In English, the word indicating wormwood is wormwood, or the union of the words worm (worm) and wood (forest).
The Italian term absinthe derives from the French absinthe, which refers to both the alcoholic beverage and the Artemisia genus with which it is produced . Of this, the large one (Specie absinthium ) and the small one (Specie pontica ) differ; the noun comes from the Latin Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting ( Artemis ).
Absinthe comes from the Latin absinthium, which in turn originates from the ancient Greek apsínthion . The use of Artemisia absinthium in a drink is described in "De Rerum Natura" (I 936-950), by Lucretius, in which the medicinal use of the plant given to children is cited (with honey smeared on the cup to make it palatable) .
Not by chance, some argue that, in Greek, the word means "undrinkable". On the other hand it can also be linked to Persian spand or aspand, or to the esfand variant which refers to Peganum harmala (very bitter herb), also called Syrian Rue; in reality, Artemisia absinthium is not a variety of rue .
Artemisia absinthium was commonly burned as an offering in exchange for protection, which suggests that its origins are attributable to the Proto-Indo-European spend root, which means "to perform a ritual" or "to bid". It is not clear, however, whether the term was transferred from Persian to Greek or whether both had the same root. Alternatively, the Greek word may have originated from a pre-Greek Pelasgian noun, structured from a complex of non-Indo-European consonants.
Other alternative spellings for absinthe include: absinth, absynthe and absenta . Absinth (without the final "e") is a spelling variant commonly applied to beverages produced in Central and Eastern Europe, and is specifically associated with Bohemian absinthe (Czech Republic).
