Dittander

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A coarse, pungent perennial herb of the cress family whose peppery leaves have long been used to flavour food
2. The peppery-tasting plant known as pepperwort, a member of the mustard family with sharp, hot leaves
3. A hardy wild cress with a hot, biting taste, whose leaves were once eaten as a seasoning or salad green

Etymology: Dittander is a peppery wild cress, and its name is tied to a much better-known plant. The word first appears in a glossary of about 1265 as the Anglo-Norman or Middle English form "ditaundere," and its ending was later stretched by an obscure process to match "dittany," the name of a herb used in medieval medicine. Dittany itself comes from Latin "dictamnus," a plant name borrowed from Greek, so the two words are linked through a shared model rather than a shared root. The reason for the extension is not recorded, so the connection remains a matter of guesswork. What is clear is that the word reached English early and kept its unusual shape, with the "-ander" ending standing out among plant names of the period.

Synonyms: pepperwort