verbena

Forms

verbēna f (genitive verbēnae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It goes back to ⟨*werbes-na⟩,^[2][3] a derivative of the s-stem that also gives verbera (“lashes, rods”); de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *werbos (“twig, whip”) and perhaps Proto-Indo-European *uerb(h)-es-.^[3] The Baltic and Slavic words for “twig” and “stick”, such as Lithuanian vir̃bas (“stick, twig”) and Latvian virbs (“small stick”), may come from the same root.^[3][2] Servius derived it from greenness, ⟨a viriditāte⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Naevius,^[3] who has scopās atque verbēnās sagmina sumpsērunt, of twigs and boughs taken up for a religious ceremony.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly used in the plural, of the leafy branches of laurel, olive, myrtle and other aromatic plants used in religious rites;^[2][4] Servius says that all sacred foliage was called verbēnae.^[4] The fetials carried them,^[4] and they appear in sacrifices in Plautus, Terence, Horace, Ovid and Virgil.^[4] Celsus uses the word for leaves used in medicine as cooling remedies,^[2][4] and Columella of seaweed covering rocks.^[2] English took vervain from it through Old French in about 1300, and verbena directly in the 1560s as a plant name.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of sacred boughs.^[2][3][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus mentions it in a sacrifice.^[4][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of medicinal leaves.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of seaweed.^[2][6]
• c. 400 AD – Servius explains it.^[4][6]
• c. 1300 – English borrows vervain through Old French.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leafy branch or twig of an aromatic plant such as laurel, olive or myrtle, used in religious rites.^[2][4]
2. Such leaves used in medicine.^[2][4]
3. A growth of seaweed.^[2]

Related words

• verbera
• verberō¹
• English verbena
• English vervain

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de