From folk medicine · Kashgar, eleventh century

“If there is elecampane, the horse will not die”

Kaşgarlı Mahmud’s dictionary says the root of elecampane (aŋduz, Inula helenium) is good for a horse’s colic, and records a proverb: “If there is elecampane, the horse will not die.” In the same dictionary Syrian rue is yıdıg ot in Kashgar and yüzerlik among the Oghuz; pennyroyal is yarpuz, wormwood yawçan and birch kadıŋ. Some of these names still live in Anatolian dialects.

Source: M. Özden, “Türkçenin İlk Sözlüğünde Kullanılan Bitki Adlarının Günümüz Anadolu Ağızlarındaki İzdüşümleri”, Türkiye Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 2018 (Özden, Türkiye Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 2018). This is a folk record, not a treatment recommendation.

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