reubarbarum

Forms

reubarbarum n (genitive reubarbarī); second declension^[1] Köbler also lists the spellings rheubarbarum, reubarbum, rhabarbarum, rhabarbum and rhubarbarum.^[2] The DMLBS records reubarbium and reubarum.^[3] Gaffiot heads the word as rheubarbarum.^[4]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Koine Greek ῥῆον βαρβαρικόν (rhêon barbarikón, “foreign rhubarb”), from ῥῆον (rhêon, “rhubarb”) and βαρβαρικός (barbarikós, “foreign”).^[1] The DMLBS and Köbler give the second part as βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “foreign, non-Greek”), and Köbler calls the further origin of the plant name unclear.^[3][2] Etymonline notes that the first part was associated in Greek with Rha, an ancient Scythian name of the Volga.^[5]

Ancient and medieval writers explained the name differently: Isidore of Seville says that its first part means “root”, so that the word is a “foreign root”, gathered beyond the Danube on barbarian soil;^[6] Johannes de Janua repeated this, while others, Du Cange notes, named the plant after the river Rha.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636 AD) is Köbler's first source;^[2] in the Etymologiae he names it beside reuponticum, the kind gathered around the Black Sea.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In medieval medicine it was a purgative: the Salernitan questions say that rhubarb purges choler, and Gilbertus Anglicus prescribes rhubarb water.^[3] It was also an article of trade: the statutes of Asti set a toll on each pound of it.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains its name.^[6][2]
• 1253 – A royal account in England records an ounce of rhubarb.^[3]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as rubarbe, partly through Old French.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Rhubarb, the medicinal root of the plant.^[8][3][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn