Artemisia is a genus of herbaceous plants formerly known as "Absinthe" (in Greek apsinthos ), a name later attributed to the well-known super alcoholic drink. In English, Artemisia is known as Wormwood (a noun that seems to derive from the two words worm and wood, worm and wood / wood).
Absinthe is mentioned 7 times in the Hebrew sacred text, always in association with its characteristic bitter taste.
The mugwort was also mentioned several times in the "new testament". In the Book of Revelation (Revelation 8:11), the Absinthe is in fact the name of a star dropped on Earth: kai a onoma tou Asteros legetai ho Apsinthos ; in poor offspring, John of Patmos imagines and writes of a sort of meteorite (named Absinthe) which will be dropped into drinking water (to the sound of the third angel's trumpet), making them bitter and undrinkable since poisonous. Other references in the Bible refer to Absinthe as a herb known for its bitterness (Deuteromy 29:17, Proverbs 5: 4, Jeremiah 9-14 and 25:15, Lamentations 3:15 and 19, Amos 5: 7).
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist quotes "Wormwood wormwood" to comment on the bitter implications of what the "Player Queen" says.
