Etymologically
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narcissus

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Forms

narcissus m (genitive narcissī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek νάρκισσος (nárkissos).[2][3][1] Köbler thinks the Greek word is probably itself a loanword.[4] Isidore of Seville, as the TLL reports, explains the plant's name from the fable of the boy Narcissus.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Virgil's Eclogues,[6][7] meaning the narcissus flower.[2]

Semantic evolution

Virgil has the purple narcissus, the late-flowering narcissus and the “tear” of the narcissus.[7][8] Celsus mentions its seed and root, and Pliny the Elder describes the plant.[7][6] Medieval writers in Britain use it for the narcissus, an Old English gloss rendering it halswyrt, and also as a personal name.[9]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil names the flower in the Eclogues and Georgics.[6][7][4]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses its seed and root in remedies.[7][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes it.[6][4]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains the name from the myth.[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The narcissus, a flower.[2][6][8]

Word family

  • narcissinus
  • English narcissus
  • Italian narciso

Usage notes

Narcissus is the mythical son of Cephisus and the nymph Liriope, who fell in love with his own beauty; the name was also borne by a rich freedman of the emperor Claudius.[2][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ 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