elleborus Latin · revision 35738

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɛlˈlɛ.bɔ.rʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [elˈlɛː.bo.rus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''elleborus''' ''m'' (genitive elleborī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ⟨helleborus⟩, and the neuter ⟨elleborum⟩ (⟨helleborum⟩) is commoner.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(TLL)

+ The manuscripts of Plautus and some of Pliny the Elder have the spelling with ⟨h-⟩.^(TLL)

+ Medical texts and glossaries also write ⟨eleborus⟩.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἑλλέβορος|tr=helléboros|t=hellebore]].^(Wiktionary)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(MLW) Köbler, following Frisk, connects its first part with [[grc|ἐλλός|tr=ellós|t=young deer]].^(Köbler 2010) The native Latin name of the plant was [[m|la|vērātrum]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(TLL)

+

+ Isidore of Seville explained the name from a river Elleborus in Greece, around which the plant was said to grow.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records it from Plautus, Cato and Catullus on;^(TLL) Plautus uses it in the ''Menaechmi''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It named hellebore, a plant the ancients used against madness and epilepsy:^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) the white kind as an emetic and the black, also called ''melampodion'', as a purgative.^(Georges 1913) Pliny the Elder discusses it at length and says that the best grew on Anticyra;^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) he derives ''melampodion'' from Melampus.^(TLL) The word is masculine in Virgil and Columella and neuter in Cato and Pliny.^(TLL)

+

+ In medieval Latin it named both the black hellebore or Christmas rose and the white hellebore, and was used in medicine and alchemy.^(MLW) Old English glosses render it ''wœdeberge''.^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses the neuter ''elleborum''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the masculine plural ''ellebori''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes its kinds and uses.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville derives the name from a river in Greece.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|hellebore]], a plant used as a remedy for madness and [[m|en|epilepsy]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Black hellebore, [[m|en|Christmas rose]]; also white hellebore.^(MLW)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|hellebore]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}