[Spellyans] nut

[nicholas williams]

Padel says that the form *knowen 'nut tree' occurs in Lhuyd, 51c,  
gwedhan knyfan glossing corylus 'an hasel-tree' and 74a, kynyphan  
frenk glossing juglans 'a wall-nut'.

Padel's *knowen is his own reconstructed form, which he derives from  
Lhuyd's knyfan, kynyphan. But Lhuyd is careful not to call knyfan 'nut- 
tree'. Nut tree is gwedhan knyfan, according to Lhuyd.
So we can deduce that:
1. *knowen is not attested as such;
2. it means 'nut/hazel-nut', not 'nut tree'.

Since the hazel (Corylus avellana) was the only indigenous  nut-tree  
in Britain and Ireland, 'nut' = hazel.
Juglans (walnut) is common in SE Europe (indeed I recently dined
in an outdoor restaurant in Budapest under two walnut trees) but is  
not native further north.

Nicholas


On 26 Du 2009, at 18:05, Craig Weatherhill wrote:

> That's where it is according to Padel CPNE.

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