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tulipa

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word tulipa

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
Ultimate origin
Turkish tülbent

Forms

tulipa f (genitive tulipae); first declension[1] Also spelled ⟨dulipa⟩.[1] The poets scan the first vowel both long (⟨tūlipa⟩) and short (⟨tŭlipam⟩).[1]

Etymology

It is named after the Turkish turban: Victionarium gives the source as Turkish tülbent (“turban; muslin”), in its Ottoman form ⟨tülbend⟩, from the shape of the flower.[2][3] Neo-Latin writers already explain it so: Pexenfelder says that tulips are named from their likeness to a Slavonic cap which the Turks call ⟨tuli-pant⟩, and Hofmann's lexicon that it is a cap worn by Dalmatians and Turks, whose shape the open flower recalls when turned upside down.[1] Du Cange's Benedictine editors give the same account, with a ⟨tulipantus⟩ “Turkish cap” in a medieval miracle story.[4] Etymonline traces the Turkish word further to Persian.[3] Köbler, who records a medieval ⟨tulipa⟩ “turban”, calls the origin unclear.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ramminger's Neo-Latin word list gives it from Paul Fleming's poems, where the many-coloured tulip paints the ground.[1]

Semantic evolution

In Neo-Latin it is the garden tulip: Caspar Barlaeus has a girl picking one,[1] Daniel Morhof lists it among violets in a flower-bed,[1] and Pexenfelder notes that tulips change or improve their colours every year.[1] Du Cange's editors give the turban as the first sense and the flower as named from it.[4] Victionarium also uses it for the botanical genus Tulipa.[2] The European names of the flower, such as Dutch and German Tulpe and French tulipe, go back to the same Turkish word;[3] Italian tulipano keeps its full form.[3]

Timeline

  • 1570s – English tulip is recorded, from Dutch or German and French.[3]
  • 1733–1736 – Du Cange's Benedictine editors explain it as a Turkish cap, hence the flower.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A turban, a Turkish head covering.[5][4]
  2. (New Latin) A tulip;[1][2][4] (botany) the genus Tulipa.[1][2][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
  2. ^ a b c d Victionarium (Latin Wiktionary), la.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Tulipa.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/tulipa. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·