aloe

Forms

aloē f (genitive aloēs); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀλόη (alóē, “aloe”).^[2][1][3] Beekes takes the Greek word to be a loan from an Eastern language,^[4] and Etymonline likewise calls it probably an Oriental loanword.^[5] Wiktionary traces it ultimately to Tamil அகில் (akil).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Celsus is the first to use it,^[6] prescribing aloe as a purgative.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder describes the plant at length,^[2][7] and the medical writers used its thickened bitter juice as a purgative;^[2][8] Scribonius Largus has an Indian aloe.^[2][8] Because of its bitterness Juvenal says of a proud wife that she has more aloe than honey.^[2][9]

In the Vulgate it is a perfume and is used in embalming.^[9] Later writers have a by-form aloa, found in Isidore,^[8][7] and Ecclesiastical Latin also used it for bitterness.^[10] English borrowed the word in the late 14th century, first for the drug.^[5]

Timeline

• 14–37 AD – Celsus prescribes aloe as a medicine.^[2][6][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the aloe plant.^[2][3]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of bitterness.^[2][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate names aloes as a perfume and for embalming.^[9][3]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as aloe.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The aloe plant.^[2][9]
2. The thickened bitter juice of the aloe, used as a purgative and as a perfume; bitter aloes.^[2][9]
3. (figurative) Bitterness.^[2][10]

Related words

• English aloe

Usage notes

The late by-form aloa is first declension, and Late Latin writers also have a masculine aloēs made from the genitive.^[7]

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 k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Gardani, Francesco; Pellegrini, Matteo et al. (2026), DynaMorphPro: loanwords, conversions and class shifts in Latin and Old Italian, CIRCSE / LiLa, github.com/CIRCSE/DynaMorphPro (CC BY-SA 4.0)
7. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson