Woodruff

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small woodland herb with whorls of narrow leaves and sweet-smelling white flowers, often used to flavor wine and May punch
2. A low-growing plant of European forests whose leaves give off a sweet scent when dried and which is used in drinks
3. Sweet-scented perennial herb of shady woods, valued in Europe for flavoring beverages such as Maiwein and other spiced drinks

Etymology: Woodruff is a small woodland plant, and its name is a compound that is older than most of the English language. It comes from Old English "wudurofe", built from "wudu", meaning wood, and "rofe", whose exact meaning and origin nobody has settled. Scholars have proposed that "rofe" relates to a word for a roof or a rough, bristly surface, a guess that fits the plant's whorls of narrow leaves, but the link remains uncertain. Taken at face value, the name is simply "wood-rofe," a plant of the woods, and the second element is the only part that has been lost to time. Because the rest of the word is transparent, the puzzle sits entirely in that one syllable, which is why the word repays a look even though its parts are familiar.