βάλσαμον
Pronunciation
- 5th-century BC Attic: /bál.saː.mon/[1]
- 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈβal.sa.mon/[1]
- 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈval.sa.mon/[1]
Forms
βᾰ́λσᾱ̆μον (bálsāmon) n (genitive βᾰλσᾱ̆́μου); second declension[1] Also πάλσαμον (Pausanias) and βάρσαμον (papyri, 4th century AD).[2][3]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Biblical Hebrew בָּשָׂם (bāśām, “sweet spice, sweet smell”) or a related Semitic form, which Rosół counts among the Semitic loanwords.[2][4][5][6][7] Wiktionary explains the ⟨λσ⟩ of the Greek word as an attempt to render the Hebrew sound /ɬ/ written ⟨שׂ⟩.[1] Rosół calls the λ unetymological, an extra sonorant before a dental such as is also found in ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos).[2]
Plant names in -αμον (-amon) are often foreign, compare σήσαμον (sḗsamon).[7][5] The balsam shrub grew in Arabia, and Theophrastus places it in a valley of Syria.[2] Beekes notes the view that the plant came from Africa and became known only after Alexander.[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
Aristotle uses it for the fragrant oil of the balsam tree, one of the ingredients of a perfume.[3][6][8]
Semantic evolution
Theophrastus describes the tree itself, which grows in Syria, and later writers use the word for the costmary, another aromatic plant.[3][6][2] It was borrowed as Latin balsamum.[9]
Medieval vernacular Greek had βάλσαμον, βάρσαμο and μπάλσαμο for the balsam tree, its resin used as a medicine for wounds, and any aromatic plant.[10] The Modern Greek βάλσαμο (válsamo) is a soothing or perfumed substance and, figuratively, comfort.[11][8]
Timeline
- 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the oil of the balsam tree.[3][12]
- 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus describes the balsam tree.[3][2][12]
- 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus mentions it.[13]
- 4th century AD – Papyri write it βάρσαμον.[2][3]
- Byzantine period – It names the balsam tree, its healing resin and aromatic plants.[10]
- Modern Greek – Modern Greek βάλσαμο (válsamo) means a balm, literally and figuratively.[11]
Meanings
Noun
Word family
- βαλσαμίνη (balsamínē)
- ὀποβάλσαμον (opobálsamon)
Related words
- Latin balsamum
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Rosół, Rafał, ed., Lexicon of Oriental Words in Ancient Greek, https://orientalwordsingreek.org
- ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
- ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
- ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
- ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
- ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
- ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
- ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
- ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press