Note E239 — 43.
Reading edition
"Daffadowndilly, Daffodilly, Affodilly, and Daffodil, Lat. asphodelus, from which was formed Affodilly, the name of it in all the older writers, but subsequently confused with that of another flower, the so-called sapharoun or saffron lily:
'The thyrde lylye ȝyt there ys, That ys called felde lylye, y wys, Hys levys be lyke to sapharoun, Men know yt therby many one.' —MS. Sloane, 1571.
With the taste for alliteration that is shown in popular names, the Sapharoun-lily, upon blending with affodilly, became, by a sort of mutual compromise, daffadowndilly, whence our daffodilly and daffodil."—Dr. R. A. Prior, Popular Names of British Plants. "Strew me the ground with daffadowndillies."—Spenser, Shep. Cal. 140.