ANGLO-SAXON PLANT-NAME SURVEY
(ASPNS)
Thirteenth Annual Report, for 2011
ASPNS is pleased to announce that we have a new advisor, Mag. Helmut
W. Klug of the Institut für Anglistik and the Institut für Germanistik of
the Karl-Franzens University in Graz, Austria. Helmut’s research is in the
field of German mediaeval studies, especially plants, and also food
history. In addition, he is involved in computer studies centred on online
data presentation, online collaboration and the work environment, and
media didactics. He is an important member of the team which has
produced the Dictionary of Old English Plant-Names (http://oldenglishplantnames.uni-graz.at/) and he is the main researcher for the Medieval
Plant Survey (http://mps.uni-graz.at/mps-daten) both of which have
English-language versions.
ASPNS was consulted last year by the Dictionary of Old English, the
Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, the BBC (researching
a new series on agricultural history), and by a botanist researching the use
of saffron. In addition, ASPNS was asked to comment on a paper,
concerning Anglo-Saxon horticulture, which had been submitted for
publication.
Carole Biggam gave a talk to the Philological Society on 18th June at a
symposium entitled ‘Historical Semantics, Etymology and
Lexicography’, held to mark the publication of the Historical Thesaurus
of the Oxford English Dictionary. Her talk was entitled ‘Doubtful AngloSaxon dandelions: a conceptual approach’.
Thanks are due to English Language, School of Critical Studies,
University of Glasgow, U.K., for hosting and supporting ASPNS.
Dr C. P. Biggam, Director of ASPNS
15th January 2012
Plant-Related Publications by ASPNS Members
Bierbaumer, Peter, ‘Research into Old English Plant Names: 1969-2009’, More than
Words: English Lexicography and Lexicology Past and Present: Essays Presented to
Hans Sauer on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, Part I, edited by Renate Bauer and
Ulrike Krischke, 103-22. Münchener Universitätsschriften 36. Frankfurt am Main:
Peter Lang, 2011.
Biggam, C. P., ‘Anglo-Saxon Plant-Name Survey (ASPNS): Twelfth Annual Report
for 2010’, Old English Newsletter Online 42.3 (2011).
Breeze, Andrew, ‘Worcester’s Roman Name, Buildwas, and Uricon’, Housman
Society Journal 37 (2011), 169-81. [The place-name Buildwas is interpreted as ‘cowpasture marsh’, with a Brittonic first element. See Coates below for a different
suggestion].
Coates, Richard, ‘The First Element of Buildwas, Shropshire’, Journal of the English
Place-Name Society 42 (2010), 75-8. [The place-name Buildwas is interpreted as
‘ominous (i.e. bearing an omen) floodland’ or ‘wonderful (i.e. producing wonder)
floodland’. See Breeze above for a different suggestion].
Sauer, Hans, ‘Patterns of Loan-Influence on the Medieval English Plant Names, with
Special Reference to the Influence of Greek’, Foreign Influences on Medieval
English, edited by Jacek Fisiak and Magdalena Bator, 55-76. Studies in English
Medieval Language and Literature 28. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2011.