castor

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɑːs.tə/ (UK); /ˈkæs.tɚ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English,^[2][3] from Old French castor^[4][5] and from Latin castor (“beaver”),^{[2][4][5][3][6]} from Ancient Greek κάστωρ (kástōr, “beaver”),^{[2][4][5][3][6]} which was identified with Kástōr, the name of one of the divine twins.^[4][5][3] Castor was worshipped by women in ancient Greece as a healer, and the beaver's secretion was used medicinally,^[4][5] but Etymonline notes that the animal did not live in classical Greece, so the word was probably borrowed from another language.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The beaver (before 1398).^[4][5][7]

Semantic evolution

From 1601 the word meant the strong-smelling substance from the beaver's glands, also called castoreum,^[7] used in medicine and perfume.^[2][6] A hat of beaver fur was a castor from 1640,^[7] and the name was then given to a heavy woollen cloth.^[7][2][6] Castor oil (1746), from a plant, perhaps took its name from a likeness in use to castoreum.^[4][5] The spelling castor is also used for the furniture wheel and sprinkler properly called a caster.^[2][7][6]

Timeline

• before 1398 – the beaver.^[4][7]
• 1601 – castoreum.^[7]
• 1640 – a beaver hat.^[7]
• 1746 – castor oil.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An oily, strong-smelling substance from glands in the groin of the beaver, used as a fixative in perfume; castoreum.
2. A hat of beaver fur or an imitation of it.
3. A heavy woollen cloth used for overcoats.
4. (archaic) A beaver.
5. A variant spelling of caster, a small wheel or a sprinkling container.

Proper noun

1. In Greek mythology, one of the twin Dioscuri, brother of Pollux.
2. A double star in the constellation Gemini.

Word family

• castor sugar

Related words

• castoreum
• castor oil
• caster
• beaver

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press