amouretten.

Etymology: In sense 1 < French amourette minor love affair (see amoret n.). Compare German Amourette , in the same sense (1697). Compare earlier amoret n. and amoretto n. In sense 2 < French amourette love-grass, quaking grass (a1440 in Middle French), either (probably) an extended use of amourette minor love affair (see amoret n.), or perhaps the same word as amourette , denoting a number of different flowering plants (see note). Compare amoret n., which is semantically close, and shows the same pronunciation and some overlap in spelling.Further etymology of the French plant name. French amourette denotes a number of different flowering plants: compare Middle French amoureste , amouroite stinking chamomile (c1350), amourete , amourette , denoting various decorative plants (15th cent.); it is apparently an alteration (after amour love: see amour n.) of Middle French amarouste stinking chamomile (although this is apparently first attested later: late 15th cent.; French maroute , with elision of the initial vowel) < post-classical Latin amarusta stinking chamomile (11th cent. as amarusca ; probably earlier in undated glossaries), alteration (after classical Latin amārus bitter (see amaritude n.), on account of the strong scent of the plant) of amalusta (4th cent.), given as the Dacian name for a plant called amalocia in Campania; the origin of both Latin forms is unknown. Pronunciation variation. N.E.D. (1884) gives only the non-naturalized pronunciation (amure·t) /amuˈrɛt/.