pennyroyal

English

Wikispecies

pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium

Etymology

Apparently an alteration (after penny) of Anglo-Norman puliol royal, from Latin pūlegium.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɛ̝nɪˈɹɔɪ̯əl/
• (Standard Southern British, MLE) IPA^(key): /pɛnɪjˈɹojəl/

Noun

pennyroyal (plural pennyroyals)

1. Mentha pulegium, a plant of the mint family, formerly much used in various medicinal treatments and as a flea repellent.
   • 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 216:

     Dioscorides says that Pennyroyal makes thin, tough phlegm, warms the coldness of any part whereto it is applied, and digests raw or corrupt matter.

2. (music, obsolete) A traditional old well-known song, especially a spiritual folksong.
   • 1878 December, “He Playing She”, in The Elocutionist's Journal, number 22, page 4:

     Offenbach and the old college airs, song and dance tunes and pennyroyals, formed the staples for the introduction of hits on manners and times.

   • 1890 October 6, Arthur A. Putnam, “Recollections of the Church Choirs of North Danvers”, in Historic Collections of the Danvers Society:

     The singing in the schoolhouse was more like that of one of the old-fashioned, large Yankee families gathered round the hearthstone and singing "pennyroyals" Sunday nights.

   • 1905, Methodist Review, volume 87:

     The sort of tune […] variously denominated "gospel song", "spiritual song", "pennyroyal",

   • 1910 October, The Brown Alumni Monthly, volume 11, page 74:

     However, three or four of the old "pennyroyals" seem to have stood the test of time.

   • 1987, Paul Gaarder Kaatrud, Revivalism and the Popular Spiritual Song in Mid-nineteenth Century America: 1830-1870:

     Asking his subscribers to send him "old pennyroyal tunes" and "popular airs," he received many contributions from unknown personages, such as "a Shermantown friend," a "Mr. A. V. Parker," a "Mr. R. H. Williams" of Westmoreland, and a "Brother Robbins."

Alternative forms

• penny royal

Synonyms

• (species): European pennyroyal, pennyrile, pudding grass, mosquito plant, squaw mint

Derived terms

• bastard pennyroyal
• hart's pennyroyal

 

Translations

Mentha pulegium

• Arabic: فُوذَنَج m (fūḏanaj), فْلِيُّو m (fliyyū), نَعْنَاع بَرِّي m (naʕnāʕ barrī)
• Basque: txortalo
• Bulgarian: полски джоджен m (polski džodžen)
• Catalan: poliol m
• Estonian: kirbumünt
• Finnish: puolanminttu (fi)
• Galician: poexo (gl) m
• Georgian: ომბალო (ombalo)
• German: Polei m, Poleiminze f, Flohkraut n
• Greek: φλησκούνι (el) n (fliskoúni)

  Ancient: βλήχων m (blḗkhōn)

• Hungarian: csombormenta (hu)
• Irish: borógach f
• Latin: pūlegium n
• Old English: hyllwyrt f, polleġie f
• Persian: پونه (fa) (pune), رافونه (râfune)
• Russian: мя́та боло́тная f (mjáta bolótnaja), мя́та бло́шница f (mjáta blóšnica)
• Spanish: poleo m
• Turkish: yarpuz (tr)
• Welsh: brymlys m

See also

• American pennyroyal, American false pennyroyal
• savin
• tansy