| 释义 |
† pestilence-wortn.Origin: Formed within English, by compounding; perhaps modelled on a Dutch lexical item, or perhaps modelled on a German lexical item. Etymons: pestilence n., wort n.1 Etymology: < pestilence n. + wort n.1, after either Dutch pestilentiewortel (1554 or earlier) or early modern German pestilentzwurtzel (1539), pestilentzwurtz (1543, now regional; German Pestwurz ), pestilenzkraut (1542)). The plant is so called in Dutch and German on account of its reputed efficacy against bubonic plague; similar popular names are widespread in other Germanic and European languages. Compare earlier pestilent-wort n., and compare the following quots.:1548 W. Turner Names of Herbes sig. F.ij Petasites is called in the South partes of Englande a Butter bur,..the duch cal it pestilentz kraute [1562 W. Turner Herbal ii. 83 Pestilentz wurtz].1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. xiii. 21 In Englishe, Butter Burre: in high Douch Pestilentz wurtz: in base Almaigne..Pestilentie wortel. Obsolete. the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Compositae (composite plants) > [noun] > butterbur 1640 J. Parkinson Table 1742 Pestilence wort is the Butter Burre. 1841 W. H. Ainsworth I. 232 He likewise collected a number of herbs and simples, as Virginian snake weed, contrayerva, pestilence-wort, angelica, elicampane. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2020). <  n.1640 |