Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a Hell-broth boil and bubble…

Macbeth – William Shakespeare

No, the three witches in Macbeth did not take the eyes of a semiaquatic salamander for their magical brew. “Eye of newt” is actually a less well-known name for mustard seed.

In fact, many of the ingredients mentioned in that scene actually refer to plants.

• Eye of Newt is mustard seed
• Toe of frog is buttercup
• Wool of bat is moss
• Tongue of dog is plant called houndstongue
• Adder’s fork is adders tongue (a type of fern)
• Blind-worm’s sting is knotweed
• Lizard’s leg is ivy
• Howlet’s wing is garlic, and
• Fillet of a fenny snake is jack-in-the-pulpit (arisaema tryphyllum).

Why such weird names?

When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, herbalists (often though of as witches at the time) used such code-names for common herbal ingredients to prevent others from growing them on their own. If only the herbalists/witches know what eye of newt is, no one else would be able to replicate anything they make.

These menacing-sounding names only enforce the dark, spooky tone that’s associated with witches, but Shakespeare used that tone to full effect, creating a scene that’s remembered hundreds of years later.

Originally published May 17, 2020