Both root and leaves were used as a traditional medicine during the Middle Ages. The root was used as a condiment on meats in Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain. It was introduced to North America during European colonialization; both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson mention horseradish in garden accounts. William Turner mentions horseradish as "Red Cole" in his "Herbal" (1551–1568), but not as a condiment. In "The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes" (1597), John Gerard describes it under the name of "raphanus rusticanus", stating that it occurs wild in several parts of England. After referring to its medicinal uses, he says:  The word "horseradish" is attested in English from the 1590s. It combines the word "horse" (formerly used in a figurative sense to mean strong or coarse) and the word "radish". In Central and Eastern Europe, horseradish is called "khren", "hren" and "ren" (in various spellings like "kren") in many Slavic languages, in Austria, in parts of Germany (where the other German name "Meerrettich" is not used), in North-East Italy, and in Yiddish ("כריין" transliterated as "khreyn"). It is common in Ukraine (under the name of , "khrin"), in Belarus (under the name of , "chren"), in Poland (under the name of ), in the Czech Republic (), in Slovakia (), in Russia (, "khren"), in Hungary (), in Romania (), in Lithuania (), and in Bulgaria (under the name of ). Horseradish is perennial in hardiness zones 2–9 and can be grown as an annual in other zones, although not as successfully as in zones with both a long growing season and winter temperatures cold enough to ensure plant dormancy. After the first frost in autumn kills the leaves, the root is dug and divided. The main root is harvested and one or more large offshoots of the main root are replanted to produce next year's crop. Horseradish left undisturbed in the garden spreads via underground shoots and can become invasive. Older roots left in the ground become woody, after which they are no longer culinarily useful, although older plants can be dug and re-divided to start new plants. The early season leaves can be distinctively different, asymmetric spiky, before the mature typical flat broad leaves start to be developed.