Etymologically
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apium

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈa.pi.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.pi.um][1]

Forms

apium n (genitive apiī or apī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin apis (“bee”),[2][1][3] because bees were thought to like the plant;[1][4] the TLL calls the derivation likely.[5] De Vaan finds no accepted etymology for apis.[6]

Isidore of Seville derived it from apex, because the heads of those celebrating a triumph were once crowned with it.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Virgil,[3] who names it in the Georgics and the Eclogues.[7][8] It names several plants, especially celery, also parsley.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its leaves were used for garlands, above all at drinking parties: Horace has the long-lasting vīvāx apium.[8][4] Among the Greeks it was the prize at the Isthmian and Nemean games, as Juvenal mentions.[8][4] Pliny the Elder distinguishes several kinds.[8][4] In medieval Britain it named celery or parsley and other umbelliferous plants such as alexanders, water dropwort and lovage.[9] Italian appio continues it,[7] and botany keeps it as the genus name of celery, Apium graveolens.[8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil names the plant.[7][3]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace mentions garlands of it.[8][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes its several kinds.[8][3]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal mentions it as a prize in Greek games.[8][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A name for several umbelliferous plants, especially celery, also parsley.[2][8]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Alexanders, water dropwort, lovage and similar plants.[9]

Word family

  • apiacius
  • apiacus
  • apiatus
  • apiastrum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b 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