dittany

English

Etymology

From Old French ditan (French dictame), from Latin dictamnum, from Ancient Greek δίκταμνον (díktamnon), reportedly from Δίκτη (Díktē, “Dicte”), a mountain in Crete on whose slopes the plant grew.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪtəni/

Noun

dittany (countable and uncountable, plural dittanies)

1. A labiate plant of species Origanum dictamnus, formerly renowned for its medicinal properties; dittany of Crete.
2. A fragrant plant in the rue family, Dictamnus albus.

   Synonym: fraxinella, gas plant, burning bush

3. False dittany (Pseudodictamnus mediterraneus, syn. Ballota pseudodictamnus)
4. (US) A fragrant herb in the mint family native to the eastern United States (Cunila origanoides).

   Synonym: common dittany, stone mint, frost mint, American dittany

Translations

dittany of Crete

Arabic: مُشْكِطْرَامَشِير m (muškiṭrāmašīr) (obsolete) Bulgarian: кри́тски ри́ган m (krítski rígan) Catalan: marduix de Creta m Danish: please add this translation if you can Finnish: kreetanmeirami French: dictame (fr) German: Diptam-Dost m, Diktamo m or n, kretischer Diptam m Greek: δίκταμο (el) n (díktamo) Ancient: δίκταμνον n (díktamnon) Italian: dittamo (it) m Persian: مشکطرامشیر (mošktarâmašir) Russian: души́ца диктамнус f (dušíca diktamnus), души́ца кри́тская f (dušíca krítskaja) Slovene: jesẹ̑nček m Swedish: kretadiptam c Turkish: mercan köşk, mercanköşk (tr)

Dictamnus albus — see gas plant

Further reading

• Dittany on Wikipedia.Wikipedia