acacia

Forms

acācia f (genitive acāciae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀκακία (akakía, “acacia”).^[2][3][1] Wiktionary derives the Greek word from ἀκή (akḗ, “point”),^[1] and Etymonline calls it of uncertain origin, perhaps related to that word.^[4] Beekes considers it probably a substrate word, and rejects both an Oriental origin and a comparison with Coptic.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Celsus on, in medical writing, for the gum of the tree used in remedies.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

In Latin it was mainly a medical word: the juice or gum of the tree, which Celsus and Scribonius Largus use in their prescriptions.^[2][3] Scribonius also uses it for the tree itself,^[2] which Pliny the Elder describes.^[3]

The TLL notes the medieval glosses spelling it agazea, agazia and the like, and compares Italian gaggio.^[7] English took the word from Latin in the 1540s.^[4]

Timeline

• 14–37 AD – Celsus prescribes acacia dissolved in vinegar.^[2][6]
• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus names the tree in a prescription.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the tree.^[3][6]
• 1540s – English borrows it from Latin as acacia.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The acacia or gum arabic tree.^[2][3][1]
2. The juice or gum of this or related trees, gum arabic.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften