Obs. Also 5 cooste, 5–6 coste, 6 coast(e. [OE. cost, ad. L. costum (costos), a. Gr. κόστος = Arab. qust, Skr. kusṭha (Yule), the thick aromatic root of the composite plant Aucklandia Costus, now Aplotaxis Lappa (Treas. of Bot.), a native of Cashmere, imported as a spice by the Greeks and Romans. Thence transferred in the Middle Ages to another odoriferous plant.] The herb also called ALECOST or COSTMARY.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 276. Wermod, betonica, redic, merce, cost. Ibid., III. 24. Wermod eoforþrote æncglisc cost.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xii. (1495). The juys of warmode wyth powder of Coste.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 57. Bi þe enoynture of hote oiles as oile of coste.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 94. Cooste, herbe, costus.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 170. Of Barly, or Millet, of Commin, of Coast.
1585. Lloyd, Treas. Health, S viij. Coste or Detyn stampt & mixt with oyle.
1598. Florio, Costo … the herbe Coaste or herbe Marie.
ǁ Occas. used in Lat. form costus, costum.
1559. Morwyng, Evonym., 158. Sage, costum, rew, sothernwod.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 32. There are two sorts of this Costus, the sweet and the bitter.
