2003.7.5.Sat.Herb Story~* 최지혜

[콜리]

Hi~everyone~!! Today I'd like to tell you about "Herb."
Do you like herb?^^ A few days ago, I read some news about herb in the newspaper.
And I have been interested in herb so I chose this for my speech topic.
1. What is herb?
For a long time, human being has used grass and berries as food, medical
treatment(care) etc. As we used various kind of plants and got wisdom of life, we were
able to distinguish something more useful and special for us. Among these plants, herb
is the most representative thing. The origin of the word, herb, is a Latin 'Herba' which
means green grass. And in ancient times, this word was used to mean an incense and
a medicinal herb. In Oxford English dictionary, Herb is a plant whose leaves, flowers or
seeds are used for flavoring food, medicines or fragrance. In short, we can define it as
a plant having aroma which is good for human. For example, garlic, green onion, ginger,
cayenne(red) pepper also can be called herb. Some people say "Herb" could be an
abbreviation of "Health", "Eating", "Refresh", "Beautiful."
2. History of herb.
The Herb usually grows along the shore of the Mediterranean, the Mideast, Turkey,
Egypt, Rome etc.
In egypt period, people used herb to preserve from decay of mummy. And the father of
medicine, Hippocrates(히포크라테스), wrote down about 400 kinds of medicinal herb for
cure in his book. Besides, 클레오파트라 used that for keeping her skin beautiful. And in
modern times, black pepper, one kind of herb, had a role of currency like money. So
people tried to plant various herb as much as possible.
In Korea, there is a mythology of Tangun(단군). In that story, a bear became human
after eating garlic and mugwort(쑥). And our ancestor used iris(창포) for washing hair  
on Tano festival.(단오날)
Like this, herb is closely related with human. So, it has been widely used for food,
aroma therapy, controlling our body condition and so on.
3. Kinds of herb
There are about 2,600 kinds of herb in the world. I just chose several things among
them.
1)Lavender
It is called as "queen of sweet smell" and it is the most popular herb. The smell of
Lavender makes our mind peaceful and comfortable and its tea can help person who has
insomnia or headache  sleep well. So, there is a pillow made by it. Its oil is good for
making injured skin recover or removing muscular pain.
In Latin, it has a meaning of 'wash', 'clean'. so people added it in the water when they
take a bath or do some laundries. Usually it symbolizes the purity.
2)Rosemary
Rosemary was originated from the Latin word,'Rosmarinus'. 'Ros' means dew and
'Marinus' means sea. So, it meant 'dew of sea' And in a Greek myth, there is 아프라디
테, a goddess of love and beauty who was born in the sea. Plenty of rosemary was
found there, so people considered that as a holy plant.
It is an evergreen tree, so it is always fresh and green. It symbolizes fidelity and its
floral meaning is 'good memory'. Rosemary tea is good for circulation of the blood and
especially good for low-blood pressure patient. And it prevents our skin from aging.
3)Lemon Balm
It has smell of lemon and it was called "Herb of Scholar" Because it vitalizes our brain
cell. So if we drink its tea, we can feel fresh and it makes our memory more powerful.
Especially it is good for student preparing important examination. And it gets rid of
stress or depression and it has a special virtue for curing neuralgia(신경통).
4)Dill
It means that 'pacify','calm down' and its smell has an effect on suppression and
hypnosis. So, it can help us recover from cold and get over fatigue. Dill's oil is used as
aroma soap and its leaf and stem are used for cooking fish. The seeds of Dill are good
for digestion and sound sleep. In addition, it can prevent arteriosclerosis and disorder of
stomach.(it loosens bowels)
5)Mint
It is the most familiar herb for us. Mint has crisp(refreshing) aroma so it makes our
mind feel fine and clear(fresh). It is used for snack, cookies, toothpaste, candy, chewing
gum, soap, perfume and so on. there are 40 kinds of herb such as 페파민트,스피아민트,
애플민트,진저민트....
6)Sage
Sage tea is called "panacea(cure-all)",it keeps us healthy. Especially it is good for curing
diseases of the stomach and nerve system. It is used for spicing  processed foodstuffs
like ham, sausage etc.

There are a lot of information about herb though I couldn't explain all to you.
I just wanted you to know  little bit more about the herb and enjoy my speech.
These days, Aroma-therapy is becoming popular among people and it is used in a
various area such as medical care, beauty care and so on. Herb is very useful and
helpful for our health, I think. That's all I prepared. Thank you for your listening.^^