And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.

And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter."

Revelations 8: 11 - 12.

""The drink is made by soaking dried wormwood (Artemesia absinthium, still found in health food shops and used to kill intestinal parasites( in ethyl alcohol, along with herbs to hide the bitter taste. Aniseed is the dominant flavour, although fennel, hyssop, and lemon balm are also used. The Oxford English Dictionary describes wormwood as " an emblem of what is bitter and grevious to the soul"; in Russian it is chernobyl. Found eveywhere, it is native to Asia and Europe, where it grows along what is said to be the path the exiled serpent took from Eden."

John Moore, Still Life with Ansinthe, Utne Reader, May-June, 1998, p. 83

Oxford also from: OE wyrm, wermod OE wermod

Goth.waurms, cog.w. Latin vermis.