Words: carminative [AHED]

ADJECTIVE: Inducing the expulsion of gas from the stomach and intestines.
NOUN: A drug or agent that induces the expulsion of gas from the stomach or intestines.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English carminatif, from Old French, from Latin carmintus, past participle of carminre, to card wool, from *carmen, card for wool, from crere, to card.

(Folk remedies would be a fascinating study, less from the pragmatic perspective of try-this-it-works than from the historical perspective of what-were-they-thinking. I just learned that anise, dill, savory, fennel, and others were given as a carminative to relieve stomach or intestinal gas--specifically, flatulence. Is this like applying leeches to relieve the blood--literally? Is the belief that a carminative would work more real than the proof that it worked? Please also note that to card wool is to comb or to cull it for quality.)