myrtle

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mirtille, also mirtel,^[2] borrowed from Old French mirtille, also mirtile,^[3][4][1] and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin myrtillus (“myrtle berry”),^[2][5][6] a diminutive of Latin myrtus (“myrtle tree”), also murtus,^[4][7][8] which is from Ancient Greek μύρτος (múrtos, “myrtle”).^[3][5][9][6] The OED calls the French word Middle French, noting that it is recorded in Old French from about 1256.^[5] The Greek word comes from the same Semitic source as Ancient Greek μύρρα (múrrha), the source of myrrh;^[3][4][7] Merriam-Webster calls it probably of Semitic origin,^[8] while Skeat and Weekley traced it to Persian.^[10][11] Earlier Middle English forms were myrt, from Latin, and myrtine, from Medieval Latin myrtinus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The berry of the myrtle, used in medicine: Barnhart dates the word to 1392,^[12][4] and the OED's first record is a translation of Lanfranc's surgery from before 1400, which prescribes a powder made of the seed of mirtilles.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the fruit, and only from 1562, in William Turner's herbal, the shrub itself;^[5] the sense "myrtle berry" died out in the 18th century.^[5][13] In Old French the diminutive soon came to mean the bilberry as well, probably because the leaves of the two plants are arranged alike, and French myrtille and Italian mirtillo now mean only the bilberry;^[5] English myrtle therefore matches French myrte and Italian mirto.^[5] Anglo-Norman mirtelle already meant the bilberry in the early 13th century.^[14] In antiquity the myrtle was sacred to Venus,^[3][15] and since 1567 a garland or spray of myrtle stood in English for love, peace or honour.^[5] The name was soon given to other plants thought to resemble it, some unrelated:^[3][5] bog myrtle from 1597,^[5] an Australian tree from 1816,^[5] and in the United States the periwinkle from 1880.^[5][8] From 1872 it also named a deep shade of green.^[5] In Australian slang of the 1940s myrtle meant sexual intercourse.^[16]

Timeline

• 1392 – mirtille, the fruit of the myrtle.^[4] The OED's first record is from before 1400.^[5]
• 1562 – the evergreen shrub Myrtus communis.^[5][8]
• 1567 – a garland or spray of myrtle as an emblem of love or honour.^[5]
• 1578 – shrubs of other genera thought to resemble the myrtle.^[5]
• 1597 – the bog myrtle and related shrubs.^[5]
• 1715 – a kind of snuff (obsolete).^[5]
• 1816 – in Australia, a tall tree of Victoria and Tasmania.^[5]
• 1872 – a deep green colour.^[5]
• 1880 – in the United States, the lesser periwinkle.^[5]
• 1941 – Australian slang, sexual intercourse.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. An evergreen shrub of southern Europe, Myrtus communis, with glossy aromatic leaves, white or pink flowers and blue-black berries: a hedge of myrtle.^[17][8][18]
2. Any of various related or similar plants, such as the crape myrtle or the bog myrtle.^[17][8][5]
3. (US, Canada) The lesser periwinkle, also called creeping or trailing myrtle.^[17][8][18]
4. A deep green colour, also called myrtle green.^[8][5]
5. A garland or spray of myrtle, as an emblem of love or honour.^[5]
6. (obsolete, 1400–1732) The berry of the myrtle.^[5][13]

Related words

• myrrh

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press