camomilla

Forms

camomilla f (genitive camomillae); first declension^[1] Manuscripts and glossaries also have camemelon, camimela and camomillon.^[2] Medieval British sources also spell it camamilla and camamella.^[3]

Etymology

It is a Late Latin feminine form, borrowed from Ancient Greek χαμαίμηλον (khamaímēlon, “earth-apple”), beside the older loan chamaemēlon.^[1][2][4][5] The Greek name is a compound of χαμαί (khamaí, “on the ground”) and μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”), given for the apple-like scent of the plant.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The feminine camomilla first appears in Plinius Valerianus,^[2][6][4][5] and Vegetius (c. 400 AD) has camomillon in his veterinary manual.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In medieval medicine it was a common remedy: Alexander Neckam says it heals jaundice and ailments of the stomach and liver, and John of Gaddesden that its juice cures tertian fevers.^[3] Its oil, oleum camomillae, appears in medieval texts.^[8][3] English chamomile comes from it through Old French.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses the form camomillon.^[2][7]
• 13th century – A glossary explains camomilla by the French and English names of the plant.^[3]
• c. 1300 – English borrows it, through Old French, as camomille.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) Chamomile.^[4][6][1][3]

Related words

• chamaemelon
• English chamomile

Usage notes

Pliny the Elder says that some called the plant anthemis by the name chamaemelon because it smells of apples, and Isidore of Seville gives the same reason, adding that it grows close to the ground.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Gardani, Francesco; Pellegrini, Matteo et al. (2026), DynaMorphPro: loanwords, conversions and class shifts in Latin and Old Italian, CIRCSE / LiLa, github.com/CIRCSE/DynaMorphPro (CC BY-SA 4.0)
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com