Note E245 — 43.

"Gilliflower, formerly spelt gyllofer and gilofre with the o long, from Fr. giroflée, ltal. garofalo, in Douglas's Virgil jereflouris, words formed from M. Lat. garoffolum, gariofilum, or, as in Albert Magn. (lib. vi. cap. 22), gariofilus, corrupted from Lat. caryophyllum = a clove, and referring to the spicy odour of the flower, which seems to have been used in flavouring wines to replace the more costly clove of India. The name was originally given in India to plants of the Pink tribe, especially the carnation, but has in England been transferred of late years to several Cruciferous plants. That of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakspere was, as in Italy, Dianthus caryophyllus, Linn., that of later writers and gardeners Matthiola and Cheiranthus, Linn. Much of the confusion in the names of plants has arisen from the vague use of the French terms Giroflée, Oeillet, and Violette, which were, all three of them, applied to flowers of the Pink tribe, but subsequently extended, and finally restricted in English to very different plants. Giroflée has become Gilliflower, and passed over to the Cruciferæ, Oeillet has been restricted to the Sweet Williams, and Violette has been appropriated to one of the numerous claimants of its name, the genus to which the pansy belongs."—Dr. R. A. Prior.