herb Robert
[ad. med.L. herba Roberti.
The name has been variously supposed to refer to Robert Duke of Normandy, to St. Robert, and to St. Rupert.]
The English name for a common wild species of Crane's-bill or Geranium (G. Robertianum), with divided leaves and light reddish purple flowers.
c 1265 Voc. Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 558/6 Herba Roberti, herbe Robert, chareuille. 1483 Cath. Angl. 183/2 Herbe Robert, herba Roberti. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 136. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxxii. 47 The fourth kinde [of Geranium] is called..in English Herbe Robert. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 311 Herbe Robert..stauncheth bloud of greene wounds brused and applyed. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 77 Drink Decoction of Herb Robert. 1826 K. Digby Broadst. Hon. (1846) II. 364 The herb Robert blooms about the 29th of April, the day of St. Robert founder of the Carthusians. |