Herb. Obs. Forms: α. 6–8 tithi-, tithymal, -e, 7 tithymall, -e, tythimal, -l, tythymalle. β. 5 tytymal, titi-, titymalle, 8 titimale. [ad. L. tithymal(l)us spurge, tithymalis sea-spurge (Pliny), a. Gr. τιθύμαλος, τιθυμαλίς. Cf. F. tithymale (13th c. in Godef., Compl.).] An old name of the Spurge genus of plants.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 294. Take þe grete titimalle & þe smale, & boile hem in vinegre & in oile.
c. 1410. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xi. An erbe þe whiche is cleped tytymal, þe whiche poticaryes knoweth well.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxix. 355. There are … seuen sortes of Tithymal.
1601. Chester, Love’s Martyr (1878), 84. There Mugwort, Sena and Tithiemailes.
a. 1687. Petty, Pol. Anat., xiii. What is said of the herb Mackenbory is fabulous, only that ’tis a tythimal, which will purge furiously.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 36. The Esula or Spurge is a kind of Tithymal.
