Ergot

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈəːɡət/

Definitions

1. a fungal infection of cereal grains that replaces the seed with a dark, toxic mass containing harmful alkaloid compounds
2. a disease affecting grain plants where the normal seed is supplanted by a dark poisonous fungal growth rich in dangerous chemical alkaloids
3. A fungal ailment of certain grains in which the normal kernels are replaced by dark, hardened masses containing toxic substances

Etymology: The fungus takes its name from a French word meaning "spur," and the link is literal: the dark, hardened bodies that grow on rye and other grasses look like the spurs of a rooster, curving out from the grain head where the seed should be. French "ergot" carried that sense of a spur, most likely from the notion of a spur-shaped excrescence on a bird's leg, and English borrowed the term for the growth itself. The fungus is a serious poisoner. Its alkaloids constrict blood vessels and can cause gangrene and convulsions in people who eat contaminated bread, a condition historically called St. Anthony's fire. The surprising part is how the word was borrowed: English speakers took a French term for a bird's spur and applied it to a disease-causing grain blight, so a rooster's anatomy ended up naming one of the most feared agricultural hazards in history.