resina

Forms

rēsīna f (genitive rēsīnae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥητίνη (rhētínē, “resin of the pine”),^[2][3][1][4] which the OLD calls an adaptation of the Greek word.^[2] Lewis and Short only say that it is perhaps related to it.^[5] The Greek word itself is of unknown origin.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conte records it already in Plautus' Mercator;^[7] Köbler's first source is Cato.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It always meant the product secreted by various trees, in liquid or solid form.^[2] Cato uses it in his treatise on agriculture, and Celsus and Pliny the Elder speak of wine seasoned with resin (vinum resinā conditum).^[5][8] Columella calls turpentine resina terebintha, and Pliny uses the plural for kinds of pitch and resin.^[5][8] In the Vulgate it is a soothing balm: tollite resinam ad dolorem eius, “take balm for the pain”.^[8][9]

In British medieval Latin it was used in medicine, as glue, as kindling, for caulking and for greasing axles.^[10] It lives on in Italian resina, Spanish resina, Portuguese resina, French résine and Romanian rășină.^[1] English resin comes from Old French and directly from Latin.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Mercator.^[7][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his treatise on agriculture.^[5][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus speaks of wine seasoned with resin.^[5][8][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella names turpentine resina terebintha.^[5][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a soothing balm.^[8][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows resin.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Resin, rosin, in liquid or solid form.^[2][5]
2. resina terebintha: turpentine.^[5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Balm.^[9][8]

Word family

• rēsīnāceus
• rēsīnāria
• rēsīnātus
• rēsīnōsus

Related words

• English resin

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ 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