"Atropa belladonna" has a long history of use as a medicine, cosmetic, and poison. Known originally under various folk names (such as "deadly nightshade" in English), the plant was baptized "Atropa belladonna" by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) when he devised his classification system. Linnaeus chose the genus name "Atropa" because of the poisonous properties of these plants. Atropos (lit. "unturning one"), one of the Three Fates in Greek mythology, is said to have cut a person's thread of life after her sisters had spun and measured it. Linnaeus chose the species name "belladonna" ("beautiful woman" in Italian) in reference to the cosmetic use of the plant during the Renaissance, when women used the juice of the berries in eyedrops intended to dilate the pupils and make the eyes appear more seductive.