Etymologically
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verbena

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [wɛrˈbeː.na][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [verˈbɛː.na][1]

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]
  • 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