Etymologically
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ambrosia

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [amˈbrɔ.si.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [amˈbrɔː.s̬i.a][1]

Forms

ambrosia f (genitive ambrosiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀμβροσία (ambrosía, “immortality; food of the gods”).[2][1][3] The Greek word is from ἄμβροτος (ámbrotos, “immortal”).[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro, in his Menippean Satires, contrasts ambrosia and nectar with ordinary bread and cakes.[2][5] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was the food of the gods, as nectar was their drink, and Cicero says he does not think the gods delight in ambrosia or nectar, and Catullus calls a kiss sweeter than sweet ambrosia.[7] Cicero has the proverbial phrase of an orator fit to be fed on ambrosia, a god among orators.[7][5] Servius notes that it is elsewhere the ointment of the gods.[8]

It was also a fabled healing plant, whose juice Venus sprinkles in Virgil, and the name of an antidote to poison in Celsus.[2][9] Pliny applies it to plants, and Isidore says the Romans called it wild celery.[2][10][4] Medieval Latin used it of divine food, of a sweet scent and of various herbs.[11][12] English ambrosia is recorded in the 1560s.[4]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro mentions ambrosia and nectar.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the food of the gods.[7][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a healing plant.[2][6]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus names an antidote ambrosia.[2][6]
  • 1560s – English ambrosia is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The food of the gods, ambrosia.[2][1]
  2. The ointment of the gods.[8][1]
  3. A fabled healing plant; its juice.[2]
  4. A plant, artemisia.[2][1]
  5. The name of an antidote to poison.[2][1]

Word family

  • ambrosialis
  • ambrosius
  • ambrosiacus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  11. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  12. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press