On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

Cantharellus infundibuliformis: this mushroom is a wonderful and often
overlooked edible, every bit as good as its cousin, Cantharellus
cibarius, the "true" chanterelle.

Hmmm! So which *is* the true chanterelle. You're right in that there is
confusion!

Well, 'chanterelle' is a French word meaning a decoy bird,

It is also the highest string on any one of the violin family!

but Heaven
knows how it became applied to C. infundibuliformis,

Well, I've looked it up in Petit Larousse.

The meaning of chanterelle as a decoy bird and the highest string of a
stringed instrument comes from chanter (to sing) which comes from the
Latin cantare. It was supposed to suggest the noise that a bird might
make in the case of the decoy.

The mushroom meaning of chanterelle comes from the Latin "cantharus"
which came from the Greek "cantharos". The cantharus was a two-handled
drinking cup. So cantharellus infundibuliformis means "a little
horn-shaped drinking cup"!

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK