balsam

Etymology

It was first inherited from Old English balsam, also balzam,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin balsamum (“gum of the balsam tree, balsam”),^[2][4][5] from Ancient Greek βάλσαμον (bálsamon),^[6][1][7] a word of Semitic origin according to the American Heritage Dictionary and Wiktionary,^[7][1] perhaps of Semitic origin according to Hoad and the Shorter Oxford.^[8][9] Klein and Collins name a Hebrew source,^[6][10] and Wiktionary gives Biblical Hebrew בושם (bōśem, “spice, perfume”);^[1] Klein adds related words in Aramaic, Syriac and Arabic.^[6] Weekley derived it from a Hebrew phrase for "king of oils".^[11] In popular use the Old English word gave way to basme, the later balm, from Old French basme, and more specific uses went to the unchanged Latin balsamum, recorded before 1398, and occasionally to Italian balsamo.^[2][12] The form balsam returned, again from Latin, around the end of the 16th century: 1570s in Etymonline, 1579 in Barnhart and about 1600 in the OED.^[5][12][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An aromatic juice, and the tree that yields it: about 1000, in Ælfric's Glossary, which has phrases for the fruit of the balsam and for the "tear" or juice of the tree, glossing Latin terms.^[2][12][3] The word also appears in the Old English Leechdoms, for smearing with balsam.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

According to Etymonline, the word first referred to the balm of Gilead and was later extended to other aromatic preparations from trees and shrubs.^[5] When it returned in the late 16th century, it meant a medicinal preparation for wounds and pain.^[2][5] The figurative healing or soothing influence followed before 1616, in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens.^[2][9] Johnson (1755) defined it as an ointment thicker than oil and softer than salve.^[13] The OED notes that the discovery of America brought knowledge of other natural balsams, such as those of Peru and Tolu, used in medicine.^[2] Paracelsus's idea of a preserving essence in all organic bodies gave the word an alchemical sense, in use from 1643 to 1753.^[2][9] Chemists from 1682 applied it to compounds of resin and volatile oils that do not dissolve in water, formerly only to those containing benzoic acid.^[2] Plants of the genus Impatiens were called balsam from 1736, or 1741 according to Etymonline.^[2][5] In slang it meant money, as something that heals financial pains, from about 1698.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – an aromatic vegetable juice, and a tree that yields it.^[2][12][5]
• before 1398 – the Latin form balsamum, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew.^[12]
• 1597 – an aromatic medicinal preparation for wounds and pain, in Langham's Garden of Health.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1570s.^[5]
• before 1616 – figurative, a healing or soothing agent, in Shakespeare.^[2]
• 1624 – adjective, balmy, deliciously fragrant, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.^[2]
• 1643 – alchemy, a preservative essence in organic bodies (obsolete after 1753).^[2]
• before 1666 – verb, to anoint with balsam, to perfume or heal.^[2]
• 1682 – chemistry, a compound of resins and volatile oils.^[2]
• c. 1698 – slang, money.^[14]
• 1736 – a flowering plant of the genus Impatiens.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1741.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fragrant resinous substance obtained from certain trees and shrubs, used in medicines and perfumes.^[10][15][9]
2. (chemistry) A resinous product insoluble in water, containing benzoic or cinnamic acid.^[9][15]
3. A medicinal or ceremonial ointment or preparation made with such substances.^[10][15][9]
4. A tree or shrub that yields balsam, such as the balsam fir.^[10][15][9]
5. Something that heals or soothes: Her letters were balsam to the exile.^[15][9]
6. A plant of the genus Impatiens, especially the garden balsam.^[10][15][9]
7. (slang) Money.^[14]
8. (obsolete, 1643–1753) In alchemy, a preservative essence thought to exist in all organic bodies.^[2][9]

Verb

1. To anoint or treat with balsam.^[2][9]

Word family

• balsamy
• balsamic
• balsamiferous
• balsamroot
• balsam apple
• balsam fir
• balsam of Peru
• balsam of Tolu

Related words

• balm
• embalm

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster