PŁAT LÉCTON* / cat’s-ear

“płat lécton“, pronounced [pʎä(t) lɛktɔ̃ʊ̯] 🔊, lit. “flat dandelion”, or simply just “lécton“, is one of the Old Norman names for dandelion-like yellow flowering weeds, such as “cat’s-ear” (Hypochaeris radicata), also known as “flatweed” or “false dandelion”, a very common plant in Sark, and “smooth cat’s-ear” (Hypochaeris glabra), and possibly even “common dandelions” (Taraxacum officinale), which together with much taller sowthistles, known in local English as “milk thistles”, “léctôn á lét“, form a group of similarly flowering plants, we may call simply “léctôn” and which are all edible and make great fodder. Although the term is still used in Guernsey Norman for “cat’s-ear” etc., it is unclear whether in Sarkese it used to be used also as a proper name or a just simple description, similarly as with “jòne violéte“. For that reason, the term is treated as introduced.

origin: Gallo-Romance / first recorded for Sarkese: 2023* (introduced) / current status in the 21st century: introduced

“płat lécton” is a compound name, consisting of “lécton“, a masculine countable variable noun (a he-word that changes in plural and may be counted) and the adjective “płat“. As both constituent words are flective, the name changes in plural to “płâ léctôn”. Both in singular and plural, the pronuniciation is regular.

The Sarkese name corresponds directly to its equivalent in Guernsey Norman, “pllat laitron”. To learn more on the history and etymology of the word “lécton”, see the SNDO entry “lécton“.

(MN)

Citation: NEUDÖRFL, Martin. płat lécton/cat’s-ear. In: Sark Norman Dictionary Online [on-line]. https://www.bonjhur.net/sndo-vocab-flora-lecton-plat

Relevant SNDO Entries:

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