ˈchafeweed, ˈchaffweed Herb.
[According to Turner and other early writers, f. chafe + weed; see quot. 1551: otherwise it might be plausibly explained from chaff n.1 and weed, in reference to the chaffy receptacle of Filago.]
A name given by Turner to the plant Gnaphalium sylvaticum; extended by Gerard to other species of Gnaphalium and the allied Filago; applied by some especially to F. germanica, the chafewort of Turner. (By Lyte erroneously applied to Diotis maritima, the Sea Daisy.)
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes s.v. Centunculus, Centunculus named in greke Gnaphalion..It maye be called in englishe Chafweede, it is called in Yorke shyre cudweede. 1551 ― Herbal i. I ij, Centunculus is called..in Northumberlande Chafwede, because it is thought to be good for chafynge of any mans fleshe wyth goynge or rydynge. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxii. 90 This herbe [Gnaphalion] is called..in English of Turner Cudweed, Chafeweed. 1598 Florio, Herba impia..we call it chaffweede or cudweede. 1853 in G. Johnston Bot. E. Bord. (= Filago germanica). 1879 Prior Plant-n., Chafe-weed..as Ray expresses it in Cat. Plant. Cant., ‘quoniam ad intertrigines valet’. |