mugwort
(ˈmʌgwɜːt)
Forms: 1 mucgwyrt, (mugcwyrt), mugwyrt, 1–2, 6 mugwurt, 3 mugwet, 4–6 mogwort, mugworte, 5 mugwortt, mughwarde, 6 mogworte, mugwourt, mogworth, Sc. muguart, 6–7 mugwoort, 7 muggerwarte, 9 mugworth, dial. and Sc. muggart, muggert, 5– mugwort.
[repr. WGer. *muggiwurti, f. *muggjo- fly, midge + *wurti- plant, wort; the i of the first element seems to have disappeared before the period of umlaut.]
1. The plant Artemisia vulgaris, formerly also called motherwort. Also applied to other species of Artemisia, as wormwood, A. Absinthium.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 102 Herba artemesia traganthes þæt is mugcwyrt. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 134/15 Artemisia, uel matrum herba, mugwyrt. c 1265 Voc. Plants ibid. 554/3 Artimesie, mugwrt, merherbarum. c 1450 ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 77 Tak mogwort, and stampe hit. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 67, I sau muguart, that is gude for the suffocatione of ane vomans bayrnis hed. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 62 Three or fower stalkes of muggerwarte to lye on the bough or place wheare the bees light. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Mugwort has long been famous as an uterine and antispasmodic. 1799 J. Hull Brit. Flora 182 Artemisia cærulescens... Bluish Mugwort. 1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. ii. 71 Fill your thrashing-floor with docks, ragweeds, mugworths, and ply your flail upon them,—that is not the method to obtain sacks of wheat. 1866 Treas. Bot., Mugwort. Artemisia vulgaris. ―, Indian. Artemisia hirsuta. ―, West Indian. Parthenium Hysterophorus. |
2. Crosswort, Galium Cruciata.
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 187 Galium cruciata. Scop. Crosswort. Mugwort. Mugweed. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 148. |