Also 5 -maryn, -marye, 6 coste-, 6–7 costmarie. [f. COST sb.3 + (St.) Mary.
In the middle ages, the plant was widely associated in name with St. Mary; in French, the Grant Herbier of 15th c. has ‘Herba Sancte Marie, q. alio nomine dicitur costus dulcem … Herbe Sainte Marie, qui est autrement appellée cost ou coq’; and Middle or mod. High German names are Frauwencrut, Frauwenworcz, Marienmintz, Unser Frawen Mintz, Unser Frawen Distel, Marien-blättchen, etc. (Pritzel & Jersen, Deutsche Volksnamen). Cf. also quot. 1578 from Lyte, and Florio 1598 ‘costo … the herbe coaste or herbe Marie.’ The early form costmaryn (see quots. 1400, and 1530), which, on the analogy of Rosemary, might be supposed to be the original, appears to be either a corruption or an independent appellation. A recently proposed explanation of the name from a F. cost amer or L. costus amarus ‘bitter cost’ is superfluous.]
An aromatic perennial plant, Chrysanthemum (Pyrethrum, Tanacetum) Balsamita, otherwise Balsamita vulgaris, N.O. Compositæ, a native of the orient region, naturalized in the south of Europe, and cultivated in English gardens since the 16th c. as a flavoring herb; formerly used in medicine and to give a flavor to ale, whence also called ALECOST; = COST sb.3
The cultivated form seems to be a rayless variety (var. Tanacetoides).
c. 1400. Anc. Cookery, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 441. Take parsel, and myntes, and peletur, and costmaryn, and sauge.
c. 1450. Two Cookery-bks., 110. Take … a foil or .ij. of costmarye, a cloue of garleke.
1530. Palsgr., 209. Cost mary herbe, coste marine.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. lxxvi. 250. Called in Latin Balsamita maior … and of some Herba diuæ Mariæ; in English, Cooste marie and of some Balsamynte; in high Douch Frauwenkraut.
1590. Spenser, Muiopotmos, 195. Fresh costmarie and breathfull camomill.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countrie Farme, 182. Costmarie and Avens … to give a savour like spice in pottage and Salads.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 157. Costmary is also called Alecoast … if it be steeped a while in Ale … it maketh a pleasant drinke.
1863. F. Burr, Veget. Amer., 416. Costmary is a hardy, perennial plant.
