λήδανον

Forms

λήδᾰνον (lḗdanon) n (genitive ληδᾰ́νου); second declension^[1] Also λάδανον (lā́danon): Herodotus, the Hippocratic text and Plutarch have the spelling with ⟨η⟩, Galen and a papyrus the one with ⟨α⟩.^[2]

Etymology

It is a loanword, ultimately of Semitic origin.^[3][4][5] Beekes and Frisk compare the Assyrian name Akkadian ladunu and an Arabic name of the resin that passed into Persian.^[3][4] Rosół takes it as most probably an Old Arabian word: he cites the Old South Arabian and Arabic names of ladanum, with ladinnu and ladnu, and shows that Semitic /l/, /d/ and /n/ regularly give Greek ⟨λ⟩, ⟨δ⟩ and ⟨ν⟩, as in λίβανος (líbanos) and κάδος (kádos).^[5][1] Herodotus himself says that the Arabians call it λάδανον (lā́danon).^[3][5]

Latin borrowed it as lēdanum and lādanum, from which lēda and lāda, names of the rock-rose shrub, were formed back.^[3][4] Greek formed λῆδον (lêdon), the shrub itself, from it in the same way.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus is the first to use it: he counts it among the aromatics that grow only in Arabia, with frankincense, myrrh, cassia and cinnamon, and calls it even more wonderful than cinnamon.^[5][2] It is the resin of the rock-rose, κίσθος (kísthos).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

After Herodotus the word belongs to medicine and the trade in aromatics: the Hippocratic work on the diseases of women has it, and Plutarch, Rufus and Galen use it.^[2] It occurs in a papyrus of the 2nd or 3rd century AD.^[2] Dioscorides calls the shrub itself λῆδον (lêdon).^[4][5]

Latin took it over as Latin lādanum and lēdanum.^[3][4] The 13th-century lexicon of Zonaras glosses it as a fragrant plant.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus describes it among the spices of Arabia, and the Hippocratic writings use it in medicine.^[2][5][8]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides names the shrub λῆδον (lêdon).^[4][5][8]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch and the physician Rufus mention the resin.^[2][8]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses the form λάδανον (lā́danon).^[2][8]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – A papyrus from Egypt records it.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Ladanum, the aromatic resin of the rock-rose (κίσθος (kísthos)).^[2][6][3]

Related words

• Latin lādanum
• λίβανος (líbanos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge