veratrum

Forms

vērātrum n (genitive vērātrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][1] It is perhaps from Latin vērus (“true”), through a verb ⟨vērō⟩ “to speak the truth” with the suffix ⟨-trum⟩;^[3][2] de Vaan lists it among the words formed from ⟨vērus⟩ but calls the connection uncertain: it supposes that the plant was named for restoring the mind of the sick, which was Isidore's explanation.^[2] Wiktionary also mentions an analysis as vērē (“truly”) and āter (“dull black”), and a separate source in Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist, writhe”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato,^[2][4] who in his treatise on farming prescribes putting vērātrī ātrī manipulum, a handful of black hellebore, into must in an amphora.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was a name for several plants used as poisons or medicines, usually understood as kinds of hellebore.^[3] Writers distinguished black hellebore (vērātrum ātrum or nigrum) from white hellebore (vērātrum album or candidum).^[3] Celsus says the ancients purged patients with black hellebore in almost every illness and recommends white hellebore for diseases without fever, and Scribonius Largus notes that white hellebore makes one sneeze.^[3] Lucretius, Pliny the Elder, Persius and Gellius also mention it.^[5]

Medieval glossaries equate it with elleborus, the white kind making one vomit and the black purging the bowels.^[6] It survives as Italian veratro.^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato prescribes black hellebore in must.^[3][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius mentions the plant.^[5][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus prescribes black and white hellebore.^[3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder discusses it.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Hellebore, a name for several poisonous or medicinal plants.^[3][5]
2. (with ātrum or nigrum) Black hellebore;^[3] (with album or candidum) white hellebore, Veratrum album.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier