absinthium Latin · revision 33481

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc ἀψίνθιον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [apˈsɪn.tʰi.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [abˈsin.ti.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''absinthium''' ''n'' (genitive absinthiī or absinthī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The OLD files it under ''apsinthium''.^(OLD 2012)

+ The TLL finds the spelling with ⟨ps⟩ much rarer than ⟨bs⟩, chiefly in Plautus, Cato and Pliny.^(TLL)

+ Varro has ''apsenthium'', and Nonius cites a masculine ''absinthius'' from him.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἀψίνθιον|tr=apsínthion|t=wormwood]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler calls the further origin of the Greek word unclear.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its earliest quotation in the OLD is from Plautus, who speaks of a land ''ubi apsinthium fit ac cunīla gallīnācea'', “where wormwood and hen's marjoram grow”;^(OLD 2012) Cato uses it soon after.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the plant wormwood, especially the kind from Pontus, and an infusion or tincture made from it, which Lucretius, Celsus and Pliny the Elder mention.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Lucretius speaks of the ''taetra absinthī nātūra'', “the foul nature of wormwood”.^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder names several kinds, the Santonic after a people of Gaul, the Pontic after Pontus, and a sea wormwood.^(OLD 2012) Quintilian used it figuratively, fearing that his book might seem to have too little honey and too much wormwood, and so it became the image of something bitter but wholesome.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Medieval writers in Britain, from Aldhelm on, used it of the plant, glossed ''wermod'', and of bitterness and grief.^(DMLBS) It is continued by [[it|assenzio]],^(Conte 2010) and English took ''absinthe'' for the liqueur from French in 1842.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus mentions it.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his work on farming.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the plant and of its infusion.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes its kinds.^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it figuratively.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 796 – Alcuin uses it of bitter reproof.^(DMLBS)

+ * 1842 – English borrows [[m|en|absinthe]] from French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|wormwood|alt=Wormwood]], ''Artemisia absinthium''; also other species of the genus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An [[m|en|infusion]] or [[m|en|tincture]] of wormwood.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # (figuratively) Something bitter but wholesome;^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS) ''(Medieval Latin)'' bitterness, grief.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|absinthe]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}