alyssum
noun
called also madwort
Example Sentences
Calvin Finch, San Antonio Express-News, 4 Feb. 2022 White alyssum, ferns, society garlic, aloes, aeoniums and other succulents surround the adjacent pond and nearby waterfall. Nicole Sours Larson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 June 2022 Sweet alyssum likes sun but can handle a little shade. Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 26 May 2022 Stocks, petunias, dianthus and alyssum are following their lead. Calvin Finch, San Antonio Express-News, 25 Feb. 2022 As a replacement for the zinnias, expect the snapdragons, stocks, alyssum, pansies, petunias and other cool-weather annuals to fill in the now-available space. Calvin Finch, San Antonio Express-News, 14 Jan. 2022 Others that grow and flower well with the mild-to-cool temperatures include geraniums, petunias, calendula, ornamental cabbage and kale, lobelia and alyssum. Tom Maccubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 30 Oct. 2021 For fragrance in your bouquets, plant stocks, alyssum and sweet peas. Calvin Finch, San Antonio Express-News, 1 Oct. 2021 Stocks and alyssum are easy to grow from transplants. Calvin Finch, San Antonio Express-News, 1 Oct. 2021 See More Word History
borrowed from New Latin, genus name, going back to Latin alysson "a kind of madder," borrowed from Greek álysson "any of several plants used to treat rabies," noun derivative from neuter of ályssos "curing madness," from a- a- entry 2 + -lyssos, adjective derivative of lýssa, Attic lýtta "rage, frenzy, rabies," perhaps derivative, with the abstract noun suffix *-ya (going back to Indo-European *-i̯h2) from the stem of lýkos "wolf" — more at wolf entry 1
Note: An alternative hypothesis sees a connection with Indo-European *luk-, zero grade of the base *leu̯k- "light, bright" (see light entry 1), assuming an association between rage or frenzy and unnaturally sparkling eyes. Support for this association is allegedly given by the phrase in Pindar leukaîs pithḗsanta phrasín "heeding his bright/flashing/violent (?) heart," along with Hesychius's gloss of leukaî phrénes as "raging" (mainómenai).
1548, in the meaning defined at sense 1