Afsantin (wormwood in Arabic pharmacology)

Afsantin, from the Greek apsinthion, is the Arabic name for common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) and similar plants. Medical writers called it kashuth rumi.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed R. Anhegger, says that the word, also found as arsintin or ifsintin, mostly denotes common wormwood but also similar kinds of plants, and that the cognate isfint names absinth wine in Arabic poetry. Much of what the authors say about afsantin goes back to classical sources. Its kinds were classified by origin, such as Egyptian and Khurasanian, and the wormwood of Tyre and Tarsus was considered the best. Its yellow flower was used as a tonic, vermifuge, laxative and diuretic, and as an antitoxin; externally it went into plasters and oils, its juice mixed with ink was said to preserve paper, and it was used against hair loss. ¹