cichorium

Forms

cichorium n (genitive cichoriī or cichorī); second declension^[1] Horace has the poetic by-form cichorēum, in the plural.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κιχώριον (kikhṓrion, “chicory”).^[4][2] Lewis & Short note that the Greek word is mostly found in this form, beside the plural κιχόρια (kikhória),^[5] and Wiktionary gives the Greek as κιχόριον (kikhórion).^[1] Horace's form ⟨cichorēum⟩ renders κιχόρειον (kikhóreion).^[2] DynaMorphPro counts it among the post-classical Greek loanwords in Latin.^[6] The Greek word itself is of unknown origin.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author to use it is Horace, who names cichorea with olives and mallows among the plain foods he lives on, in the Odes (1.31.16).^[2][3][5] The form cichorium is Pliny the Elder's.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a plant name: Pliny the Elder discusses chicory and endive under it.^[5][2] It is the source of the English word chicory, which came through Old French from the Latin form cichoreum.^[7]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses the plural cichorea in the Odes.^[2][3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of cichorium in the Natural History.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows the word through Old French, as cicoree (modern chicory).^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Chicory, succory (Cichorium intybus).^[5][1]
2. Endive.^[5][2][1]

Related words

• English chicory

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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)
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com