boletus

Forms

bōlētus m (genitive bōlētī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βωλίτης (bōlítēs, “a kind of mushroom”),^[1][2][3][4] although the OLD marks its origin as doubtful^[5] and Köbler calls it unclear.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's record begins with Seneca,^[3][6] who describes diners who swallow mushrooms burning hot and then cool them with snow-chilled drinks, and calls them a “pleasurable poison”.^[3][7] Lewis & Short also cite a line of Plautus' Curculio.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is nearly always found in the plural.^[3] The Romans counted it the best kind of edible mushroom:^[4][7] Petronius has seed of mushrooms sent for from India, and Martial lists it with oysters and mullets.^[3] Pliny the Elder lists it among foods eaten rashly, citing the poison given to the emperor Claudius by Agrippina,^[3] a story told also by Tacitus, Suetonius and Juvenal.^[3][4]

The glossaries make it any fungus,^[3] and medieval writers used it of fungi in general and of particular kinds, among them the Caesar's mushroom, the chanterelle and the larch polypore.^[8] The word lives on in Italian boleto.^[3][9]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of mushrooms eaten hot at table.^[3][6]
• before 66 AD – Petronius speaks of mushroom seed from India.^[3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder connects it with the poisoning of Claudius.^[3][6]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial lists it with oysters and mullets.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mushroom, the most valued kind of edible fungus.^[5][4][7]
2. (Medieval Latin) Any fungus; also a particular kind, such as the chanterelle.^[8]

Word family

• bōlētar

Usage notes

The DMLBS records a separate, doubtful boletus “frayed cloth” from a 15th-century word list, which it compares with buletellus.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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