Etymologically
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bombax

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bombax1 interjection of surprise

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbɔm.baks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbɔm.baks][1]

Forms

bombax (interjection)[2]

Etymology

The interjection is borrowed from Ancient Greek βομβάξ (bombáx).[2][3][4] Köbler calls it a word of colloquial speech.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in the Pseudolus, in a rapid exchange: fūr. :: babae. :: fugitīve. :: bombax. :: fraus populī, “thief! – wow! – runaway! – my word! – cheat of the people!”[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The grammarians list it among the interjections: one calls it an interjection of mockery, and the commentators on Donatus say it expresses a sense of the ridiculous.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Pseudolus.[2][4]

Meanings

Interjection

  1. An exclamation of real or pretended surprise or admiration: splendid! fancy that![2][3][1]

bombax2 cotton

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbɔm.baks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbɔm.baks][1]

Forms

bombax (genitive bombacis); third declension; also bombex[6]

Etymology

The word for cotton is a medieval alteration of bombyx (“silkworm; silk”), with the sense moved from silk to cotton;[7][4][6] that word is from Ancient Greek βόμβυξ (bómbux, “silkworm”).[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1208 an English close roll records five pounds of cotton for three quilts.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant cotton fibre and cotton or silk fabric; the annals of Worcester, under the year 1284, tell of a wound stopped with cotton.[6] An account of a journey describes the low trees that bear cotton as a rose bears its flower.[6] In New Latin it names the silk-cotton tree.[1]

Old French bombace (“cotton, cotton wadding”) comes from it;[7] English took bombace “raw cotton” in the 1550s and altered it to bombast “cotton padding” in the 1570s.[7]

Timeline

  • 1208 – An English close roll records cotton for quilts.[6]
  • 1284 – The annals of Worcester tell of a wound stopped with cotton.[6]
  • 1328/1329 – A vocabulary records it.[4]
  • 1570s – English bombast is formed through Old French from it.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) Cotton, cotton fibre or wadding.[6][7][4]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Cotton or silk fabric; a doublet.[6]
  3. (New Latin) The silk-cotton tree.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 e f g h i 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com