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Herbs, Spices and Seasonings

index

Here you will find reference to herbs and spices where the evidence shows more than just a medicinal use.  Medicinal plants will be found in the Medicine pages eventually!

herb - "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavouring, food, medicine, or perfume" OED

spice - "an aromatic or pungent vegetable substance used to flavour food" OED

(horehound; hyssop; lavender; lemon balm; lovage; marjoram; oregano; mint; poppy seed; rosemary; rue; saffron)

I am limiting my inclusion here, of many plants, simply because it is so hard to pin down exact identifications!  The identification of the plants that are listed may still not be wholly accurate.  Please never copy any Anglo-Saxon medical remedy in these pages.

Edit:  I will be moving these across the medicine pages eventually...

B

basil     nædder-wyrt, mistel      

Season:

  • March - August

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Genim ðás wyrte ðe man ocimum & óðrum naman mistel nemneþ 'take of this plant which men ocimum and by another name mistel is called'  

Notes:

Literary:

  • could also be referring to mistletoe

Species and Find sites:

  • Ocimum basilicum (sweet basil)

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

aromatic shrubby plant, early 15c., from Old French basile (15c., Modern French basilic), from Medieval Latin basilicum, from Greek basilikon (phyton) "royal (plant)," from basileus "king". So called, probably, because it was believed to have been used in making royal perfumes.

 

In Latin, confused with basiliscus because it was supposed to be an antidote to the basilisk's venom.

basil
bay
bay     laur-bëam, laur, laur-trëow, lawere      

Season:

  • July

Culinary:

Notes:

Literary:

  • mid lawere gebeágod 'with laurel crowned' Homilies

Medical:

  • laures croppan seáw bléda leáf 'laurel's crop, juice, fruit, leaf'

Species and Find sites:

  • Laurus nobilis (bay laurel)

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

laurel shrub (Laurus nobilis, source of the bay-leaf), late 14c., but meaning originally only the berry, from Old French baie (12c.) "berry, seed," from Latin bacabacca "berry, fruit of a tree or shrub, nut" (source also of Spanish baya, Old Spanish bacca, Italian bacca "a berry"), a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan writes that connection with Greek Bakhos "Bacchus" is difficult, as the Greek word probably was borrowed from an Asian language. Some linguists compare Berber *bqa "blackberry, mulberry," and suggest a common borrowing from a lost Mediterranean language.

Extension of the word to the shrub itself is from 1520s.

catnip     sæ-minte, nefte, nepte

Season:

  • May - September

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Nepte Ðás wyrte man nepitamon & óðrum naman nepte nemneþ & eác Grécas hý mente orinon hátaþ 'Nepte.  This plant by nepitamon and another name nepte called and in addition the Greeks they call it mente orinon'

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

  • Nepeta cataria (catnip, catmint)

    • Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)​

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

1712, American English, from cat (n.) + nip, from Old English nepte "catnip," from Latin nepta, name of an aromatic herb.

 

The older name is Middle English catmint (mid-13c.). So called because cats are fond of it.

catnip
chervil     cerfille, fille, cærfille

Season:

  • March - September

Culinary:

Medical:

  • To monnes stemne nim cerfillan 'for a man's voice take chervil'

  • Genim ðysse wyrte ðe man cerefolium & óðrum naman ðam gelíce cerfille nemneþ 'take of this plant which by cerefolium and another name of the like chervil is named'

Notes:

Literary:

  • mentioned in the plan for the monastery garden at St. Gall

Species and Find sites:

  • Anthriscus cerefolium (chervil, French parsley, garden chervil)

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

type of garden herb, Old English cerfelle "chervil," from Latin chaerephyllum, from Greek khairephyllon; second element phyllon "leaf" (from suffixed form of root *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom"); first element perhaps from khairein "to rejoice" (from PIE root *gher- (2) "to like, want").

chervil
cicely     myrra, murra

Season:

  • all year

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Murra hátte wyrt 'myrrh be named this plant'

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

  • there seems to be some confusion with the gum resin also called myrrh

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

  • Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely, myrrh, garden myrrh, and sweet chervil)

Etymology

?

cicely
cinnamon     ofers%wisc rind

Season:

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Ofers%wisc rind 'bark from beyond the sea (cinnamon)'

Notes:

Literary:

  • Súðerne rind

Species and Find sites:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

cinnamon
coriander/cilantro     celendre, cellender

Season:

  • March - September

Culinary:

Medical:

  • juice and seed are sometimes called for

  • Genim celender & beána togædere gesodene 'take coriander and beans cooked together' for pus in the neck

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

popular name of an umbelliferous plant (Coriandrum sativum) with a seed-like aromatic fruit, late 14c., coriaundre, from Old French coriandre (14c.), from Latin coriandrum, from Greek koriannon, often said by botanists to be related to koris "bedbug" from the bad smell of the unripe fruit, or perhaps it is a non-Indo-European word conformed to the Greek insect name.

Notes:

Literary:

  • glossed as coriandrum and also in the Herbarium Apuleius

  • featured in the plan for the monastery garden of St. Gall

Species and Find sites:

  • Coriandrum sativum identified at:

    • Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

coriander
cumin     cymen, süþerne cymen

Season:

  • all year

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Dó ðæt cymen on eced 'put the cumin into vinegar'

  • Wyrc sealfe of cymene 'make a salve from cumin'

  • cumin seed and dust are also mentioned

Notes:

  • a spice made from the dried seeds

Literary:

  • Ge tiógoðiaþ eówre mintan & eówerne dile & eówerne cymen [MS. kymen] 'ye tithe your mint and your dill and your cumin'

Species and Find sites:

  • Cuminum cyminum (cumin)

    • found in the Oseberg ship burial in Norway (9th century)

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

"fennel-like umbelliferous plant of the carrot family found wild in Egypt and Syria and cultivated for its fruit," Old English cymen, from Latin cuminum, from Greek kyminon, cognate with Hebrew kammon, Arabic kammun.

cumin

D

dill
dill   dile, dyle   

Season:

  • March - August

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Selle him mon dile gesodenne on ele 'let dill cooked in oil be given him'

  • dill seed also used

Notes:

Literary:

  • Herbarium Apuleius glosses anethum

  • featured in the plan for the monastery garden of St. Gall (9th century, Switzerland)

  • Ge tiogoðiaþ eówre mintan & eówerne dile & eówerne cymen 'ye tithe your mint and your dill and your cumin' King Alfred's version of Gregory's Pastoral Care

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

"umbelliferous plant with yellow flowers, extensively cultivated for its aroma and oils," Middle English dille, from Old English dile "dill, anise," a Germanic word of unknown origin (cognates: Old Saxon dilli, Middle Dutch and Dutch dille, Swedish dill, German Dill).

Species and Find sites:

  • Anethum graveolens (dill) identified at:

    • Coppergate, York (Anglo Scandinavian)

    • Tanyard Lane, Steyning, Sussex (Saxo-Norman)

F

fennel
fennel    fenol, finol, finul, finel finugle, fynel

Season:

  • August - October

Culinary:

  • leaves, seed and bulb can be used (bulb fennel is used as a vegetable)

Medical:

  • Dó in gléde finol & cassuc & récels bærn eal tosomne 'put upon a fire fennel and hassock and incense burn all together'

  • roots and seeds of fennel are also called for

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

  • Foeniculum vulgare identified at:

    • Eastgate, Beverley, Humberside (pre 8thc)

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

  • two subspecies, a hardy perennial (dulce), the seeds and leaves of which are used as culinary herbs, and the annual sweet fennel or Florence fennel (azoricum), with swollen leaf bases that are eaten as a vegetable

Etymology

Old English fenol, finul, finol "fennel," perhaps via (or influenced by) Old French fenoil (13c.) or directly from Vulgar Latin *fenuculum, from  Latin feniculum/faeniculum, diminutive  of fenum/faenum "hay," probably literally "produce".

 

Apparently so called from the hay-like appearance of its feathery green leaves and its sweet odour.

fenugreek     fenogrecum, wylle-cærse

Season:

  • harvest 1 month after sowing

Culinary:

Medical:

  • þa wyrt - þe hatte fenogrecum 'the plant which be named fenugreek'

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

  • Trigonella foenum-graecum ()

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

leguminous plant in western Asia and North Africa, Old English fenograecum, from Latin faenugraecum, literally "Greek hay," from faenum (see fennel) + Graecum (see Greek).

 

The modern form in English is from French fenugrec.

fenugreek

G

ginger
ginger     gingifer, gingiber

Season:

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Gingifran broþ 'broth of ginger'

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

  • Zingiber officinale

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

gruit     grút

Season:

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Wyrc clam of súrre rigenre grút oððe dáge 'work a paste of sour rye grout or of dough'

  • Genim ealde grút 'take old grout'

Notes:

  • Gruit (alternately grut or gruyt) is a herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops.

Literary:

  • Grút mealtes 'grout of malt'

Species and Find sites:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

grout

M

mustard
mustard   senep, senap, senop   

Season:

  • September (seeds)

Culinary:

Medical:

  • (referring to another preparation) $ hit sie ón þa onlicnesse geworht þe senop bið getemprod to inwisan 'that it be in the likeness wrought when mustard be-eth tempered for a condiment'

  • senepes sæd 'seed of mustard' is called for

  • gerenodne senep 'prepared mustard' occurs as an appetizer

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

  • Brassica nigra (black mustard) identified at:

    • Coppergate, York (Anglo Scandinavian)

  • Sinapis alba aka Brassica alba or B. hirta (white mustard)

    • Eastgate, Beverley, Humberside (pre 8th c)​

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

late 13c. (late 12c. as a surname), "seed of the mustard plant crushed and used as a condiment paste or for medicinal purposes," from Old French mostarde "mustard; mustard plant" (Modern French moutarde), from moust "must," from Latin mustum "new wine"); so called because it was originally prepared by adding must to the ground seeds of the plant to make a paste (mustard being originally prepared with grape must).

 

As the name of the plant itself, by mid-14c. in English.

P

parsley
parsley     petersilige

Season:

  • all year

Culinary:

  • used for flavouring savoury dishes

Medical:

  • found in 5 remedies

  • rich in vitamin C

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

  • corn parsley is slightly different to garden parsley (Petroselinum crispum), but still edible

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

  • Petroselinum segetum (corn parsley)

    • Little Paxton, St. Neots, Cambridgeshire (850-1000)

Etymology

biennial garden-herb, originally from the eastern Mediterranean; its aromatic leaves are used for flavouring and as a garnish; late 14c., a merger of Old English petersilie and Old French peresil (13c., Modern French persil), both from Medieval Latin petrosilium, an unexplained alteration of Latin petroselinum, from Greek petroselinon "rock-parsley," from petros "rock, stone" + selinon "celery".

pepper     pipor

Season:

  • all year - (traded) stored

Culinary:

Medical:

  • pipores seofon & xx corna 'of pepper seven and 20 kernels'

  • Pipra hit syððan swá swá man wille 'pepper it afterwards just as the man wishes'

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

"dried berries of the pepper plant," Middle English peper, from Old English pipor, from an early West Germanic borrowing of Latin piper "pepper," from Greek piperi, probably (via Persian) from Middle Indic pippari, from Sanskrit pippali "long pepper." The Latin word is the source of German Pfeffer, Italian pepe, French poivre, Old Church Slavonic pipru, Lithuanian pipiras, Old Irish piobhar, Welsh pybyr, etc.

Notes:

  • St Cuthbert's letter (dated November 734 AD) 'on the death of Bede' has Bede leaving the contents of his 'little box: pepper, napkins and incense' to his brothers.

  • Pepper was an expensive spice, but would have been traded through contact with Rome.

Literary:

  • a piperhorn (horn for holding pepper) is mentioned as being required by the wise reeve Gesceadwisan Gerefa (10th c.)

  • On ðám londum biþ pipores genihtsumnys 'In this land be pepper in abundance'  

Species and Find sites:

  • Piper nigrum - native to the Malabar Coast of India

pepper

S

sage
sage     salfige, saluian, salfian

Season:

  • all year

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Genim ðás wyrte ðe man saluian nemneþ 'take this plant which men name salvia'

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

kind of herb (Salvia officinalis), early 14c., from Old French sauge (13c.), from Latin salvia, from salvus "healthy" (from PIE root *sol- "whole, well-kept"). So called for its healing or preserving qualities (it was used to keep teeth clean and relieve sore gums, and boiled in water to make a drink to alleviate arthritis).

 

In English folklore, sage, like parsley, is said to grow best where the wife is dominant.

 

In late Old English as salvie, directly from Latin. Compare German Salbei, also from Latin.

Notes:

  • a Mediterranean herb...

Literary:

  • occurs in the Herbarium

Species and Find sites:

  • Salvia officinalis

salt     sealt

Season:

Culinary:

Medical:

  • Hwít sealt dó on reám oððe góde fléte 'put white salt into cream or good skimmings'

  • Ánes æges gewyrðe greátes sealtes 'of rock salt the content of one egg'

  • Mid greátan sealte 'with coarse salt'

  • Hálig sealt 'holy salt'

  • Dó lytel sealtes 'add a small quantity of salt to it'

  • Genim hwón sealt 'take a little salt'

  • Ðis mæg tó eáhsalfe genim geoluwne stán & saltstán 'This gives strength to an eye-salve; take yellow stone (ochre) and salt-stone (rock-salt)'

  • baþo wiþ wambe coþum - him of sealtum wætrum sint to wyrcanne - gif he þa næbbe selte món hiora mettas 'baths for stomach disorders - for him from salty waters must be worked - if none can be had let their food be salted'

  • hwítes sealtes swilc swá m%ge mid feówer fingrum geniman 'white salt as much as may with four fingers be taken'

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

Old English sealt "salt, sodium chloride, abundant substance essential to life, used as a condiment and meat preservative," from Proto-Germanic *saltom (source also of Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old Frisian, Gothic salt, Dutch zout, German Salz), from PIE root *sal- "salt."

Salt long was regarded as having power to repel spiritual and magical evil. Many metaphoric uses reflect that this was once a rare and important resource, such as salt of the earth "persons of worthiness" (Old English, after Matthew v.13).

Notes:

Literary:

  • Gyf ðæt sealt awyrþ 'if the salt become insipid'

  • Se w%ta gyf hit sealt byþ of ðære s% byþ þurh  ðære lyfte brádnysse to ferscum w%tan awend ' the moisture, if it is salt from the sea, is turned into  fresh water through the extent of the atmosphere'

  • Gyf se w%ta sealt byþ of ðære s% hit byþ þurh  ðære sunnan h%tan to ferscum wæterum awend 'if  the moisture be salt from the sea, it is turned to  fresh water through the heat of the sun'

  • Láreówum gedafenaþ ðæt hí mid wísdómes sealte  geleáffulra manna mód sylton 'it befits teachers that they salt the minds of believing men with the salt of wisdom'

  • Swá swá sealt hylt %lcne mete wið forrotodnysse 'just as salt preserves every food/meat from corruption'

  • sealt-ærn 'a salt-house, a place where salt is prepared'

  • On ðone saltherpaþ & swá ondlong ðæs herpaþes ðæt on salteredene . . . on salterewellan of saltere-wellan eástriht on saltbróc & swá ondlong saltbróces I struggled to translate this from a boundary charter

  • sealt-fæt 'a vessel for salt, a salt cellar'

  • sealt-hús 'a house where salt is prepared or sold'

  • sealt-leáh 'a salt lea' of ðan swínhagan ðæt on sealtleáge & of sealtleáge in ðone hyrstgeard 'from the pig-enclosure which is at salt-lea and from salt-lea onto the copse-yard' a boundary charter

  • sealt-mere 'salt mere or marsh' again from a boundary charter

  • sealt-wille, welle 'a salt spring or well'

  • sealtærn-steall 'a place where there is a house for preparing salt'

  • see the sealtere Salter of the Colloquy

  • At Boile on the Canterbury lands, the provision of food in return for weeding service was three quarters of wheat, a ram, a pat of butter, a piece of cheese of second quality from the lord's dairy, saltoatmeal for cooking a stew, and all the morning milk from all the cows in the dairy. [I presume this would be given to the group and not just to one man, or to every man!]

Species and Find sites:

salt
summer savory     sæþerige, saturege

Season:

  • March - September

Culinary:

Medical:

  • included in a holy salve

  • seed of savory in another remedy

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

aromatic mint, late 14c., perhaps an alteration of Old English sæþerie, which is ultimately from Latin satureia "savory (n.)," a foreign word in Latin. But early history of the word suggests transmission via Old French savereie. In either case, the form of the word probably was altered by influence of the Middle English or Old French form of savory (adj.).

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

  • Satureja hortensis

    • Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

summersavory

T

thyme
thyme     cunelle, fille, wudu-cunille

Season:

  • just before flowering

Culinary:

Medical:

  • occurs in a few remedies

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

  • a Mediterranean herb...

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Etymology

plant of the mint family, late 14c., from Old French thym, tym (13c.) and directly from Latin thymum, from Greek thymon, which had been derived from PIE root *dheu- , base of words meaning "smoke," for its scent or from being burned as a sacrifice, but Beekes finds this "doubtful" and suggests that "As a local plant name, the word is liable to be of Pre-Greek origin."

Sources:

  • St. Cuthberts letter on the Death of Bede. Part of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Penguin Classica

  • BL Stowe MS 104 fols 112v and 113v

  • Online Etymology Dictionary

  • Bosworth & Toller Old English Dictionary

  • Leechdoms - Oswald Cockayne 1864

  • Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food - Anne Hagen (both volumes)

  • Archaeobotanical Database

  • lexico.com

  • Wild Food UK

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