Etymologically
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soma

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsəʊmə/[1]
  • US: /ˈsoʊmə/[1]

soma1 Vedic ritual drink

Etymology

The ritual drink is borrowed from Sanskrit सोम (sóma),[2][3][4][5] the name of the juice and of the plant it was pressed from.[6] It is akin to Avestan haoma, the ritual drink of the Zoroastrians,[4][7][2] which the OED connects with hom.[2] Klein and the American Heritage Dictionary relate the Sanskrit word to a verb meaning to press or squeeze,[6][8] and Klein and Etymonline trace it to Proto-Indo-European *seu- (“juice; to squeeze; to flow”),[6][3] which Klein also finds in Ancient Greek ὑετός (huetós, “rain”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plant that yields the juice: 1785, in Charles Wilkins's translation of the Bhagavad Gita.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The drink itself is named in English from 1827;[2][4] it was offered to the gods in Vedic ritual, drunk as a drink of immortality, and worshipped as a god.[4] The plant has been identified with Sarcostemma acidum,[4][6] but the Shorter Oxford calls it of uncertain identity, probably an ephedra.[9] Aldous Huxley gave the name, in Brave New World (1932), to a euphoric drug that the state hands out to keep people content;[2][3][9] after Huxley's drug, soma became a drugs slang name for phencyclidine by 1979.[10]

Timeline

  • 1785 – the plant yielding the juice, in Wilkins's Bhagavad Gita.[2][3]
  • 1827 – the intoxicating drink of Vedic ritual.[2][4]
  • 1932 – in Huxley's Brave New World, a state-issued drug that induces euphoria.[2][3]
  • 1979 – drugs slang, phencyclidine.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An intoxicating drink pressed from a plant, used in Vedic ritual as an offering to the gods and worshipped as a god.[4][5][2]
  2. The plant from which this drink was made, of uncertain identity.[9][4][2]
  3. In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a drug handed out by the state to keep people happy and docile.[2][9]
  4. (drugs slang) Phencyclidine.[10]

soma2 body

Etymology

The word for the body is borrowed from New Latin soma, stem somat-,[4][11][5] from Ancient Greek σῶμα (sôma, “body”).[2][4][9][8] Partridge calls the Greek word of obscure origin and finds Hofmann's link with Proto-Indo-European *tum- (“to swell”) unconvincing;[7] Klein suggests that it meant "something thickset" and relates it to Ancient Greek σῶς (sôs, “safe, sound, whole”) and to Latin tumeō (“to swell”).[6] Partridge derives somatic from the Greek adjective formed on it.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The body of an organism as distinct from its germ cells: 1889, in a translation of A. Weismann's essays on heredity.[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1885.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word entered English through biology, in the theory of heredity that sets the body against the germ cells.[2][9] In the 20th century anatomy used it for the cell body of a nerve cell, apart from the axon and dendrites (1947);[2][9] from 1958 it also named the body as opposed to the mind or soul, the opposite of psyche.[2][4]

Timeline

  • 1889 – the body of an organism as distinct from the germ cells.[2]
  • 1947 – the cell body of a nerve cell.[2]
  • 1958 – the body as opposed to the mind or soul.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The body of an organism as distinct from its germ cells.[4][5][2]
  2. The cell body of a neuron, apart from the axon and dendrites.[4][9][2]
  3. The body as opposed to the mind or soul; the opposite of psyche.[4][2]

Word family

  • somatic
  • somite
  • prosoma
  • somato-
  • -some
  • haoma

References

  1. ^ a b 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 w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House