martagon
(ˈmɑːtəgən)
Also 6 mortegon, 7 martagan, -igon.
[a. F. martagon = Sp., Pg. martagon, It. martagone, a. Turk. martagān ‘a special form of turban adopted by Sultan Muhammed I; hence the martagon lily’ (Redhouse).]
The Turk's-cap lily, Lilium Martagon. Also scarlet martagon: the Scarlet Turk's-cap, L. chalcedonicum.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. iii. in Ashm. (1652) 39 Herbes..as..Vervaine, Lunara, and Martagon. ? 1540 tr. Vigo's Lyt. Pract. xxxviii. B iij b, The powdre of Mortegon. 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 85. 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. xciv. §4. 152 The Lillie of Constantinople is called likewise in England Martagon of Constantinople. 1629 Parkinson Parad. in Sole iv. 9 The Martagons, both white and red, both blush and yellow, that require to be set by them-selues apart. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Sheph. ii. vii, The Stupifying Hemlock! Adders tongue! And Martagan! 1737 P. Collinson in Darlington Mem. J. Bartram & H. Marshall (1849) 97 The Marsh Martagon is going to flower very strongly. 1866 Livingstone Last Jrnls. (1873) I. vii. 171 Here and there the scarlet martagon. |
| attrib. 1773 H. Walpole Let. 29 May, I send you two martagon roots. 1892 Dobson 18th Cent. Vignettes 146 Scarlet martagon-lilies. |