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Injurious weeds
There is a common misleading statement that ragwort is an "injurious weed" so it is dangerous.
The confusion here comes from the use of some rather peculiar terminology in the Weeds Act 1959.
It used the word “Injurious” to describe a range of weeds only one of which is actually poisonous. There is confusion in many people's minds with the word “Injury”.
To understand this you have to understand the origin of the word.
It actually comes from the Latin word “iniurius” which in medieval
Latin would have been spelled “injurius” . It means unjust or wrongful. From this it was extended to something
that did injustice or wrong to something else, or that did harm to an interest.
Injury is another derivation which comes from the same basic word.
It originally meant a wrong done to someone and the meaning of "wound" is a secondary derivation.
Injurious weeds are weeds that are considered bad for the interests of agriculture. It doesn't mean poisonous or that
they injure something.
The accepted best source for the meaning of English words is The Oxford English Dictionary and this is
what it says for Injurious:-
1. Wrongful; hurtful or prejudicial to the rights of another; wilfully inflicting injury or wrong.
2. Wilfully hurtful or offensive in language; contumelious, insulting; calumnious.
(Now only of words or speech, and passing into sense 3.)
3. Tending to hurt or damage; hurtful, harmful, detrimental, deleterious.
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