use to admit that
this last is a far more obvious and probable explanation of the word
than the pretty poetical thought conveyed in Day's-eye." This was Dr.
Prior's opinion in his first edition of his valuable "Popular Names of
British Plants;" but it is withdrawn in his second edition, and he now
is content with the Day's-eye derivation. Dr. Prior has kindly informed
me that he rejected it because he can find no old authority for
Skinner's derivation, and because it is doubtful whether the Daisy in
Gavin Douglas's line does not mean a Marigold, and not what we call a
Daisy. The derivation, however, seemed worth a passing notice. Its other
English names are Dog Daisy, to distinguish it from the large Ox-eyed
Daisy; Banwort, "because it helpeth bones[362:1] to knit agayne"
(Turner); Bruisewort, for the same reason; Herb Margaret, from its
French name; and in the North, Bairnwort, from its associations with
childhood. As to its other names, the plant seems to have been unknown
to the Greeks, and has no Greek name, but is fortunate in having as
pretty a name in Latin as it has in English. Its modern botanical name
is Bellis, and it has had the name from the time of Pliny. Bellis must
certainly come from _bellus_ (pretty), and so it is at once stamped as
the pretty one even by botanists--though another derivation has been
given to the name, of which I will speak soon. The French call it
Marguerite, no doubt for its pearly look, or Pasquerette, to mark it as
the spring flower; the German name for it is very different, and not
easy to explain--Gaenseblume, _i.e._, Goose-flower; the Danish name is
Tusinfryd (thousand joys); and the Welsh, Sensigl (trembling star).

As Pliny is the first that mentions the plant, his account is worth
quoting. "As touching a Daisy," he says (I quote from Holland's
translation, 1601), "a yellow cup it hath also, and the same is crowned,
as it were, with a garland, consisting of five and fifty little leaves,
set round about it in manner of fine pales. These be flowers of the
meadow, and most of such are of no use at all, no marvile, therefore, if
they be namelesse; howbeit, some give them one tearme and some another"
(book xxi. cap. 8). And again, "There is a hearbe growing commonly in
medows, called the Daisie, with a white floure, and partly inclining to
red, which, if it is joined with Mugwort in an ointment, is thought to
make the medicine farre more effectual for the King's evil" (book xxvi.
c