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And isn't mandrake known as the "little man"? A slight? Or am I misremembering?
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Carpal Tunnel
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The roots of the mandrake do look a bit like human legs,
but I don't remember any suggestion that gave it the name.
I'll go look.
From the Internet:
The derivation of the word mandragora and the English name mandrake is
still uncertain. By some, mandrake is said to be a corruption of the
Greek and Latin mandragoras, while another suggestion is that it is
compounded of the Sanscrit words Mandros, sleep, and Agora, an object or
substance, the whole meaning the "Sleep-producing drug." The Persian
names are also suggestive, thus besides merdomgia we find segken,
istereng and ebrewi ssanam. Segken means "dog-dug.", istereng may refer
to the luminosity of the root, and ebrewi ssanam "the face of an idol."
The Mystic Mandrake
by C.J.S. Thompson
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
Definition: \Man"drake\, n. [AS. mandragora, L. mandragoras, fr.
Gr. ?: cf. F. mandragore.]
1. (Bot.) A low plant ({Mandragora officinarum}) of the
Nightshade family, having a fleshy root, often forked, and
supposed to resemble a man. It was therefore supposed to
have animal life, and to cry out when pulled up. All parts
of the plant are strongly narcotic. It is found in the
Mediterranean region.
And shrieks like mandrakes, torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad. --Shak.
Note: The mandrake of Scripture was perhaps the same plant,
but proof is wanting.
2. (Bot.) The May apple ({Podophyllum peltatum}). See {May
apple} under {May}, and {Podophyllum}. [U.S.]
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Carpal Tunnel
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1595 in Maitl. Club Misc. I. 73 Ane ressavear of huiris and harlottis in her hous.
...that one brought to mind the old crossword favorite "houri," usually defined as "harem resident" or words to that effect. Any connection?
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
houri
SYLLABICATION: hou·ri
PRONUNCIATION: hr, hr
NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. hou·ris
1. A voluptuous, alluring woman. 2. One of the beautiful virgins of the Koranic paradise.
ETYMOLOGY: French, from Persian r, from Arabic rya, nymph, houri, from r, pl. of ’awaru, feminine of awr’u, possessing awar, intense whiteness of the sclera contrasting with deep blackness of the iris of the eye. See wr in Appendix II.
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Go and Catch a Falling Star
Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.
If thou beest born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true, and fair.
If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet;
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.
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