A curious corruption of the French primeverole, Italian primeverola, compounds of the Latin prima vera (first spring flower). Chaucer calls the word primirole, which is a contraction of the Italian primeʹrola. The flower is no rose at all.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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