columbina

Forms

columbīna f (genitive columbīnae); first declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin columbīnus (“of a dove, dove-like”), its feminine used as a noun,^[1][3][4] and so goes back to columba (“dove”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The herbal ascribed to Apuleius, of the end of the 4th century, gives it as a Latin name of a plant the Greeks called peristereon;^[2][1] Etymonline identifies the Late Latin plant as verbena.^[4]

Semantic evolution

A late glossary also gives it as the Latin for peristereon.^[2] In the Middle Ages it named vervain in Bohemia^[5] and, in British sources, the columbine, confused with other plants; one herbal says its flowers turn toward the stalk like doves.^[3] From 1409 it was also an ornament in the shape of a columbine, enamelled on silver or woven into cloth.^[3][1] A saint's life in the Acta Sanctorum mentions young figs called columbinae.^[6]

The English plant name (c. 1300) comes from Old French or directly from Medieval Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• end of the 4th century AD – The herbal ascribed to Apuleius lists it as a Latin name of a plant.^[2][1]
• c. 1300 – English borrows the plant name as columbine.^[4]
• 1409 – An English record describes two silver basins whose covers bear enamelled columbines.^[3][1]
• 1501 – An Oxford record lists a silk alb woven with golden columbines.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plant, identified as vervain.^[2][4][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) The columbine (Aquilegia), also confused with other plants.^[3][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) An ornament in the shape of a columbine.^[3][1]

Related words

• columbinus
• columba
• English columbine

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre