Etymologically
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rhubarb

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɹuːbɑːb/ (UK); /ˈɹuˌbɑɹb/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English rubarbe,[2][3][4][5][6] from Old French rubarbe, reubarbe,[2][3][4][6] from Medieval Latin reubarbarum,[3][4][5][6] an alteration of rhabarbarum,[2][3][5] from Greek rha “rhubarb”[2][3][4] and barbaron “foreign”,[2][3][4][5] that is, “foreign rhubarb”.[3][4] Greek rha was associated with Rha, the ancient name of the Volga;[2][3][4] the change of vowel in Medieval Latin came from Greek rhêon “rhubarb”[2][3] or from association with rheum.[4] It is related to barbarian and barbarous.[2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The medicinal rootstock of a plant grown in China and Tibet (about 1390, or c. 1400 in the OED).[2][3][7][4]

Semantic evolution

The drug was long imported into Europe by way of Russia.[4] From the late 14th century the word also meant the plant itself,[7] and by the 1640s it was applied to the European species grown for their edible leafstalks.[4][7] The h of the Greek spelling appeared occasionally from Middle English but became established only in the late 18th century.[4][2] In 1934 rhubarb was recorded as the word actors repeat to give the impression of background conversation,[7][4] and from 1938–43 it meant, in American slang, a heated dispute, especially on a baseball field.[4][7]

Timeline

  • about 1390 – rubarbe, the medicinal root.[2][3]
  • 1640s – the European garden plant.[4]
  • late 18th century – the spelling with rh- established.[4]
  • 1934 – the word repeated by actors for crowd noise.[7][4]
  • 1938 – a heated dispute, in baseball (Etymonline, 1943 in the OED).[4][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Any of several plants of the buckwheat family with large leaves and long, sour, green or reddish leafstalks that are eaten cooked and sweetened; also the leafstalks themselves.
  2. The dried rhizome and roots of certain Asian species, used as a laxative.
  3. (slang) A quarrel or heated dispute.
  4. The sound of indistinct background conversation, made by actors repeating the word.

References

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