hermodactyl

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin hermodactylus, from Ancient Greek ἑρμοδάκτυλος (hermodáktulos, “Hermes's finger”).

Noun

hermodactyl (plural hermodactyls)

  1. (obsolete) A type of root, probably from a plant of the genus Colchicum, as imported and used in Western medicine.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
      , II.4.1.ii:
      […] turbith, agaric, myrobolanes, hermodactyls, from the East Indies, tobacco from the West […]
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