Etymologically
Log in

asphodelus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [asˈpʰɔ.dɛ.ɫʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [asˈfɔː.de.lus][1]

Forms

asphodelus m (genitive asphodelī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσφόδελος (asphódelos, “asphodel”).[2][1] Etymonline calls the Greek word of unknown origin.[3] The native Latin names were hastula rēgia and, according to Isidore, albucium.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Columella mentions it, and Pliny describes it at length.[4][2] Köbler dates Columella to the 1st century AD.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was the asphodel, a lily-like plant with tubers at the root.[2][7] Pliny reports that Theophrastus and Pythagoras called its stalk anthericus and its root asphodelus, while the Romans called the stalk albucus and the plant hastula regia.[5] Gellius uses the neuter asphodelum.[4]

Medieval Latin had many forms, such as affodillus and afrodillus, used for the asphodel, the Turk's cap lily and in medicine, and in Britain also for ramsons and daffodils.[6][8][9] Through Medieval Latin affodillus, English got affodill about 1400 and then daffodil in the 1540s, first of the asphodel.[3]

Timeline

  • 1st century AD – Columella mentions it.[4][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the plant.[2][6]
  • c. 1400 – English affodill is recorded.[3]
  • 1540s – English daffodil is recorded, of the asphodel.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The asphodel.[2][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Various plants: the daffodil, ramsons.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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