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Wort reference

According to the Oxford English Dictionary's Ask Oxford site, "A word with the suffix -wort is often very old. The Old English word was wyrt, from German origins that connect it to root. It was often used in the names of herbs and plants that had medicinal uses, the first part of the word denoting the complaint against which it might be specially efficacious...By the middle of the 17th-century -wort was beginning to fade from everyday use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wort_plants

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The scent of other herbs lasts much longer than a week; foliage of the bedstraw family, such as Lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum, also known as fleaweed), and woodruff (Asperula oderata) contain asperuloside which produces coumarin; the leaves when freshly gathered have little scent at all, but when dried give out a sweet smell of newly-mown hay that can last for years.

Fleas do not, apparently, like coumarin at all, which is also in the pretty melilot (Melilotus altissima) another strewing herb. Mrs Grieve tells us that, in June, on St Barnabas day, bunches of box, woodruff, lavender and roses were traditionally put inside churches; fleas were clearly a problem in the house of God too. There are so many other kinds of potent, aromatic herbs used for strewing that I haven’t time to go into here, but a fleeting mention is due for meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), well-known for being the favourite strewing herb of Queen Elizabeth the first.

Recommend reading. Lists several herbs for strewing or stuffing in mattresses that repel fleas:

http://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/2012/10/fleas-by-jane-borodale.html

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Pęgnumi in the sense of congealing is even more evident in Hippocratic writings. Phlegm, for example, is described as a congealed 'cool' substance, which if not sufficiently dispersed on entering the 'warm' bloodstream will thicken the blood as well. When such thickening prevents pneuma, the very breath of life, from getting through to the body, the result is the convulsions of epilepsy or even death, if the blockage is severe enough. Hippocrates depended upon psuchô and pęgnumi, the very same verbs employed by Plato, to describe 'cold' and 'congealing.' (Hippocrates, 'The Sacred Disease' 10.30-11.26, Loeb 1998 edn. vol. 2, pp. 154-7.) He certainly did not mean to imply that phlegm is solid or that blood becomes rigid, just that both may thicken. Had any of these writers wished to describe something that felt hard to the touch, or to specify the rigidity of muscular contractions, they could have called upon other far more suitable words, such as sklęros and spasma.

http://nd.edu/~plato/bloch.htm

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Q. And what is happening in Palestine? What happened in the refugee camps in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank?
A. Typhus, head lice, food shortage.

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ty·phus (tfs)
n.
Any of several forms of infectious disease caused by rickettsia, especially those transmitted by fleas, lice, or mites, and characterized generally by severe headache, sustained high fever, depression, delirium, and the eruption of red rashes on the skin. Also called prison fever, ship fever, typhus fever.
[New Latin tphus, from Greek tphos, stupor arising from a fever, vapor, from tphein, to smoke.]

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typhus [ˈtaɪfəs]
n
(Medicine / Pathology) any one of a group of acute infectious rickettsial diseases characterized by high fever, skin rash, and severe headache Also called typhus fever
[from New Latin tȳphus, from Greek tuphos fever; related to tuphein to smoke]
typhous adj

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typhus (tfs)
Any of several forms of an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus Rickettsia transmitted by fleas, mites, or especially lice, and characterized by severe headache, high fever, and skin rash. Louse-born bacteria that cause typhus are especially virulent and can cause epidemics of the disease, which may be fatal in people with weakened immune systems.

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Noun1.typhus - rickettsial disease transmitted by body lice and characterized by skin rash and high fevertyphus - rickettsial disease transmitted by body lice and characterized by skin rash and high fever
typhus fever
rickettsial disease, rickettsiosis - infectious disease caused by ticks or mites or body lice infected with rickettsial bacteria
endemic typhus, murine typhus, rat typhus, urban typhus - acute infection caused by rickettsia and transmitted by the bite of an infected flea; characterized by fever and chills and muscle aches and a rash

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There is an older reference, though I don't believe it is actually the origin of the English phrase. In ancient Athens, the death penalty was enforced by making the victim drink hemlock, which apparently numbs the extremities gradually, giving you literally cold feet before death. This was a commonplace political reference : where an American comedian might say 'holding political views like that would give you a shock', referring to the electric chair, an Athenian comedy-writer might put 'those views would give you cold feet'.

Unfortunately, the only reference I can find immediately is from Aristophanes' 'Frogs' and is only marginally relevant; when the hero refers to the quickest way down to Hades,

     "The pestle and mortar, then,--the beaten road?"--"No; that gives one cold feet."-

I'll try and improve the references: meanwhile, feel free to riff on this.

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/19260/why-do-we-get-cold-feet

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This seems like it could be more significant than you give it credit. I'm looking forward to any references you can find. Do you have a link to the Aristophanes quote? Why do you think it may not be related? – Callithumpian Jun 25 '11 at 0:26

@Callithumpian: it's in the Prologue, line 148. But I didn't put up a link for the same reason I think it's not the source: there are dozens of translations of the Greek, and the two words 'cold feet' are not a necessary part of it. – TimLymington Jun 25 '11 at 17:52

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/19260/why-do-we-get-cold-feet

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Plato's choice of words was not an unusual one. Indeed, in his comedy Frogs Aristophanes had employed almost identical terms to describe the effects of hemlock poisoning (Aristophanes, Frogs 116-26, Loeb 1989 edn. vol. 2, pp. 306-9). In the play, the protagonist Dionysos has been looking for a way to kill himself in order to visit the underworld. Heracles suggests suicide by hanging, but Dionysos rejects that method as 'too hot.' All Heracles then has to do is hint at a 'beaten path', by mortar and pestle, for Dionysos immediately to respond, 'hemlock, you mean?' (p. 309) But he dismisses that idea as well, declaring it 'too cold and wintry, already the stiffness (congealing) is reaching the shin' (my translation). In Greek Dionysos' words are: psuchran ge kai duscheimeron/ euthus gar apopęgnusi tantiknemia. Psuchran and duscheimeron mean 'cold and wintry,' apopęgnusi, from pęgnumi, connotes something being 'made to congeal,' and tantiknemia refers to 'the shin'.

http://nd.edu/~plato/bloch.htm

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Her. "Then there is a very short cut by the Pestle and Mortar."

Bac. "Do you mean the hemlock road?"

Her. "Certainly."

Bac. "Too cold and wintry for me. One's hands and feet get so numb."

http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=church&book=comedians&story=frogs

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HER. Then there’s a track, a short and beaten cut,
By pestle and mortar. DIO. Hemlock, do you mean?

HER. Just so. DIO. No, that’s too deathly cold a way; 128
You have hardly started ere your shins get numbed.

http://www.bartleby.com/8/9/1.html

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HERACLES Then there's a track, a short and beaten cut,
By pestle and mortar.

DIONYSUS Hemlock, do you mean?

HERACLES Just so.

DIONYSUS No, that's too deathly cold a way;
You have hardly started ere your shins get numbed.

http://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/frogs.pl.txt

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HERCULES
There’s a straight short cut, well traveled, too—
with pestle and mortar . . .

DIONYSUS
You mean hemlock.*

HERCULES
That’s it!

DIONYSUS
Too cold—too much like winter. Right away
the shins get frozen solid.

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/aristophanes/frogs.htm

wiki

 

Labrador tea is a tisane (not a true tea) made from three closely related species:

Rhododendron tomentosum (Northern Labrador Tea, previously Ledum palustre),
Rhododendron groenlandicum, (Bog Labrador Tea, previously Ledum groenlandicum or Ledum latifolium) and
Rhododendron neoglandulosum, (Western Labrador Tea, or Trapper's Tea, previously Ledum glandulosum).

In Labrador itself, Labrador tea is also frequently called Indian tea.

All three are primarily wetland plants in the Heath family (Ericaceae). The tisane has been a favorite beverage among Athabaskan and Inuit people for many years.


Ledum latifolium, an earlier name for
Rhododendron groenlandicum

Description

All three species used to make Labrador tea are low, slow-growing shrubs with evergreen leaves. The leaves are smooth on top with often wrinkled edges, and fuzzy white to red-brown underneath. The tiny white flowers grow in hemispherical clusters and are very fragrant and sticky and highly attractive to bees.

Uses

The Athabaskans brew the leaves as a beverage and some people chew the raw leaves because they enjoy the flavor. Others use Labrador tea to spice meat by boiling the leaves and branches in water and then soaking the meat in the decoction.

The Pomo, Kashaya, Tolowa and Yurok of Northern California boiled the leaves of Western Labrador Tea similarly, to make a medicinal tisane.[1] In Greenland, this is still the case. Here it is also used in facial steam bath.

In medieval Northern Europe, R. groenlandicum and R. tomentosum were often brewed in "gruit" ales, prior to the adoption of hops.

Labrador tea contains ledol, a poisonous substance that can cause cramps and paralysis.

Toxicology

Labrador tea has narcotic properties. Evidence suggests that excessive consumption of the plant may cause delirium or poisoning. Toxic terpenes of the essential oils cause symptoms of intoxication, such as slow pulse, lowering of blood pressure, lack of coordination, convulsions, paralysis, and death. It is apparently safe as a weak tisane, but should not be made too strong.[2]

Harvesting

Rhododendron tomentosum, Rhododendron groenlandicum, and Rhododendron neoglandulosum grow slowly, so pick individual leaves rather than whole branches, and harvest from different shrubs. In addition, Labrador tea grows in abundance in large patches so it should not be difficult to move from plant to plant to avoid over-harvesting. Labrador tea is an evergreen plant and will be available all year long.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrador_tea

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labrador.jpg (98.78 KB)

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• Ledum, from the Greek ledon (ledon), the ancient Greek name used by Dioscorides for the Cistus (Rockrose).
  

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• Form prostrate to erect, generally circular in outline.
  
• Leaves 1"-3", edges curled down, with brown hairs on underside. [Photo]
  
• Roots in the organic layer. Rhizome depth can reach 6" - 20"
  
• Flowers tiny white clusters on slender stalks at the ends of the branches
  
• Fruit a dry capsule with many tiny seeds.
  

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• Sprouts from rhizomes or the root crown following low to moderate severity fires. One of the first plants to recolonize burned bogs; grows rapidly following fire.