coriandrum

Forms

coriandrum n (genitive coriandrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κορίανδρον (koríandron),^[1][2] a form beside the usual κορίαννον (koríannon, “coriander”).^[3][4][5] The Greek word is of uncertain origin; it is often said to be related to κόρις (kóris, “bedbug”), from the smell of the leaves and the unripe seeds.^[1][6] Beekes cites the Mycenaean forms ko-ri-ja-do-no and ko-ri-a2-da-na, doubts that the forms with /-andron/ are due to popular etymology, and takes the cluster /dn/ to point to a Pre-Greek word.^[5] Isidore of Seville says the name was taken from the Greek.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in the Pseudolus,^[7][8] and Cato in On Agriculture uses a feminine form coriandrus.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

It was the herb coriander throughout.^[3][7] Varro lists it, Columella writes of its sowing, Pliny the Elder discusses its kinds and says that the Egyptian is the best, and Apicius uses it in recipes.^[7][2] Later medical and veterinary texts and glossaries have the dissimilated form coliandrum.^[2]

The word lives on in Spanish culantro^[2] and Portuguese coentro, and was borrowed into Italian as coriandro and coriandolo.^[1] Through Old French coriandre it reached English as coriander in the late 14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus mentions it in the Pseudolus.^[7][8]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses the feminine coriandrus.^[2][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro lists it.^[7][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella writes of its sowing.^[2][8]
• AD 23/24–79 – Pliny the Elder says that the Egyptian kind is the best.^[2][8]
• late 14th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as coriander.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Coriander, the aromatic herb Coriandrum sativum.^[3][7]

Related words

• English coriander

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de