Talk:Tropaeolum

Tolkien - "nasturtian"
J R R Tolkien, himself something an expert on the English language (he was after all Oxford's Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, and a very distinguished philologist) asserted that a common anglicization of the name was "nasturtian" rather than "nasturtium". His letter to Katherine Farrer of 7 August 1954 - of which there is a summary at http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Letter_148 - says

''    But nasturtians is deliberate, and represents a final triumph over the high-handed printers. Jarrold’s appear to have a highly educated pedant as a chief proof-reader, and they started correcting my English without even referring to me: elfin for elvin, farther for further, try to say for try and say and so on. I was put to the trouble of proving to him his own ignorance, as well as rebuking his impertinence. So, though I do not much care, I dug my toes in about nasturtians. I have always said this. It seems to be a natural anglicization that started soon after the ‘Indian Cress’ was naturalized (from Peru, I think) in the 18th century; but it remains a minority usage. I prefer it because nasturtium is, as it were, bogusly botanical, and falsely learned. I consulted the college gardener to this effect: ''

‘What do you call these things, gardener?’ ‘I calls them tropaeolum, sir.’ ‘But, when you’re just talking to dons?’ ‘I says nasturtians, sir.’ ‘Not nasturtium?’ ‘No, sir; that’s watercress.’

And that seems to be the fact of botanical nomenclature…" 

I must say I like Tolkien's use of the word "just" in the reported dialogue with the college gardener.Thomas Peardew (talk) 09:04, 4 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Is Tolkien the source for the unreferenced claim in "Species in Cultivation" that nasturtium (is) occasionally anglicized as nasturtian?142.163.194.210 (talk) 23:10, 23 May 2022 (UTC)


 * As it is unreferenced who can say? But the OED has a separate entry for "nasturtian" ("corrupt form of nasturtium") with four examples starting in the early 18th century, so it would be easy to add a reference if it weren't evidently trivial. Thomas Peardew (talk) 05:40, 24 May 2022 (UTC)

red nasturtium
Which one is red nasturtium - is it Tropaeolum tricolor ? Wisdood (talk) 08:35, 18 July 2024 (UTC)