in central England, which had previously been an Anglo-Saxon settlement well known for its ash trees, and the -by suffix notes that it became an English Viking settlement. The later addition of "de-la-Zouch" denotes that the la Zouch family were present during the battles for William's conquest of England and, like so many others, was richly rewarded with English lands for their efforts.
The changes to the English language were so fundamental that they are still evident today, almost a thousand years later. The language of the farmers altered little for the animals that they raised for food and even Germans today would instantly recognise these words: swine, ox, cow/calf, sheep: Schwein, Ochsen, Kuh/Kalb & Schaf & deer but as soon as the meat from these animals arrived from the Anglo-Saxon farms onto the dinner tables of the ruling French-speaking Norman ruling classes, they became; beef/veal, pork and mutton, and venison, words instantly recognisable by any modern French restaurant frequenter as boeuf, porc et mouton, et venaison. This linguistic concept was first popularised by the British lawyer, poet and novelist, Sir Walter Scott, in his 1819 novel "Ivanhoe".
So perhaps when you are recuperating in Normandy, Wolfgang, you could do some undercover checking on when the French, and particularly the Norman French, decided to change the name of a certain topical plant from "dents-de-lion" to "piss-en-lit"? This is what this plant literally makes you do if consumed: it is a diuretic, due to the milky juice contained in the stalk of the flower. The English word dandelion only came about because the English could not correctly pronounce "dents de lion" and so it was Anglicised as "dandelion". In German, it is "Löwenzahn", which is the same as the French, the teeth of the lion, named after the shape of its green leaves. In Dutch, it is called "paardebloem", because horses like to eat the flowers. In Italian, it is "dente di leone". In Swedish it is "maskros"which literally means "worm rose" and the other Scandinavian languages are equally inventive: in Norweigan it's "løvetann" (leaf tooth), Finnish "voikukka" butter flower and Danish "mælkebøtte" (milk tub). So many words for such a simple flower!
DAN D LION
The brilliant yellow tempest
of his lawn
A veritable crescendo of
April sunshine
Canned solar colour and power
Languishing at ground zero
The bane of neighbouring
gardeners
Proclaiming the, for them
irresistible, yet for others malaligned,
benefits of botanical ethnic
cleansing
Slightly bitter young leaves
Enhancing green spring salads
of rucola
Older leaves prepared for the
chomping of ever-hungry
Neighbourhood pet rabbits
The yellow flowers harvested
and blanched
And fermented for dandelion
wine
Down below the sod
The roots entwine
Preparing to offer a roast
coffee-ersatz
In times of need
'tis not rocket science
and indeed in times of need
after excessive greed and
climate trashing
a most welcome kind of common
weed
The humble dandelion once
more shines forth
Resplendent and ever
resilient resisting
Eradicate, Ex(s)tincticate,
Exterminate,
Not even Daleks could do it.
Vitamin A and Dan D Lion
An army of a million marching
Greens
with fluffy white Afro-haircuts
and a serious balding problem
A timepiece of bronchial
precision
almost a weed
the butt of much derision
Ubiquitous beautifier
malaligned diuretic pacifier
if roots be freedom
if words were reason
God bless your season
simple flower power
Tower over grassy lees
and spread your shoots with
glee
for oft you may confront one
less benign than me
Your happy yellow face
has graced so many dark
spring hours
Woe be the tide indeed
should they
not deem
thee flower
John Harrison
(Upon hearing that the only difference between a flower and a weed is a judgment)
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