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.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , II.4.1.ii:

     […] turbith, agaric, myrobolanes, hermodactyls, from the East Indies, tobacco from the West […]