When the “Löwenmaul” meets the “Hündchen” – an intercultural comparison of colloquial plant names

Abstract

This article addresses popular plant names. It raises the question as to whether these colloquial or vernacular names are considered names at all, and what potential these colloquial plant names have. Moreover, it addresses the question which aspects and insights might be of interest to people who operate in multilingual contexts (e.g., in school learning groups). The discussion presented here aims to bring a subject into the focus of scientific attention that is mostly ignored in onomastics research due to terminological disputes, yet very relevant to everyday life.