costum

Forms

costum n (genitive costī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόστος (kóstos) (also neuter κόστον (kóston)), the name of the plant and of its spicy root.^[2][3][4][1] The Greek word is a loanword from Sanskrit कुष्ठ (kúṣṭha-), the same plant.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in the Augustan poets, in Horace's Odes^[6][7] and in Propertius, who asks for soft costus and the honour of incense.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It named an aromatic Oriental plant, Saussurea lappa, or the powder of its root,^[2] which was used in costly ointments.^[6] Ovid recalls a time when India had not yet sent costus, and Pliny the Elder describes the root as burning to the taste and of excellent smell.^[2] Besides the neuter, the Greek forms costos and costus (feminine) occur, the second in Celsus and the first in Lucan.^[2][6]

In medieval Latin it also glossed cinnamon.^[8]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace mentions it in the Odes.^[6][8]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius calls for costus at a sacrifice.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the plant and its root.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An aromatic Oriental plant, costus (Saussurea lappa), or its powdered root, used in unguents.^[2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) Cinnamon.^[8]

Usage notes

A medieval costum (also custum) meaning “costs, expenses” is a separate word, belonging with costa “cost”.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de