selinon

Forms

selīnon n (genitive selīnī); second declension^[1] Also ⟨selīnum⟩.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σέλινον (sélinon, “celery”).^[1][4][2] Beekes takes the Greek word as probably foreign;^[5][1] Furnée connects it with Mycenaean ⟨sa-ri-nu-wo-te⟩, which would point to a Pre-Greek ⟨*σάλινον⟩.^[5][1] Isidore of Seville explains that ⟨selinon⟩ is the Greek for apium.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the herbal of Pseudo-Apuleius.^[4][7][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short and Georges give it as the Greek name for apium, parsley or celery;^[4][7] Gaffiot glosses the same passage as a buttercup,^[8] and the glossaries list selinum agrium with batrachion.^[9][1] Isidore names petroselīnon as a kind of apium and explains it as “rock apium”.^[6]

In British medieval sources selinon or selinum is wild celery or smallage and its seed;^[3] English glosses of the 15th century render it “smalache” and “merche seed”.^[3] Etymonline traces English celery, of the 1660s, to French céleri and a Lombard dialect word, from the Late Latin word.^[10]

Timeline

• end of 4th century AD – Pseudo-Apuleius uses it in his herbal.^[4][2]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville gives it as the Greek for apium.^[6][2]
• 15th century – An English glossary renders it “smalache”.^[3]
• 1660s – English celery is recorded, through French.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Parsley, celery (apium).^[4][7][1]
2. A buttercup.^[8][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Wild celery, smallage; its seed.^[3]

Related words

• apium
• English celery

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com