herbarium

Forms

herbārium n (genitive herbāriī or herbārī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin herba (“grass, herbage”) + -ārium,^[1][2] the neuter form of herbārius (“botanical”), an adjective that Classical Latin has only as a masculine noun meaning “botanist”.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Cassiodorus' Institutiones (1.31),^[3][2][4] where Gaffiot takes it as a book on botany;^[2][3] Lewis & Short render it as a collection of dried plants.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In medieval Latin it was a herbal, a book describing plants,^[5][6][7] but it also came to mean the right to make hay and a kitchen garden.^[5] Johannes de Janua defined it as a place where herbs abound, and an Old French glossary renders it herbier, places where grass grows.^[8] In British records it is an enclosed lawn or an arbour, a sense the DMLBS compares with Anglo-Norman (h)erber.^[9] In Poland it was both a plant book and a meadow.^[6]

It lives on in Italian erbario, French herbier and Spanish herbario, and in the English word herbarium.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it for a work on plants.^[2][3][4]
• 803 – Köbler records it in a charter.^[4]
• 1160 – The Pipe Roll records spending on the queen's herbarium, an enclosed lawn or arbour.^[9]
• 1445 – A Polish court record names a herbarium among books.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A book on plants, an herbal.^[2][5][7]
2. A collection of dried plants, a herbarium (Lewis & Short's rendering of Cassiodorus).^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) The right to make hay.^[5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A kitchen garden.^[5]
5. (Medieval Latin) A place where herbs grow; a meadow; an enclosed lawn or arbour.^[8][9][6]

Related words

• herba
• herbāceus
• herbāns
• herbāria
• herbārius
• herbāticus
• English herbarium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
9. ^ a b c 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