dittany noun. ['dɪtǝni] LME.
[Old French dita
i. n (from medieval Latin dictamus) & medieval Latin ditaneum (from late Latin dictamnium) from Latin dictamnus, -um from Greek diktamnon, perh. from Diktē mountain in Crete where it grows.]
1. A dwarf shrub, Origanum dictamnus, of the mint family with pink flowers and white woolly leaves, native to Crete and Greece and cultivated for window-boxes etc.; formerly supposed to have the power to expel weapons. LME.
fig.:
■ T. Brugis But this newes..was a forcible dittany to drive this arrow out of the wound.

2. Orig., any of various plants resembling dittany, spec. = DITTANDER 1. Now (US), any plant of the genus Cunila of the mint family, sometimes grown as culinary herbs; spec. C. origanoides. M16.

3. The plant Dictamnus albus, fraxinella. E17.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲