320 SEER, 82, 2, 2004 names for the Pleiades. Section two gives us two papers listing Russian words from Englishsourcesfollowed by a paper on Iranianflowernames in Russian. Then there are fourpaperslabelled East Slav:the New Testament and Psalter of I652 which is in Belorusian Church Slavonic, followed by the lexical analysisof this same text that had been firstpublished in Jev'je in I6Ii . The thirdof this group is the storyof Alexander (theGreat)writtenat the very end of the seventeenth century by one Mianzyfiski,in a language which Leeming described as 'basically East Slavonic, in many respects sharing common features with Russian and to a greater extent with Ukrainian, but in some particularsreflectinghis Belorussianbackground' (p. 222).The fourth of this East Slav section shows the struggles of Dilecki, a Polish music teacher, to inculcate the Western system. The papers of the third section are under the heading Polish though an unusual one is a short reminder about marsupials. The final section is classed as Slovene on the basis of nine pages of discussion of some of the Freisingmanuscripts.In fact three of the papers deal with the writingsof the Czech, Komensky. That means that only the BalkanSlavs are missing. This volume is a storehouse of unusual Slavonic matters philological. It is for dipping into and as such would have been much enhanced by an index. But the scholarlywork that is contained within its pages is impressiveand the editors and publishersof the PolishAcademy deserve high praise. They have done HarryLeeming proud. Leamington Spa VERONICA Du FEU Cooper, Brian. Of Cabbages - andKings.Lexicological andEtymological Studies on RussianPlantNomenclature. Astra Press, Nottingham, 2003. Xi+ 220 pp. Notes. Bibliography.?20.00 (paperback). THE intriguing double title that links 'cabbages and kings' with lexicology, etymology and plant nomenclaturepoints to not too heavy a read forthe nonbotanical . The authorrangesnot only over Russian, standardand dialect, but beyond the Slavs, anywhere that might reveal a Slavonic plant connection. The Contents lists twelve chapters, not counting the introduction devoted to cabbages and kings. It is set out as a double column giving the names of the species, the total number of which is stated as 202. But by no means all the items are there.All this is disconcerting.A simpleline by line 'contents'would have made the reader'staskmuch easier.The authorisproposingto deal with twelve botanical species, mostly edible, if only by pigs (p. 170). They are: i. the cruciferous (mostly root vegetables); 2. Phytonyms for AlliumSpecies (garlic); 3. Cucurbitaceous (gourds); 4. Figs; 5. Strawberry; 6. Vaccinium (bilberriesetc.); 7. Brambles(many and various);8. Plums (only seven types); 9. Stone fruits; io. Hazel (and other nuts); ii. Elm; 12. Cereals including rye and wheat. A simple example is chapter five (pp. 75-83): 'Strawberry Nomenclature', has five forms (the numbers refer to the 'contents': 75 zemljanika vs. klubnika(76 blank); 77 zemzjanika. synonyms; 78 zemljanika. synonyms; (79 blank); 8o klubnika. origen; 8i klubnika: synonyms. The reader has to guess what the missing forms are. Rather difficult!From the linguistic REVIEWS 321 point ofview the names of plantsare an untidycollection. Even within a single 'species', there are often words that are etymologically totally unrelated, generally the result of borrowing. What counts is the physical qualitiesbeing referred to, such as shape, size, colour, taste, habitat. The only linguistic operations are suffixation,prefixation, and 'variation'(sometimes debatable) of the stem or suffiix. There is also borrowing if that can be considered an 'operation'. But above all there is etymology wherejust the study of a single word can conjureup a dense page of history.Forinstance the much discussed frequency of the suffix -ica for the bilberry type in Russian is attributed to influence from the Finnishsuffix-ikka(pp. 88-89). This volume is an interestingcompilation and an index would make it more useful. It is to be regretted that the publisher and the author allowed it to appearin an unfinishedstate. Leamington Spa VERONICA Du FEU Warner,Elizabeth.Russian Myths.The LegendaryPast.BritishMuseum Press, London, 2002. 8o pp. Map. Illustrations.Furtherreading. Index. ?8.99 (paperback). A slim paperback, RussianMythsis one of a series of accessible guides by expertsin theirfield.Itsauthor,the highlyrespectedBritishfolkloristElizabeth Warner,is eminentlywell qualifiedto write thisparticularvolume. In tackling the subjectshe faced a problem...