Affected or contaminated by ergot, a fungal disease that grows on grain crops like rye, producing toxic compounds.
From ergot (from French 'ergot' meaning rooster's spur, referring to the fungal sclerotium's shape) plus the suffix -ized, meaning affected or treated by something.
Medieval towns experienced mass poisonings from ergotized rye bread, causing hallucinations and gangrene—a phenomenon some historians believe inspired witch hunt hysteria because victims couldn't explain their strange symptoms.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.