calamint
noun
Forms calamints
- noun Any species of aromatic garden herb of the genus Calamintha, now often included in Clinopodium.
Etymology
From French calament (assimilated in English to mint), from Old French calament, calamente, from Medieval Latin calamentum, from Latin calaminthe, from Ancient Greek καλαμίνθη (kalamínthē, “an odoriferous plant”), of uncertain origin (either by haplology from *καλαμο-μίνθη (*kalamo-mínthē) or a loanword, which Beekes considers most likely to be from Pre-Greek).
Attested since early 17th century.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A genus of perennial plants (Calamintha) of the Mint family, esp. the C. Nepela and C. Acinos, which are called also basil thyme.
Etymology [OE. calamint, calemente (cf. F. calament) fr. L. calamintha, Gr. Mint.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “calamint”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details