Taurus 3: Steps up to a lawn blooming with clover

The means word p os t , step stem; descends to from the

I n d o - E u r o p e a n ( IE ) r o o t st e bh - w h i c h s u p p o rt , place f i r m l y o n , f a s t e n . I t s p a r o n y m s i n cl u d e s t a m p , s t a mp e d e , st o o p , a n d s t u mp . 1 The which include word means land, lawn op e n is one land. of several descending from the I E r o o t l e nd h - 2 P a r on y m s and i sl a n d ,

landscape,

hinterland.2 T h e w o r d b l o o m i s d e r i ve d f r o m b h e l - 3 , t o t h r i v e , b l o o m . I t s p a r o n y m s i n c l u d e b l a d e , b l e e d , bl e s s , b l o o d , bl o w , c a u l if l o w e r , f e r r e t ( a n a r r o w p i e c e o f t a p e u s e d t o b in d o r e d g e f a br i c ) , fl o r a , fl o r i s t , f l o w e r , f l o u r , f l o u r i s h , f o l io , a n d f o l i a ge . 3 T h e w o r d c l o v e r d e s c e n d s f r o m t h e O l d E n g l i s h c l a fr e . A s a n o u n i t r e f e r s t o a n y o f t h e v a r i o us h e rb s o f t h e g e n u s T r i fo l iu m i n t h e p e a f a m i l y h a v i n g t ri f o l i a t e l e a v e s a n d d e n s e s ma l l h e a d s o f s m a l l f l o w e rs a n d i n c l u d i n g s p e ci e s g r o w n f o r f o r a g e , e r o si o n c o n t r o l, a n d a s a s o u r ce o f n e c t a r f o r h o n e y b e e s . T he i d i om a t i c e xp r e s si o n i n c l o v e r m e a n s l i v i n g a c a r e f re e li f e o f e a s e , c o m f o r t , a n d p r o s p e r i t y. 4 THEMES: One theme that unites these four keywords is the idea of F L O R A o r p l a n t s . On e o f t h e p a r on y m s o f s t e p i s t h e w o rd s t u m p w h i c h i s p a rt o f a t r e e t r un k l e f t p r o t r u d i n g f r o m t h e g r o u n d a f t e r t h e t r e e h a s f a l l e n o r h a s b e e n f e l l e d . 5 T h e w o r d l a w n r e f e r s t o a p l o t o f g r a s s, u s u a l l y t e n d e d o r m o w e d . 6 P a r o n y m s o f b l o o m (t h e f l ow e r o f a p l a n t )

1 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 14 0 2 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 48 3 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, pp. 9 -10 4 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/clover 5 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/stump 6 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/lawn Starling Hunter 2011 1

i n c l u d e f l o r a , f l o w e r , a n d fo l ia g e . F i n a l l y t h e r e i s c l o v e r w h i c h i s n o t o n l y a p la n t , b u t on e b e l o n g i n g t o t he g e n u s Tr i f o l i u m (t h r e e - f l o w e r ) a n d t h u s r e l a t e d t o bl oo m .

Starling Hunter 2011