When:
Lookups spiked on February 4, 2013.
Why:
The skeleton of King Richard III was discovered under a parking lot in England.
This man in the news – often described in media reports as "the last Plantagenet king" – died in 1485.
Plantagenet means "of or relating to a royal house ruling England from 1154 to 1485." The kings of England did not use surnames, but Plantagenet may have originated as a nickname for the French-born founder of the line, who planted shrubs to hide behind when hunting. The Latin name of the shrub was genista, and "plante-geneste" (roughly "shrub planter," in French) became the founder's nickname.
Plantagenet was later adopted as a family name.
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
