crocus

Forms

crocus m (genitive crocī); second declension^[1] A neuter crocum is used beside the masculine, especially for the prepared spice.^[2][3] Apuleius treats crocus as feminine.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos, “saffron, crocus”).^[2][1][4] Beekes considers the Greek word identical with the Semitic and Sanskrit words for saffron, such as Akkadian kurkanū.^[5] Köbler likewise compares the Hebrew and Arabic names of the plant.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius is the first author with the word in the corpora,^[4] using it of the scent of saffron.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin crocus named the plant, Crocus sativus, and crocum mostly the saffron made from its stigmas,^[2] which was used as a perfume (sprinkled especially in theatres), as a yellow dye, in cooking and in medicine;^[2] the word could also stand for the colour of saffron itself.^[2][6] Pliny the Elder applied it to the yellow stamens of other flowers,^[6] and Apuleius to oil of saffron.^[2]

Through Medieval Latin it stayed the name of the spice,^[4] and English took it over in the late 14th century as the name of the flower.^[7]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius mentions the scent of saffron.^[6][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro advises sowing lily and crocus together.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil has bees feeding on the red crocus and a robe dyed with saffron.^[2]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus lists saffron among his remedies.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Columella describes planting a crocus bulb to colour and scent honey.^[2]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the yellow stamens of flowers.^[6]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it, as a feminine, of oil of saffron mixed with wine.^[2]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as crocus.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The saffron plant, Crocus sativus; a crocus.^[2][8]
2. (chiefly in the neuter form crocum) Saffron, the preparation made from the stigmas of the plant, used as a perfume, a dye, in cooking and in medicine.^[2]
3. The colour of saffron, saffron yellow.^[2][6]
4. The yellow stamens of a flower.^[6]
5. Oil of saffron.^[2]

Word family

• crocātus
• croceus
• croco

Usage notes

Ovid tells of a youth Crocus who was turned into the flower.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ 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 d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften