† tragoncen.

Etymology: < Middle French tragoncee dragon arum, dragonwort (1561 in the passage translated in quot. 1575, or earlier; French †tragoncée ), perhaps < Spanish †tragontia dragonwort (1540 or earlier; a1525 as †taragontia ; also †tragoncia (1605 or earlier), †taragoncia (a1567 or earlier): see tarragon n.). Compare earlier dragons n., and also earlier tarragon n.Quot. 1575, which is based on a translation of a French work ( J. Du Fouilloux La venerie), appears ultimately to reflect an ancient tradition (e.g. in Pliny Nat. Hist. 8. 32) that the hind eats hartwort before calving in order to ease the pains of labour (see note at hartwort n.). Although the plant in question is different, the interpretation of tragonce as arum is supported by the fact that the 16th-cent. German version of du Fouilloux uses trachenwurtz ‘dragon arum, dragonwort’ (now Drachenwurz). It is possible that another tradition in Pliny ( Nat. Hist. 8. 36), according to which bears eat arum after hibernating, may have been confused with the tradition concerning hinds.