_Etymology of Mushroom_ (Vol. iii., p. 166.).--DR. RIMBAULT states that the
earliest example with which he is acquainted of this word, being spelt
_mushrump_, occurs in the following passage in Robert Southwell's
_Spirituall Poems_, 1595:
"He that high growth on cedars did bestow,
Gave also lowly _mushrumps_ leave to growe."
I suppose that this word has been derived from _Maesrhin_, one of the names
of the mushroom in Welsh. As the meanings of the word _rhin_ are "a
channel," "a virtue," "a secret," "a charm," none of which are applicable
to a mushroom, I conjecture that it is a corruption of the word _rhum_
(also spelt _rhump_), but I am unable to mention an instance of the word
being spelt by any Welsh writer of ancient times. The etymology which I
suggest is _maesrhum_; from _maes_, "a field," and _rhum_, "a thing which
bulges out." This meaning very nearly resembles that of the French name of
one kind of mushroom, _champignon_.