hebenon

English

Alternative forms

• hebon, hebona

Noun

hebenon (uncountable)

1. (now rare) A plant or flower used in the works of Shakespeare and Marlowe to make a poison (cp. with John Gower's hebenus).
   • c. 1592, Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta:

     In few, the blood of Hydra, Lerna's bane,
     The juice of hebon, and Cocytus' breath.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

     […] vpon my ſecure houre
     Thy vncle came, with iuyce of Hebona
     In a viall […]

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 258, column 1:

     Vpon my ſecure hower thy Vncle ſtole
     With iuyce of curſed Hebenon in a Violl […]

   • 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 103:

     Grim Mᴀɴᴄɪɴᴇʟʟᴀ haunts the mossy bed,
     Brews her black hebenon, and stealing near
     Pours the curst venom in his tortured ear.

   • 1977, Lesley Gordon, Green Magic: Flowers, Plants, & Herbs in Lore & Legend, page 99:

     Tree of many names, and under any of them, of ill repute, was the hebenon, hebona, hebenus, hebon or heben. At best, poets wrote of its narcotic effects. As early as 1386, John Gower wrote in Confessio Amantis, of 'Hebenus, that slepy tre'.

   • 2021, Christian Cantrell, Scorpion:

     From a compartment in his pouch, ranveer produces the dark glass vial of hebenon solution and gives it a few quick shakes. If there were a handbook for such things, it would advise that hebenon is best used in circumstances where the subject is in a very deep sleep or a coma.

Usage notes

• See the Wikipedia article for discussion of the plant's identity.