champignon, -pinion
(tʃæmˈpɪnɪən, ʃæm-)
Also 6 ? champion, 7–8 cham-, campinion, 8 -pignion.
[a. Fr. champignon (14th c. in Littré):—L. type *campiniōn-em. OF. had champigneul = It. campignuolo:—L. type *campinolius. Both forms appear to be derivatives of camp-us field, open country, but their structure is not clear.]
A name applied originally (as in French) to fungi, or mushrooms generally; in 18th c. to edible mushrooms, esp. Agaricus campestris; but, subsequently, restricted to the Fairy Ring Agaric (A. Oreades).
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. ii. 6 Venemous Champions or Tode stooles. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 258 Scarce an inveterate tree but some kind of campinion adheres thereunto. 1681 T. Dineley Jrnl. Tour Irel. in Trans. Kilkenny Archæol. Soc. Ser. ii. I. 179 Mushrooms, toadstooles, or champinions are in great number good and fair. a 1700 Dryden (J.) He viler friends with doubtful mushrooms treats, Secure for you, himself champignons eats. 1708 Phil. Trans. XXVI. 78 The Champinion or Toad-stool. 1743 Watson in Phil. Trans. XLII. 601 Although many Species of Mushrooms are eatable..the Gardeners only propagate that Sort with red Gills, called, by way of Excellence, Champignon, a Name given by the French to all sorts of Mushrooms. 1762 Hudson Flor. Angl., Agaricus Oreades, champignion. 1775 J. Lightfoot Flora Scot. (1777) II. 1021 Champignion or Fairy Agaric. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. 501 The Champignon or common eatable Mushroom. 1807 Wollaston in Phil. Trans. XCVII. 137 The broadest rings that I have seen were those of the common mushroom (Ag. campestris); the narrowest..are those of the champignon (Ag. oreades of Dr. Withering). 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 334 The champignon..grows on more moist land than the..mushroom. 1841 Thackeray in Fraser's Mag. June 723/1 This was the bill of fare..Champignons à la Proven{cced}ale (the most delicious mushrooms I ever tasted). 1966 Oxf. Bk. Flowerless Plants 34/1 Clitocybe rivulosa (‘False Champignon’) is to be found in groups amongst short grass in late summer and autumn, and may form fairy-rings. |