oryza

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ɔˈryːz.za]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [oˈrid.d͡za]^[1]

Forms

orȳza f (genitive orȳzae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὄρῡζα (órūza, “rice”).^[2][1][3][4] The OLD calls the Greek word of Asiatic origin,^[2] and Köbler takes it as a loan from East Iranian;^[4] Wiktionary traces it through Iranian to Proto-Indo-Iranian *wriHǰʰíš.^[1] Etymonline likewise has the Greek come through an Indo-Iranian language.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Horace uses it once, in the Satires, in a line offering a gruel made from it: sūme hoc tisanārium oryzae “take this little rice gruel”.^[6][7][4]

Semantic evolution

After Horace it is a word of medicine and natural history: Celsus lists rice among the washed grains given to the sick, as a gruel or a thin porridge,^[6] and Pliny the Elder describes the plant.^[8][9] The TLL notes that it is sometimes used for the gruel or flour made from rice rather than the grain itself.^[6] It has no plural.^[6] Manuscripts spell it mostly ⟨oriza⟩; an inscription has ⟨orissa⟩, and Apicius and other late texts have the form ⟨orīdia⟩.^[6][9] Glossaries explain it by tisana, barley gruel.^[6]

In medieval herbals it became obscure: the Alphita calls it a kind of pulse unknown to its author, adding that some take it for spelt, while William Turner affirms that it is rice.^[10] A Polish document of 1514 forbids peasants to sow rice from their own seed.^[11] The word passed into the European languages: Old French ⟨ris⟩, Middle High German and modern German ⟨Reis⟩, Old Norse ⟨rīs⟩;^[4] English rice comes through Old French from Italian riso.^[5]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace mentions a gruel of rice in the Satires.^[6][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus prescribes rice as food for the sick.^[6][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the plant in the Natural History.^[8][4]
• 4th century AD – Apicius has the form ⟨orīdia⟩.^[9][4]
• 511 AD – Anthimus writes ⟨oriza⟩.^[9][4]
• mid-13th century – English rice is first recorded.^[5]
• 1514 – A Polish document forbids peasants to sow rice from their own seed.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. rice, the grain and the plant.^[2][8][6]
2. Rice grains taken together.^[9]
3. A gruel or flour made from rice.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A kind of pulse unknown to the writer; spelt, according to some.^[10]

Related words

• English rice

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl