veratrum Latin · revision 36350

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la vērus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [weːˈraː.trũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [veˈraː.trum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vērātrum''' ''n'' (genitive vērātrī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) It is perhaps [[der|la|vērus|t=true]], through a verb ⟨vērō⟩ “to speak the truth” with the suffix ⟨-trum⟩;^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) de Vaan lists it among the words formed from ⟨vērus⟩ but calls the connection uncertain: it supposes that the plant was named for restoring the mind of the sick, which was Isidore's explanation.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary also mentions an analysis as [[m|la|vērē|t=truly]] and [[m|la|āter|t=dull black]], and a separate source in [[ine-pro|*wreyt-|t=to twist, writhe]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who in his treatise on farming prescribes putting ''vērātrī ātrī manipulum'', a handful of black hellebore, into must in an amphora.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a name for several plants used as poisons or medicines, usually understood as kinds of hellebore.^(OLD 2012) Writers distinguished black hellebore (''vērātrum ātrum'' or ''nigrum'') from white hellebore (''vērātrum album'' or ''candidum'').^(OLD 2012) Celsus says the ancients purged patients with black hellebore in almost every illness and recommends white hellebore for diseases without fever, and Scribonius Largus notes that white hellebore makes one sneeze.^(OLD 2012) Lucretius, Pliny the Elder, Persius and Gellius also mention it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Medieval glossaries equate it with ''elleborus'', the white kind making one vomit and the black purging the bowels.^(DMLBS) It survives as [[it|veratro]].^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato prescribes black hellebore in must.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius mentions the plant.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus prescribes black and white hellebore.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder discusses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|hellebore|alt=Hellebore]], a name for several poisonous or medicinal plants.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (with ''ātrum'' or ''nigrum'') Black hellebore;^(OLD 2012) (with ''album'' or ''candidum'') white hellebore, ''Veratrum album''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}