Column for May 29, 2022 – Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), respiratory system and the immune system.

The Greeks had a knack for using the name of a plant to indicate how it works. The Greek word for thyme, so Thumos, is derived from the Greek verb ‘Thumoo’ and that word means ‘to get angry’ and literally: ‘to thrust one’s wrath, to express it with horns’. So in the thyme plant there is something of that getting angry, of igniting in anger, repulsing something from you. Thyme, thumos, T-lymphocytes….. in fact it all revolves around one and the same goal: to banish something you do not want: those miserable, pathogenic bacteria and viruses. And what I discovered many years ago: well, that children the immune system is very usefully activated if you give them a few drops of thyme tincture or thyme syrup daily, especially if they are a bit ‘snotty or coughing’.