Mid 18th century; earliest use found in Chambers's Cyclopaedia. From post-classical Latin and scientific Latin Badiaga, genus name and its etymon Russian badjaga freshwater sponge (apparently 1728 or earlier, though not recorded in dictionaries of the language before 1780; now bodjaga (in Russian, unstressed -o- in this position is pronounced like unstressed -a-)), apparently the reflex of an (unattested) Old Russian noun in the same sense from bosti to pierce, to stab, to wound + -jaga, suffix forming nouns. The plant is apparently so named on account of the stinging sensation it produces when coming into contact with a person's skin.