Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

of the thunderbolt 775

Friend Flowers and Flower Lore London 1883 i. 72 f., 164 ff., 343 collect the names of
flowers associated in the Germanic area with thunder or thunder-gods : e.g. in Germany
the orpine is Donnerkraut, the ground-ivy Donnerrebe, the stonecrop or houseleek
Donnerbart (cp. English Jo-barbe, Jubard, Jupiter's Beard (J. Britten—R. Holland
A Dictionary of English Plant-names London 1879 2^o, 28r, 282), French Joubarbe
(P. Sebillot Le Folk-lore de France Paris 1906 iii. 472, 495, 507)), the fumitory Donner-
fug, the field eryngo Donnerdistel, and a tangled vegetable growth Donnerbesen (supra
p. 642 f.); in Denmark the burdock is tordenskreppe; in Norway the aconite is Thor-hat
and Thor-hjalm ; on Dartmoor the Potentilla Tormentilla, a plant used as a febrifuge,
was Thor-ma?itel (a corruption oltormentil); in Somerset the ox-eye daisy is dun-daisy or
thunder-daisy. P. Sebillot op. cit. iii. 472 adds French parallels : in the Walloon district
the wild poppy is called fleur du toni (at Liege), fleur di tonir, tonir, tonoire and placed
in the timbers of the roof, while on the festival of the Assumption (Aug. 15) bunches of
St-John's-wort called Djen fleur du tonir are blest and sprigs of it thrown on the fire to
keep off lightning ; in Beam a plant with a yellow flower named periglade, 'lightning,' is
treated in the same way ; etc.

The reason for such names is sometimes obscure, but often turns on a fancied resem-
blance in colour, sound, shape, etc. H. Friend op. cit. i. 72 says : ' The Thistle again was
sacred to Thor, its blossom being supposed to receive its bright colour from the lightning,
from which it consequently protected the person or building placed under its guardian-
ship.' J. Britten—R. Holland A Dictionary of English Plant-namesLondon 1884 iii. 46s
note that Silene infata is called Thunderbolts at Higham in Kent, 'where the children
snap the calyxes, which explode with a slight report.' Eid. ib. adopt a similar explanation
of the fact that in west Cumberland the Stellaria Holostea is known as the Thunner-
flotver. Eid. op. cit. 1879 ''• 3°5 • 1^>fl/sos'' HAaas...'1 About Wooler [in Northumber-
land] it was wont to be called the Thunder-flower or lightnings ; and children were afraid
to pluck the flower, for if, perchance, the petals fell off in the act, the gatherer became
more liable to be struck with lightning ; nor was the risk small, for the deciduousness of
the petals is almost proverbial." Bot. E. Bord., p. 31.'

Various plants were named after Zeus or Iupiter. Aids au8os = some sort of pink, perhaps
Dianthus inodorus, 'carnation' (Theophr. hist. pi. 6. r. 1, 6. 6. 2, 6. 6. ir, 6. 8. 3 and
ap. Athen. 680 e, Nik. ap. Athen. 684 e, Hesych. and Souid. s.v., Plin. nat. hist. 21. 59
and 67 Iovis flos). Atos (SaXavos usually = Castanea vesca, 'chestnut' (Theophr. hist,
pi. 1. 12. 1, 3. 3. 1, 3. 3. 8, 3. 10. 1, Dioskor. 1. 145 p. 137 Sprengel : see also
Hermippos <popp.o<popoi frag. 1. 20 (Frag. com. Gr. ii. 407 ff. Xleineke) ap. Athen. 28 a as
glossed by Hesych. s.v., Athen. 53 d, Mnesitheos ap. Athen. 54 c), though the Latin
equivalent, iuglans for Iovis glans, means 'walnut' (Varr. de ling. Lat. 5. 102, Plin. nat.
hist. 15. 86—91, Macrob. Sat. 3. 18. 2 ff., alib.); but the Greek name was sometimes given
to a Pontic variety of nut (Hermonax and Timachidas ap. Athen. 53 b—c, cp. Hesych.
loc. cit.), or applied to nuts in general (Zonar. lex. s.v. j3a\dvovs AioV rd k&pva • tov
^eXXou- Aios fiaXdvovs \iyovcri ra K&pva oi wXeiovs, cp. Serv. in Verg. eel. 8. 30 nam nuces
in tutela sunt Iovis ; unde et iuglandes vocantur, quasi Iovis glandes). Aids ^Xa/cdT?; = ver-
vain (supra p. 397 n. o : but English Jupiter's Distaff'is yellow wild clary, and Jupiter's
Staff is great mullein (J. Britten—R. Holland op. cit. ii. 282, II. Friend op. cit. i. 164)).
Aids 6(ppva~ Chrysanthemum coronarium, ' ox-eye' (anon, carmen Graecuvi de herbis 132,
an Ionic poem of s. iii a.d. printed in F. S. Lehrs' ed. of Oppian and Nikandros Parisiis
1846 p. 172, equates it with fiov(pdo.Xp.ov and stresses its virtues as a prophylactic etc.).
Awairvpov = Diospyros Lotus, a species of cherry (Theophr. hist. pi. 3. 13. 3, Galen de
alimentorum facidtatibus 2. 38 (vi. 621 Kiihn)). Iovis barba = Anthyllis Barba-Jovis, the
silver-bush, commonly called 'Jupiter's beard' (Plin. nat. hist. 16. 76). Iovisflamma^z.
flower with red stalks (Plin. nat. hist. 27. 44). See further J. Murr Die Pflanzenwelt in
dergriechischen Mythologie Innsbruck 1890 p. 268 f. (' Heilige Blumen des Zeus') and F.
Olck in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 1082 f., M. C. P. Schmidt ib. v. 1144.

Note also Kepa.vviov — Tuber aestivum, 'thunder-truffle' (Theophr. hist. pi. 1. 6. 5,
where nepavviov is F. Wimmer's correction of Kpdviov codd. The word is quoted by