Language is such a powerful tool; the way we phrase things, intonation, body positioning, facial expressions, the list of “language” styles we employ in our daily lives is extensive. I’ve always been fascinated by language and took this into my original career working in marketing before heading onwards into more educational roles. The area that most often piques my interest is understanding where words, sayings or names come from as I find this really helps lodge information in my memory banks to pull out when the time is right. In the realms of learning styles, however, I’m a real mixture from VARK which stands for Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic - nothing to do with alien planets, like Ork from Mork and Mindy, but it shows the connections I make internally to help remember stuff. When it comes to learning styles, I need all of it to fall into place to really stick, and I see all the different styles in the many customers that stand in front of me each year.
When I first discovered Bushcraft as a possibility for work, I’d been teaching for years and still maintain to this day that if you can teach then learning a skill is easier than having a skill and then learning to teach. I’ve seen people with masses of skill completely unable to engage an audience and I’ve seen those with basic skills hold an audience absolutely captivated. And more often than not it comes down to their command of language in all its many forms – showing through demonstration, describing through words, communicating with notes and getting groups hands on (VARK). I’ve found this understanding of peoples learning styles and use of language can have massive impacts. My time working with a wide range of students from 4 to 18 years of age, with and without special educational needs, really honed this skill, well before coming to Bushcraft. Ever seen the effects of telling a child with autism to hurry up while crossing a busy road by using the phrase “pull your socks up”; that’s a mistake a colleague of mine at the time would never make again.
I’ve written blogs before around language and how that related to herbalism, or the more controversial name of witchcraft, and also the possible source of the name arapuca for the well-known bird trap. But for this blog it all started with the last autumn forage of the year I delivered with a group in our Derbyshire woods. We were walking along the edge our woodland along the banks of the River Derwent, and I was surprised to see a massive Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) as although I’m very familiar with plant I’d never seen one in this location. It was also soon after I’d had a conversation with one of my colleagues about how rife Mugwort seemed this year, so synapses started firing and knowledge started to come forth to engage the customers with this wonderful plant. Now I’m sure I could write lots and little of it would be news to you, such as, what does that common name relate to, what family does the plant reside in, what sits behind the scientific name and how does all that relate to the “green fairy” and artists like Vincent van Gogh. Well, I’m not going to answer any of that just yet as this connection in my mind is a bit more obscure and takes me back to just 4 days after I turned 13 years old, the date was 26th April 1986, does that mean anything to you?
To be perfectly honest if you’d asked me the exact date of this event I wouldn’t have been confident either, but I knew it was close to my birthday; I am of course referring to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. As I said before I love stories, knowing where things originate from and that fascination had me flicking through a copy of Plant Magic by Gregory J Kenicer. In this wonderful book, just a few days after the forage it happened to serendipitously fall open on Mugwort, so I felt compelled to read. In his book Gregory summarises a Slavic story about how mentioning the plants name is forbidden for a young girl who is the main protagonist. She spends a winter in a pit with a the golden-horned snake queen’s serpent subjects and is granted magical powers in the form of speaking to plants and learning their medicinal powers. In the spring she climbs out and enjoys her powers for many years until one fateful day. In talking with a man, he asks, ‘What’s that plant by the roadside?’ and she replies ‘Chernobyl’ without thinking and her magic was gone. You see it turns out Chernobyl is derived from the Ukrainian/Russian word for “wormwood”, “blackweed” or “black thing” (which may refer to its colouring when dead), otherwise known as Mugwort and the modern-day area gets its name from the fact the plant grows abundantly there. And that’s what I love about finding out origins, sometimes the reality is far more obscure that anything my rabbit hole of a mind can conjure up.
So now we’ve cleared that up let’s go back to a brief overview of Mugwort…
What is the origin of the name?
Wort derives from a Germanic word that transferred into Old English as ‘wyrt’ and changed over time to wort. The word simply means ’root’. You’ll find this ending to many plants such as Ragwort, St Johns Wort, Lungwort, Stitchwort etc and the beginning of the name usually references it’s use, description or story connection. So Mugwort as a name has a few possibilities, some more accepted than others. Possibilities include:
- Flavouring Drinks: The Anglo-Saxon term mucgwyrt was mentioned in the Nine Herbs Charm.
- Repelling Moths and Insects: The "-mug" part is thought by some to come from the Old English moughte (meaning moth), or from the Old Germanic muggiwurti meaning "fly or gnat plant". This theory suggests the name refers to the plant's ability to repel moths and gnats.
- Folk Etymology: Some sources suggest the connection to the word "mug" is a folk etymology which is a derivation based on coincidental sounds rather than historical accuracy.
What scientific family does it reside in?
Artemisia sits within the Daisy family (Asteraceae).
What sits behind the scientific name?
The name Artemisia is derived from a female name of Greek origin, meaning "gift from Artemis" or referring to the goddess Artemis, who is associated with the hunt, wilderness, moon, and childbirth. The moon also links with Mugwort's distinctive silver undersides on its leaves that are said to reflect the moon's light, symbolizing its connection to the moon's energy, sleep and dreams. Vulgaris simply means common.
How does all that relate to the “green fairy” and artists like Vincent van Gogh?
Absinthe, a liquor containing the wormwood plant (Artemisia absinthium), was a popular drink in 19th and early 20th-century European Bohemian culture, inspiring many artists and writers who associated it with heightened creativity and inspiration. Prominent figures like Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Edgar Degas are known for their connections to absinthe, with some depicted in paintings or credited with its use as a muse for their work. The drink's association with the artistic and intellectual elite, along with its rumoured psychoactive effects, contributed to its cultural significance and eventual widespread ban in many countries. Absinthe, was also known as "la fée verte” which translates to the green fairy.
So there you have it nuclear disaster to Mugwort via green fairies - stories and links that fix things in my mind for good. How does your mind work? Which bit of VARK do you relate to?