E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Pantag’ruel’ion Herb (The).
Hemp; so called “because Pantagruel was the inventor of a certain use which it serves for, exceeding hateful to felons, unto whom it is more hurtful than strangle-weed to flax.”
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“The figure and shape of the leaves are not much different from those of the ash-tree or the agrimony, the herb itself being so like the Eupato’rio that many herbalists have called it the ‘Domestic Eupatorio,’ and the Eupatorio the ‘Wild Pantagruelion.’”—Rabelais: Pantagruel, iii. 49.
