hemlock

English

Conium maculatum, one of the umbellifers called hemlock

Tsuga heterophylla, one of the conifers called hemlock

Etymology

From Middle English hemlok, hemeluc, from Old English hymlīc, hymlīce (“hemlock, bryony, convulvus”, literally “hops-like”), from hymele (“hop-vine”), from Proto-Germanic *humalaz, *humalōn, of unknown origin. Perhaps from Scythian *haumala, a diminutive of *hauma (“ephedra; juice”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma from Proto-Indo-European *seue- (“to suck; juice”).

cognates

• (from Proto-Germanic *humalaz, *humalōn) Old Norse humall, Middle Low German homele
• (from Sarmato-Scythian *haumala) Ossetian хумæллæг (xumællæg, “hops”)
• (from Sarmato-Scythian *hauma) Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬊𐬨𐬀‏ (haoma), Baluchi [script needed] (hum), Persian هوم‏ (hōm))
• (from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma) Sanskrit सोम (soma))

More at suck.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛmˌlɒk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

hemlock (plural hemlocks)

1. Any of the poisonous umbelliferous plants, of the genera
   1. Conium, either Conium maculatum or Conium chaerophylloides.
   2. Cicuta, water hemlock plant.
2. The poison obtained from these Conium and Cicuta plants.
3. Any of several coniferous trees, of the genus Tsuga, that grow in North America; the wood of such trees.

Synonyms

• (Conium): beaver poison, devil's porridge, herb bennet, musquash root, poison hemlock, poison parsley, spotted corobane, spotted hemlock Conium maculatum; Conium chaerophylloides; Conium conium maculatum

Derived terms

• eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)
• Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana)
• Taiwan hemlock, Chinese hemlock (Tsuga chinensis)
• northern Japanese hemlock (Tsuga diversifolia)
• Himalayan hemlock (Tsuga dumosa)
• Forrest's hemlock (Tsuga forrestii)
• western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
• southern Japanese hemlock (Tsuga sieboldii)
• mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana)
• poison hemlock
• hemlock woolly adelgid

Translations

tree

• Catalan: tsuga f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鐵杉 (zh), 铁杉 (zh) (tiěshān), 毒草名 (zh) (dúcǎomíng)

• Czech: jedlovec m
• Danish: hemlock, skarntydegran
• Dutch: hemlockspar
• Esperanto: cugo
• Estonian: tsuuga
• Finnish: hemlokki (fi)
• French: pruche (fr) f

• German: Hemlocktanne f
• Japanese: ツガ (tsuga), 栂 (ja) (つが, tsuga)
• Norwegian: hemlokk
• Polish: choina (pl)
• Portuguese: tsuga m
• Russian: тсу́га (ru) f (tsúga)
• Spanish: falso abeto m
• Swedish: hemlockgran
• Ukrainian: тсу́га f (tsúha)

poisonous plant of genus Conium

• Albanian: kukutë f
• Aromanian: cucutã f
• Bulgarian: бучиниш m (bučiniš)
• Catalan: cicuta (ca) f
• Czech: bolehlav (cs) m
• Danish: skarntyde c
• Dutch: scheerling
• Finnish: katko (fi), myrkkykatko (fi)
• French: ciguë (fr) f
• German: Schierling (de) m, (Conium maculatum) Gefleckter Schierling m
• Greek: κώνειο (el) n (kóneio)

  Ancient: κώνειον n (kṓneion)

• Hebrew: רֹאשׁ‏‎ (he) m (rosh)
• Hungarian: bürök (hu)
• Italian: cicuta (it) f
• Japanese: ドクニンジン (dokuninjin)
• Polish: szczwół m
• Portuguese: cicuta (pt) f
• Romanian: cucută (ro)
• Russian: болиголо́в (ru) m (boligolóv)
• Scottish Gaelic: iteodha f
• Spanish: cicuta f
• Turkish: baldırgan (tr)
• Volapük: (Conium) konid, (Conium maculatum) stenöfakonid, konidavenen (poison)

poisonous plant of genus Cicuta — see cowbane