nectar

Forms

nectar n sg (genitive nectaris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “drink of the gods”).^[2][3][4][1] Köbler calls the further origin of the Greek word unexplained;^[5] Wiktionary and Etymonline take it, perhaps, as an old poetic compound of Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“death, to perish”) and Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- (“to overcome”), “overcoming death”.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Varro, Lucretius and Cicero on, mostly in the poets.^[4] The OLD's first quotation is from Varro's Menippean Satires, which names ambrosia and nectar together.^[2] Festus explains it as the Greek word for the drink of the gods.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is the drink of the gods: Cicero doubts that the gods delight in ambrosia or nectar, and Ovid has ambrosia mixed with sweet nectar touch a mortal's mouth and make him a god.^[3][2] It is a type of sweetness, as Lucretius' flower of nard breathing nectar to the nostrils.^[2] The poets give the name to other sweet liquids: Virgil to new wine and to the honey bees store in their cells, Ovid to milk in the udder.^[2] The TLL notes that it is used only in the singular.^[4] Late glossaries explain it as honey, wine, a sweet odour, sweetness, and as the drink of the angels.^[4] British Medieval Latin uses it of the sweet fluid of plants and of honey, and figuratively.^[7] English borrowed nectar in the 1550s.^[6]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro names ambrosia and nectar together.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the scent of nard.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the drink of the gods.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of wine and of honey.^[2]
• 1550s – English nectar.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The drink of the gods, nectar;^[2][3][1] a type of sweetness.^[2]
2. (poetic) Any sweet liquid: wine, honey, milk.^[2][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) The sweet fluid of plants; honey.^[7]

Word family

• nectareus

Related words

• ambrosia
• English nectar

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 i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b 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