tormentil
(ˈtɔːməntɪl)
Forms: 5 tormentille, -ylle, 6 -yll, 6–8 -ill, -ile, (8 tormentle), 6– tormentil; 5 turmentylle, 5–6 -ill, 6 -yll.
[= F. tormentille (1314 in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. med.L. tormentilla, in form dim. of tormentum: see torment n. Reason of name obscure: cf. quot. 1616; according to others from its being used to relieve the gripes, L. tormina.]
A low-growing herb, Potentilla Tormentilla (Tormentilla repens), N.O. Rosaceæ, of trailing habit, common on heaths and dry pastures, bearing small four-petalled yellow flowers, and having strongly astringent roots; in use from early times in medicine, and in tanning. Also called septfoil.
| [a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 42/1 Tormentilla pilos, pentafilon non habet ullos.] a 1400–50 Stockh. Med. MS. 6 Water of turmentill. 1530 Palsgr. 284/1 Turmentyll an herbe, tourmentine. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lvii. 83 Tormentill is much like vnto Sinckefoyle. 1610 Fletcher Faithf. Sheph. ii. i, This Tormentil, whose vertue is to part All deadly killing poyson from the heart. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 204 Called Tormentill, because the powder or decoction of the root doth appease the rage and torment of the teeth. 1698 M. Martin Voy. St. Kilda (1749) 56 Their Leather is tanned with the roots of Tormentil. 1906 Daily Chron. 4 May 6/7 Tormentil and potentil, names fulfilled of pleasure, Set the world in tune again with the May Day measure. |
b. attrib., as tormentil-root.
| 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 43 The best Tormentil Roots come from grassy, wet Places about the Alps and Pyrenees. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 400 Tormentil root is a powerful astringent. |
So † ˈtormentine [from F.] in same sense.
| 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 713/6 Hec tormentilla, tormentyne [cf. 1530 Palsgr. above]. |