mugwort

Definition

The plant Artemisia vulgaris, family Asteraceae, native to temperate Eurasia and north Africa, traditionally used medicinally.

Etymology

From Middle English mugwort, mugwyrt, mucgwurt, from Old English mucgwyrt, mucwyrt et al., from Proto-Germanic; probably corresponding to midge + wort. Cognate with regional Low German muggart, mugwurz.

Example Sentences

• "Mugwort is with good success put among other herbs that are boiled, for women to sit over the hot decoction to draw down their courses, to help the delivery of the birth and expel the afterbirth, as also for the obstructions and inflammations of the mother."
• "Peony would keep away any kind of storms. Mugwort hung over doorways on Midsummer's Day, June 24, would keep off lightning, as St. John's-Wort would if gathered before sunrise on that day."
• "“I have eaten mugwort,” he told his familiar. “Soon I shall see down the well of time; our past lies there.”"

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