‖ nigella Bot.
(naɪˈdʒɛlə)
[L., fem. of nigellus, dim. of niger black: hence also F. nielle and nigelle.]
A genus of ranunculaceous plants, having numerous black seeds, of which the Fennel-flower (Nigella sativa) is a common species; also, the seeds of this used for medicinal purposes.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxxxi. (Bodl. MS.), Some meneþ þat þis herbe [sc. gith] is nigella. Ibid., Nigella sleeþ if he be take in grete quantite. 1548 Turner Names Herbs (E.D.S.) 40 Git is named in greeke Melanthion, in englishe herbe Git or Nigella romana. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 53 b, Smalledge, Leekes, Nigella, that being once sowed, come up every yere. 1611 Cotgr., Alesnes, Cockle, Corne-rose, field Nigella, wild Nigella. 1662 Stat. Irel. (1765) II. 402 Nigella the pound 4{supd}. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 384 You may continue to sow..Nigella, Candy Tufts, Poppy, and such Annuals as are not prejudiced by Frosts. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. (1817) 169 In some cases (as in the nigella), where the shafts of the pistils or styles are disproportionably long. 1881 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton in Layard Life (1901) 206 Here there is nothing, excepting..that cottage flower (love in a mist)—the nigella. |
Hence niˈgellin, ‘a viscous substance obtained from Nigella sativa’ (Watts Dict. Chem. 1866).