celandine

English

Etymology

Middle English celidoine, Old French celidoine, French chélidoine, from Latin chelīdonia, from chelīdonius (“relating to the swallow”), from Ancient Greek χελιδόνιος (khelidónios), χελιδών (khelidṓn). It was traditionally supposed to flower when the swallows appeared, and to perish when they departed.

Noun

celandine (plural celandines)

1. Either of two unrelated flowering plants:
   1. The greater celandine (Chelidonium majus)
   2. The lesser celandine (Ficaria verna, formerly Ranunculus ficaria)
   • 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Collins, 1998, Chapter 11,

     Coming suddenly round a corner into a glade of silver birch trees Edmund saw the ground covered in all directions with little yellow flowers—celandines.

   • 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 26:

     The poor but lovely bird sat there, posing among the celandines and wood anemones, wondering why its wing-tips were frozen together.

Derived terms

• celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)

Translations

greater celandine

• Albanian: latrapec
• Bulgarian: жълтениче n (žǎlteniče), змийско мляко n (zmijsko mljako)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 白屈菜 (zh) (báiqūcài)

• Czech: vlaštovičník větší m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: keltamo (fi)

• German: Schöllkraut (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: χελιδόνιον n (khelidónion)

• Hungarian: vérehulló fecskefű (hu)
• Russian: чистоте́л (ru) m (čistotél)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ро̏сопа̄с m, ру̃са f

  Latin: rȍsopās (sh) m, rȗsa (sh) f

lesser celandine

• Finnish: mukulaleinikki (fi)
• Albanian: buzëmadhe (sq)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀφία f (aphía)

• Hungarian: salátaboglárka (hu)
• Russian: лю́тик весе́нний m (ljútik vesénnij), чистя́к (ru) m (čistják)

Anagrams

• danceline, decennial, line dance, line-dance