myrrhis

Forms

myrrhis f (genitive myrrhidis, accusative myrrhin); third declension^[1][2] It is also spelt myrris.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μυρρίς (murrís), the name of a plant,^[2][3] which Köbler connects with myrrha (“myrrh”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder, of 23/24–79 AD, is the only author the OLD cites:^[2][3] in book 24 of the Natural History it is an aromatic umbellifer, perhaps sweet cicely.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In book 26 Pliny gives the same name to another plant, a kind of geranium (geranion).^[2] Lewis & Short treat it there as the same as myrtis,^[1] and Georges files the word under murra.^[5]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names two plants myrrhis.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An aromatic umbellifer, perhaps sweet cicely.^[2][4]
2. A kind of geranium.^[2]

Related words

• myrrha

References

1. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn