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wordniko commented on the word isabella
A curious explanation for the name given by Linnaeus (1758) to the cowrie, Cypraea isabella, according to the section "Interesting honorifics" in Doug Yanega's Personal Page (http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html):
Cypraea isabella Linnaeus (snail, "Isabella's cowrie"; Linnaeus named this parchment colored, brown-streaked, cowrie after the color 'Isabella' which in turn was named for the soiled calico of Archduchess Isabella of Austria, who vowed not to change her underwear until her father, Philip II, won the siege of Ostend. The siege lasted 3 years!)
October 9, 2011