Editing Thyme (section)

== History ==
[[File:Flowering thyme.JPG|thumb|Flowering thyme]]
[[Thymus serpyllum|Wild thyme]] grows in the [[Levant]], where it might have been first cultivated. [[Ancient Egypt]]ians used common thyme (''Thymus vulgaris'') for [[embalming]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Medical News Today - What are the benefits of thyme? |url=https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266016#history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710220606/https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266016#benefits |archive-date=2024-07-10 |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=MedicalNewsToday}}</ref>  The [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] used it in their baths and burnt it as [[incense]] in their temples, believing it was a source of [[courage]].

The spread of thyme throughout Europe was thought to be due to the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs".<ref name="Maud">{{cite web|url=https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/t/thygar16.html|title=Thyme. A Modern Herbal|edition=Hypertext version of the 1931|work=botanical.com|last=Grieve|first=Mrs. Maud|access-date=February 9, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110223130247/http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/t/thygar16.html|archive-date=February 23, 2011}}</ref> In the European [[Middle Ages]], the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares.<ref name="Huxley">Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan.</ref>  In this period, women also often gave [[knight]]s and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves, as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on [[coffin]]s during [[funerals]], as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.englishplants.co.uk/thyme.html|title=Thyme (thymus)|work=englishplants.co.uk|publisher=The English Cottage Garden Nursery|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927050614/http://www.englishplants.co.uk/thyme.html|archive-date=2006-09-27}}</ref>

The name of the genus of fish ''[[Thymallus]]'', first given to the [[Thymallus thymallus|grayling]] (''T. thymallus'', described in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758 edition of ''Systema Naturae'']] by Swedish zoologist [[Carl Linnaeus]]), originates from the faint smell of thyme that emanates from the flesh.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aquaticcommons.org/8072/1/119_Ingram.pdf |title=The Ecology and Management of the European Grayling ''Thymallus thymallus'' (Linnaeus) |author1=Ingram, A. |author2=Ibbotson, A. |author3=Gallagher, M. |publisher=Institute of Freshwater Ecology |location=East Stoke, Wareham, U.K. |access-date=2014-02-27 |page=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20140228233124/http://aquaticcommons.org/8072/1/119_Ingram.pdf |archive-date=2014-02-28 }}</ref>