Wolf’s-bane

The Germans call all poisonous herbs “banes,” and the Greeks, mistaking the word for “beans,” translated it by kŭʹamoî, as they did “hen-bane” (huos kuʹamos). Wolf’s-bane is an aconite with a pale yellow flower, called therefore the white-bane to distinguish it from the blue aconite. White-bean would be in Greek lcukos kuamos, which was corrupted into lukos kuamos (wolf-bean); but botanists, seeing the absurdity of calling aconite a “bean,” restored the original German word “bane,” but retained the corrupt word lukos (wolf), and hence the ridiculous term “wolf’s-bane.” (H. Fox Talbot.)