Also 3 beneit, 5 benet, bennett. [ME. herbe beneit, prob. a. OF. herbe beneite (in mod.F. benoîte), transl. L. herba benedicta ‘blessed herb,’ in It. erba benedetta, Ger. benedicte, also benedictenkraut, benedictenwurz. Of herba benedicta Platearius is quoted in the Ortus Samtatis of 1486, as saying ‘Where the root is in the house the devil can do nothing, and flies from it; wherefore it is blessed above all other herbs.’ (Prior.) To what plant these virtues were originally ascribed, and how the name was eventually attached to Geum urbanum, cannot be determined: see Prior.]
In Herb Bennet, name of a species of Avens, Geum urbanum (N.O. Rosaceæ), a common European wayside plant with yellow flower. The name was vaguely or inaccurately applied by early herbalists, being given also to the Hemlock and, according to Prior, to the Wild Valerian.
c. 1265. in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 558. Herba benedicta, herbe beneit, hemeluc.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk. (1868), 184. Herbe benet, bresewort, & smallache.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 133. The leaues of … Auens, or Herbe Bennet, are rough.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. xxxi. The Fervency of Lust is abated by certain Drugs, Plants, Herbs, and Roots … Mandrake, Bennet, Keckbuglosse.
1883. Longm. Mag., July, 308. The roadside herb-bennet or common avens is yellow, like cinquefoil.
