stanmarch

English

Etymology

From Middle English stanmarche, from Old English stānmerċe, compound of stān (“stone”) +‎ merċe (“smallage”).

Noun

stanmarch (uncountable)

1. (archaic) Smyrnium olusatrum, alexanders, horse parsley, an herb of the umbellifer family.
   • 1877 January 11, Thomas Comber, “The etymology of plant names, Part II. Kitchen-vegetables and salad-plants”, in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire‎^[1], page 62:

     The A. S. name [mersc] passed into Old Eng. and survived to Turner’s time ; but now occurs only in Stanmarch, which has been transferred from the Parsley to the allied Alexanders, or Horse-parsley (Smyrnium Olusatrum, L.) a plant formerly much cultivated for salads.

   • 1897, William Thomas Fernie, Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure‎^[2], Lettuce, page 313:

     The herb was also known as Stanmarch. It grows on waste places by rivers near the sea, having been formerly cultivated like celery, which has now supplanted it.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• Marchants, marchants