Editing Fennel (section)

== Culture ==

The Greek name for fennel is ''marathon'' ({{lang|grc|μάραθον}}) or ''marathos'' ({{lang|grc|μάραθος}}),<ref name="marathon(the plant)LSJreference">{{LSJ|ma/raqon|μάραθον|ref}}.</ref> and the place of the famous [[battle of Marathon]] literally means a plain with fennel.<ref name="Marathon(the place)LSJreference">{{LSJ|*maraqw/n|Μαραθών|shortref}}.</ref> The word is first attested in [[Mycenaean Greek|Mycenaean]] [[Linear B]] form as ''{{lang|gmy|ma-ra-tu-wo}}''.<ref>On tablets [[Mycenae|MY]] Ge 602, MY Ge 606 + fr., MY Ge 605 + 607 + frr. + 60Sa + 605b. {{cite web |title=The Linear B word transliterated as ma-ra-tu-wo |url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16801 |publisher=Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of Ancient languages |access-date=19 March 2014 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307162420/http://palaeolexicon.com/showword.aspx?id=16801 |url-status=live }} {{cite web |last=Raymoure |first=K.A. |title=ma-ra-tu-wo |url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/ma/ma-ra-tu-wo/ |work=Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B |publisher=Deaditerranean |access-date=19 March 2014 |archive-date=5 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705082730/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/ma/ma-ra-tu-wo/ |url-status=dead }} {{cite web |title=MY 602 Ge (57) |url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5572 |access-date=19 March 2014 |archive-date=25 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725030452/https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5572 |url-status=live }} {{cite web |title=MY 606 Ge + fr. (57) |url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5576 |access-date=19 March 2014 |archive-date=29 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629040154/https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5576 |url-status=live }} {{cite web |title=MY 605 Ge + 607 + fr. [+] 60Sa + fr. [+] 605b + frr. (57) |url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5575 |website=DĀMOS: Database of Mycenaean at Oslo |publisher=[[University of Oslo]] |access-date=19 March 2014 |archive-date=25 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725014908/https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5575 |url-status=live }}</ref> In [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', [[Prometheus]] steals the ember of fire from the gods in a hollow fennel stalk.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hesiod |title=Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/348/348-h/348-h.htm |access-date=18 August 2019 |website=Project Gutenberg |archive-date=7 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107201406/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/348/348-h/348-h.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

As [[Old English]] ''{{lang|ang|finule}}'', fennel is one of the nine plants invoked in the [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|pagan Anglo-Saxon]] ''[[Nine Herbs Charm]]'', recorded in the 10th century.<ref>{{cite web |title=Old English Plant Names |url=http://oldenglish-plantnames.org/lemma/full_lemma/427 |access-date=2013-01-16 |archive-date=22 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422183400/http://oldenglish-plantnames.org/lemma/full_lemma/427 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 15th century, Portuguese settlers on [[Madeira]] noticed the abundance of wild fennel and used the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] word ''[[wikt:funcho#Portuguese|funcho]]'' (fennel) and the suffix ''{{lang|pt|-al}}'' to form the name of a new town, [[Funchal]].<ref>{{citation |author1=Frutuoso, G. |title=As Saudades da terra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KIsDAAAAYAAJ |page=39 |year=1873 |publisher=Typ. funchalense |language=pt |author2=de Azevedo, A.R.}}</ref>

[[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]]'s 1842 poem [http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=75 "The Goblet of Life"] repeatedly refers to the plant and mentions its purported ability to strengthen eyesight:

<blockquote><poem>Above the lower plants, it towers,
The Fennel with its yellow flowers;
And in an earlier age than ours
Was gifted with the wondrous powers
Lost vision to restore.</poem></blockquote>
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