Documented medical use of wormwood can be dated back to the Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian medical document dating from about 1552 B.C. and the oldest preserved medical document [9]. This papyrus is believed to be a copy of the even more ancient books of Thoth (3500 B.C.). The name "wormwood" is derived from its anthelmintic properties, which were recognized by the ancient Egyptians.

Wormwood, in the context of its bitter taste, is mentioned several times in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 9:15, 13:15). In the biblical context, the plant represented a curse, calamity (Lamentations 3:15) or injustice (Amos 5:7). In Revelations 8:11, the Greek equivalent ho apsinthos is used as a name for a star that fell into the waters and turned them bitter. The Greek word apsinthion – undrinkable – is most probably the ancestor of the word absinthe. The Greek mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras of Samos (569-475 B.C.), recommended wine-soaked wormwood leaves to alleviate labor pains; Hippocrates (~460-377 B.C.) used wormwood extracts for the treatment of menstrual pain and rheumatism [10 ].

Pliny the Elder (23–79), the Roman scholar and scientist, also mentioned extracts of wormwood in his opus Historia Naturalis [11]. In the Middle Ages, wormwood was used as a purge and vermifuge, and it developed towards a "general remedy for all diseases" and was "a herb of Mars" for its medical powers [10]. Wormwood's bitter taste inspired women in those days to apply it to their nipples to encourage the weaning of their babies. In fact, Shakespeare has Juliet's nurse expound upon this in Romeo and Juliet.

The image of just a bitter medicine changed to a popular drink among the masses in the 16th century. The so-called Purl of Tudor England was a drink composed of hot ale and wormwood. Dried leaves of wormwood were infused in proof-spirits, distilled, and sweetened with sugar as prescribed in Smith's Complete Body of Distilling in 1731 [12]. The French physician Pierre Ordinaire is supposedly the originator of the classic absinthe recipe. Being acquainted with the ancient use of wormwood, he began to develop a recipe for an alcoholic drink, which probably contained wormwood, anise, hyssop, dittany, sweet flag, melissa and varying amounts of coriander, veronica, chamomile, parsley and (allegedly) spinach. Dr. Ordinaire, who had fled the French revolution, settled down in Val-de-Travers in western Switzerland, which has remained an important centre of absinthe production. In the small town of Couvet, the elixir (68%vol) soon attained the nickname fée verte.

After Dr. Ordinaire's death, his recipe came into the possession of Henri-Louis Pernod, who began the commercial production of absinthe in 1797. In 1805, Pernod moved to Pontarlier, France, to serve the French market; the distillery had one still with a daily capacity of 16 litres. The widespread use of alcoholic drinks containing wormwood extract might have also resulted from the use of wormwood as a preventive measure for helminthiasis and fevers during the French conquest of Algeria (1830–1847). The soldiers returning to France discovered absinthe as a tasty substitute for their wormwood medicine [13].