_Erroneous Forms of Speech_ (Vol. vii., pp. 329. 632.).--With regard to
your two correspondents E. G. R. and M., I hold that, with Cowper's
disputants, "both are right and both are wrong."
The name of the _field_ beet is, in the language of the unlearned,
_mangel-wurzel_, "the root of poverty." It acquired that name from having
been used as food by the poor in Germany during a time of great famine.
Turning to Buchanan's _Technological Dictionary_, I find,--
"_Mangel-wurzel._ Field beet; a variety between the red and white. It
has as yet been only partially cultivated in Britain."
In reference to the assertion of your later correspondent, that "such a
thing as mangel-wurzel is not known on the Continent," I would ask if
either he or his friends are familiar with half the beautiful and
significant terms applied to English flowers and herbs? If he prefer using
mangold for beet, he is quite at liberty to do so, and I believe on
sufficiently good authority. What says Noehden, always a leading authority
in German:
"_Mangold._ Red beet; name of some other plants, such as lungwort and
sorrel."
Mangold is here, then, a generic term, standing for other plants equally
with the beet. One suggestion, however; I would recommend the generic term,
when used at all, to be used alone, leaving the more familiar appellation
as it stands, for the adoption of those who prefer the homely but
suggestive phraseology to which it belongs.