Wash your mouth out: Gargarice, gargoyles and Joseph Lister

Q. Gargarice

A. A 13th-century French word for gargarism borrowed by the English language.

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Q. Gargarism

A. From the Latin gargarismus, gargarism is a mouthwash (though in the 17th century it also referred to a throat disease which affected pigs). As in gargle. All these words are onomatopoeic of the sound made when you, well, gargle; no other word for it. Recipes for gargarice usually included one or all of the following: wine, pepper, honey, vinegar, camphor, whatever spices were available ('grayn of paradys' - that's cardamom to you - was a popular one) and rosemary. The latter was particularly favoured, as shown in this from John Gerarde's Herbal of 1597: 'Rosemary comforteth the brain, the memory and the inward senses. The distilled water of the flowers, being drunk morning and evening, taketh away the stench of the mouth and breath and maketh it very sweet.'

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Q. So this obsession with fresh breath isn't just a modern phenomenon

A. By no means. Odontosmegma, or 'tooth-soap', appears in Edward Topsell's 1607 History of Four-Footed Beasts as being a powder made 'of the heads of mice being burned...unto which if spikenard be added or mingled, it will take away any filthy scent or strong savour in the mouth.' (Spikenard is lavender, by the way.) Heads of mice Who'd credit it

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Anyway, the famous Nicholas Culpeper advocated less alarming ideas in his Physicall Directory of 1649, favouring the more holistic 'head-purge': 'The head is purged by Gargarisms, of which mustard, in my opinion, is excellent, and therefore a spoonful of mustard put into the mouth is excellent for one that is troubled with the lethargy.'

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Q. What's the reference to Lister

A. Sir Joseph Lister (1827-1912) - later Baron Lister of Lyme Regis - was a British surgeon and medical scientist who was the founder of antiseptic medicine and a pioneer in preventive medicine. His principle, that bacteria must never gain entry to an operation wound, remains the basis of surgery to this day.

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Q. Oh, so is that where the name Listerine comes from

A. Indeed it is, though had nothing to do with Lister directly and he certainly never specialised in anything to do with the mouth. Gerard Barnes Lambert, the American businessman, marketed his father's invention of Listerine mouthwash by making bad breath a social disgrace. Named in honour of the great hygienist the success of the product was the foundation of the US pharmaceutical giant Warner-Lambert.

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Q. Where do gargoyles fit in with all this

A. The word gargoyle is from the same root as gargarice. Given that gargoyles are waterspouts - water 'gargling' out of their mouths - it's no surprise really. Originally the term referred only to the carved lions or terracotta spouts found on Classical buildings, but the word later became restricted to the carved rainspouts of Medieval architecture, particularly those found on cathedrals. Gargoyles typically take the form of a grotesque bird or beast sitting on its haunches. They are usually positioned on the back of a cornice moulding and project forward for several feet in order to throw the water far from the building.

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By Simon Smith