thyme

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tyme, also time and thime,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French thym, also tym,^[3][5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin thymum,^[3][7][2] which is from Ancient Greek θύμον (thúmon).^[5][6][8][4] The Anglo-Norman forms were thime and time.^[3][2] The Greek word is usually derived from θύω (thúō, “to burn as a sacrifice, make smoke”),^[5][8][4][9] the plant perhaps having been used first as incense;^[7] Watkins and Barnhart trace it to Proto-Indo-European *dheu- (“smoke”), also the source of Latin fūmus (“smoke”) and so of fume.^{[3][7][10][11]} Etymonline reports that Beekes thinks this doubtful and suggests that a local plant name is likely to be of Pre-Greek origin.^[3] The spelling with “th-”, restored after the French and Latin, did not change the pronunciation with /t/.^[3][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plant of the genus Thymus: about 1300, in a herb list glossing Latin thimus as tim,^[2] c. 1300 in Etymonline.^[3] The OED and Barnhart date the word to before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew's De Proprietatibus Rerum, and Barnhart finds the surname Thymme in 1266.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The name, the usual spelling of which was tyme in the 15th century,^[3] spread from the garden herb to other species with qualifying words, such as wild thyme and lemon thyme, from 1597.^[5] In 1753 thyme also named the fragrant oil distilled from it, used as an antiseptic.^[5] A rare verb meaning to cover or scent with thyme is recorded from 1628.^[5][10] Johnson (1755) described its two-lipped flower in detail.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – the herb, as tim.^[2][3]
• before 1398 – thyme, in Trevisa.^[5][7]
• 1597 – qualified names of species, such as lemon thyme.^[5]
• 1628 – verb, to scent with thyme.^[5]
• 1753 – oil of thyme.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A low aromatic shrub of the mint family, genus Thymus, especially garden thyme, whose small leaves are used as a herb in cooking.^[14][10][5]
2. Any of several related fragrant plants, named with a qualifying word: wild thyme, lemon thyme.^[10][5]

Word family

• thymic
• thymol
• mother-of-thyme
• basil thyme
• lemon thyme
• wild thyme

Related words

• thymus
• fume
• thurible

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins