waybread, waybred
(ˈweɪbrɛd)
Forms: α. 1 weᵹbrádae, -brǽde, (2 weibreode, 3 wei-, 5 weybrode), 4–6 weybrede (6 -bred), 5–6 waybrede, 6–7 waybreed, 6, 9 waybread, (7 whaybred, 8 way-broad), 5– waybred (6 wabred, 6, 9 wabret, 9 waybret, wabert). β. 7 wayburne, 9 -burn; 7 waburne, 9 wabran, -bron, waveren.
[Com. WGer.: OE. weᵹbráde, weᵹbrǽde wk. fem., corresponds to OS. wegabreda, wegbrede (MLG., M.Du. wegebrede, Du. weegbree; WFris. weibré), OHG. wegabreita fem. (MHG. wegebreite, mod.G. wegebreite, wegbreite fem., weg(e)breit masc.); Da. has vejbred from LG. The word means ‘broad-leaved plant growing beside the ways’; f. way n.1 (the early continental forms have genit. pl.) + OTeut. type *braiđjōn- broad object (cf. OHG. wintbreita ‘ventilabrum’, breite flat cake). In the β-forms, occurring only with -leaf, the d of the stem has disappeared before the -n of the OE. genitive sing. in weᵹbrǽdan léaf (Leechd. I. 84, 86).]
= plantain1 1. Also water waybread = water plantain: see plantain1 2.
| c 700 Epinal Gloss. 65 Arniglosa,..uueᵹbradae. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 292 Ᵹenim..þa ruwan weᵹbrædan [etc.]. 11.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 544/38 Plantago, weibreode. c 1265 Voc. Plants ibid. 558/22 Weibrode. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxix. (1495) 687 Weybrede chewed easyth and clensyth swellynge gomes. c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 14 Arnoglossa,..plantago maior idem... Anglice weybrode. c 1500 Gloss. 69 in Makculloch MS. (S.T.S.) 28 Hec plantago, a wabred. 1538 Turner Libellus, Alisma dioscoridæ,..water plantane or water waybrede. 1562 ― Herbal ii. 94 There ar two kyndes of plantayn or Waybrede, the lesse and the greater. 1601 Holland Pliny xxv. viii. II. 223 Themison..set forth a whole booke of the hearbe Waibread or Plantain, wherein he highly praiseth it. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden lxxvi, The generall English name is Plantaine; but that which the Greeks call Eptaneuron, we call Way-bred, because it commonly breeds by the wayside. 1705 tr. Cowley's Plants Wks. (1711) III. 303 Next Waybred rose..Her Nature is astringent, which great Hate Of her among Blood-letters does create. 1861 Mrs. Lankester Wild Flowers 109 The common name of Plantago Major is undoubtedly Way-bred (not Way-bread, as it is usually spelt), from its frequency by the way-side, seeming as if bred on the road. 1866 Treas. Bot., Waybread. |
b. Comb.:
waybread-leaf (also
Sc. wayburn-leaf), sometimes used as the name of the plant.
| α 1599 T. Cutwode Caltha Poet. (Roxb.) cxvii, And with a Wabret leafe he made a wallet. 1614 G. Markham Cheap & Gd. Husb. Table hard words, Plantayne..is called Whay⁓bred leafe. 1803 Leyden Scenes of Infancy i. 101 The wabret leaf, that by the pathway grew. |
| β 1609 in T. Craig-Brown Hist. Selkirksh. (1886) I. 180 Being demandit if she gave drinks, she answered she gave nane bot off Waburne leavis for the hart-axes. 1623 Sel. Rec. Presbyt. Lanark (Abbotsford Club) 1 She appoyntit thame the wayburne leaf to be eattin nyne morningis. 1808 Jamieson, Wabran leaves, Great Plantain or Waybread. 1820 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 202, I thought the grey whin was gaun frae below me—it shook like a wabron-leaf. 1831 W. Patrick Plants Lanark. 94 Greater Plantain... The leaves (vulgarly called the Wayburn-leaf) are spread on the ground. 1914 J. S. Angus Shetland Gloss. 154 Waveren leaf, plantain (Plantago major). |