henbane

English

henbane

Etymology

From Middle English henbane, hennebane ( > French hanebane), equivalent to hen +‎ bane. Cognate with Danish hønsebane, Swedish hönsbane. Compare also Old English hennebelle (“henbane”, literally “hen-bell”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛnbeɪn/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

henbane (countable and uncountable, plural henbanes)

1. A poisonous plant, Hyoscyamus niger, used sometimes as a drug that causes at least hallucinations, dilated pupils, restlessness, and flushed skin.

   Synonyms: black henbane, hog's bane, stinking nightshade

   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 157:

     Deadly nightshade, henbane, hellebore and mandrakes were of evil reputation[.]

   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 114:

     Henbane acts as an anaphrodisiac.

   • 1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 12:

     After studying the book for several minutes, he began to assemble a weird collection of plants and herbs on the floor in front of him. Hemlock and foxglove, ivy and deadnettle, henbane and marigold[.]

2. Any other plant of the genus Hyoscyamus.

Synonyms

• (Hyoscyamus): hyoscyamus

Derived terms

• black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger)
• Egyptian henbane (Hyoscyamus muticus)
• golden henbane (Hyoscyamus aureus)
• white henbane (Hyoscyamus albus)
• yellow henbane (Physalis viscosa)

Translations

Hyoscyamus niger

• Arabic: بَنْج m (banj)
• Armenian: բանգի (hy) (bangi)
• Asturian: beleñu m
• Azerbaijani: batbat, bəngotu
• Belarusian: блёкат m (bljókat)
• Bezhta: модадо (modado)
• Bulgarian: буника f (bunika), блен m (blen), попадийка f (popadijka)
• Catalan: jusquiam m
• Chechen: бугӏа-яр (buğa-jar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 天仙子 (zh) (tiānxiānzǐ), 莨菪 (zh) (làngdàng)

• Czech: blín (cs) m
• Danish: bulmeurt c
• Dutch: bilzekruid (nl) n
• Esperanto: hiskiamo
• Finnish: hullukaali (fi)
• French: jusquiame (fr) f
• Galician: meimendro (gl) m, moimendro m, arangaños m, herba dos ouvidos f, herba do gorgullo (gl) f
• Georgian: ლენცოფა (lencopa)
• German: Bilsenkraut (de) n
• Greek: δαιμοναριά (el) f (daimonariá)

  Ancient Greek: ὑοσκύαμος m (huoskúamos)

• Hungarian: beléndek (hu), bolondító beléndek (hu)
• Ido: hiskiamo (io)
• Ingrian: matoheinä
• Irish: caoch na gcearc f, gafann f

  Middle Irish: gafann f

• Italian: giusquiamo (it) m, dente di cavallo
• Japanese: ヒヨス (ja) (hiyosu), 菲沃斯 (hiyosu)
• Kazakh: меңдуана (meñduana)
• Korean: 사리풀 (saripul)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: beng (ku) m

• Kyrgyz: меңдубана (ky) (meŋdubana)
• Latin: baccīna f, alterculum n, hyoscyamus m
• Latvian: driģene f
• Lithuanian: drignė f
• Macedonian: буника f (bunika)
• Manx: connagh ny giark f
• Nogai: менъдувана (meñduvana)
• Norman: hannebanne f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bulmeurt m or f

  Nynorsk: bulmeurt f

• Occitan: jusquiam m
• Ossetian: къусбын (k’usbyn)
• Persian: بنگ (fa) (bang), منگ (fa) (mang)
• Polish: lulek czarny (pl) m
• Portuguese: meimendro (pt) m
• Romanian: măselariță (ro) f
• Russian: белена́ (ru) f (belená)
• Scottish Gaelic: gafann m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бу̀ника f

  Latin: bùnika (sh) f

• Slovak: blen m
• Slovene: zobnik m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: bělmanowe n

  Upper Sorbian: woblěd

• Spanish: beleño (es) m

  Old Spanish: bellinno m

• Swedish: bolmört (sv) c
• Turkish: kara banotu
• Udmurt: пиньтурын (pińturyn)
• Ukrainian: блекота́ (uk) f (blekotá)
• Uzbek:

  Cyrillic: мингдевона (mingdevona)

  Latin: mingdevona (uz)

• Welsh: llewyg yr iâr m
• Yiddish: שגעון גראז n (shigoen groz)

any plant of the genus Hyoscyamus

• Polish: lulek m

Further reading

• henbane on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Hyoscyamus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Hyoscyamus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons