'Where neþer ruste ne moughte destruyeþ.'
The name was given to this plant from its having been recommended by Dioscorides to ward off the attacks of these insects. 'Mogwort, al on as seyn some, modirwort: lewed folk þat in manye wordes conne no rygt sownynge, but ofte shortyn wordys, and changyn lettrys and silablys, þey corruptyn þe o into u, and d into g, and syncopyn i, smytyn awey i and r, and seyn mugwort.'—MS. Arundel, 42, f. 35. It is unnecessary to have recourse to this singular process. The plant was known both as a moth-wort and as a mother-wort, but while it was used almost exclusively as a mother-wort, it still retained, at the same time, the name of mugwort, a synonym of moth-wort. In Ælfric's glossary it is called matrum herba—Dr. R. A. Prior. See Brand's Pop. Antiq. for an account of the superstitious custom of seeking under the root of this plant on Midsummer-eve for a coal, to serve as a talisman against many disasters.
[E268] "Rew." Shakspere, Hamlet, iv. 5. 181: "There's rue for you; and here's some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays." And Winter's Tale, iv. 4. 74:
"For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep
Seeming and savour all the winter long:
Grace and remembrance be to you both."
Some suppose it to have been called "herb of grace" on account of the many excellent properties it was held to possess, being a specific against poison, the bites of venomous creatures, etc.; but probably it was so called because "rue" means "repent." Cf. also Richard II. Act iii. sc. 4. 105:
"Here in this place
I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace."
[E269] "Bots." "Pease an beanes are as danke here as a dog, and this is the next way to give poor jades the bottes."—Shakspere King Henry IV. Act ii. sc. 1. "Begnawne with bots."—Taming of Shrew, Act iii. sc. 2.
"Sauin." "It is often put into horses' drenches, to helpe to cure them of the bots, and other diseases."—Parkinson, Paradisus, p. 607.
[E270] "Stitchwort," spelt Stich-wurt in Mayer and Wright, Nat. Antiquities, 1857, and given from a thirteenth century MS. as the translation of "Valeriane." Supposed to possess the power of curing a pain or stitch in the sides.—See Gerard's Herbal, 1597, p. 43. Stellaria Holostea, Linn.
[E271] "Woodbine," not a bine that grows in woods, but a creeper that binds or entwines trees, the honeysuckle. A.S. wudu-winde and wudu-bind, from wudu = a tree, and windan, bindan = to entwine. In Shakspere (Mids. Night Dr. Act iv. sc. 1) it seems to mean the bittersweet: