According to Richard Verstigan’s Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (1605), the ancient Saxons called the month of February “Sprout-kele”:
by kele meaning kele-wort, which we now call the colewort, the greatest pot-wort in time long past that our ancestors used, and the broth made therewith was thereof called kele. It was the first herb that in this month began to yield out wholesome sprouts. During 600 years that Rome was without physicians, the people used to plant great store of these worts. February is yet in the Netherlands called Spruckel.
“Spruckel” is my new go-to nonsense word. It sounds like it should be a three-inch-tall woodland creature of some kind.
According to Richard Verstigan’s Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (1605), the ancient Saxons called the month of February “Sprout-kele”: