amomum Latin · revision 34254

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''amōmum''' ''n'' (genitive amōmī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''amōmon''.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἄμωμον|tr=ámōmon|t=an Indian spice plant]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Beekes calls the Greek word an Oriental loanword and compares [[m|grc|κιννάμωμον|tr=kinnámōmon|t=cinnamon]].^(Beekes 2010) Köbler too describes it as a loanword from the East.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's first citation is Plautus, where someone says ''ex Arabia tibi attuli tus, Ponto amomum'', “I have brought you incense from Arabia, amomum from Pontus”;^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates it from Sallust.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It names an eastern spice plant, which Georges says grew in India, Media and Armenia, and in the poets in Assyria; a costly fragrant balm was made from its fruit.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil foretells that Assyrian amomum will grow everywhere, and Ovid says that the phoenix lives on its juice.^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder describes its cluster as coming from an Indian wild vine.^(OLD 2012) The word is used of the spice itself, as in Virgil, Ovid, Celsus and Columella, and of an unguent containing it, as in Persius, Martial and Juvenal.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus mentions amomum brought from Pontus.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it in his ''Histories''.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of Assyrian amomum.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of an unguent.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An eastern [[m|en|spice]] plant, [[m|en|amomum]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The spice obtained from this plant.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|balm]] or [[m|en|unguent]] containing this spice.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cinnamōmum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}