hyacinthus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [hy.aˈkɪn.tʰʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [i.aˈt͡ʃin.tus]^[1]

Forms

hyacinthus m (genitive hyacinthī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὑάκινθος (huákinthos, “hyacinth”).^[2][1][3] Wiktionary and Etymonline consider the Greek word to come from a non-Indo-European Mediterranean language.^[1][4] Ovid tells how the flower sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, a Spartan youth killed by Apollo's discus, and was marked with the letters of the cry “ai”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil, in the Eclogues, has the sweetly blushing hyacinth.^[2] Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was a flower, not the modern hyacinth, variously identified as the martagon lily, the blue iris or the larkspur.^[2][7][8] Isidore of Seville says it has a purple flower and took its name from a noble boy found among purple flowers.^[9]

Pliny uses it of a precious stone, probably the sapphire, into which the violet glow of the amethyst fades.^[2][8] Medieval Latin used it of a dark blue or violet colour and of silk or cloth dyed that colour.^[10][11] The spelling iacintus gave English jacinth about 1200, at first a blue gem, hyacinth for the plant is from the 1550s.^[4]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil mentions the flower.^[2][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid tells the story of Hyacinthus.^[5][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a gem.^[2][6]
• c. 1200 – English jacinth is recorded.^[4]
• 1550s – English hyacinth is recorded for the plant.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flower, perhaps the martagon lily, iris or larkspur.^[2][7]
2. A precious stone, probably the sapphire.^[2][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Blue-violet silk or cloth.^[11][10]

Related words

• English hyacinth
• English jacinth

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 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 c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill