herb English · revision 39707

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c1290, South English Legendary|origins=la herba}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /hɜːb/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ɝb/, /hɝb/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|erbe]], usually so spelt in Middle English,^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986) [[bor|fro|erbe|t=grass, herb, plant fed to animals]] (modern [[m|fr|herbe]]),^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(AND) from [[la|herba|t=grass, green crops, herb]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(Klein 1966) a word of uncertain origin.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966) The spelling with ''h-'' appears occasionally in Old French and Middle English after the Latin, and regularly from about 1475,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) but the ''h'' was not pronounced until the 19th century.^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986)^(Weekley 1921) The same Latin word gave [[m|es|yerba]], [[m|pt|herva]] and [[m|it|erba]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) Etymonline notes that the native English word for such a plant is [[wort]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A plant whose stem does not become woody and lasting, as in a shrub or tree, but stays soft and dies down after flowering, and, in a narrower sense, a plant whose leaves or stems are used for food, medicine or scent: both c1290, in the ''South English Legendary''.^(OED 2026) Barnhart dates the word to probably before 1300,^(Barnhart 1988) and the Anglo-Norman Dictionary records [[m|xno|herbe]], grass or herb, from 1113–19.^(AND)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Etymonline notes that the early sense was especially a leafy vegetable eaten as food.^(Etymonline) The collective sense "herbage", grass and plants used for pasture, is recorded from c1384, in the Wycliffite Bible,^(OED 2026) and the leafy part of a plant as distinct from its root from 1662.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined herbs as plants with soft stalks and nothing woody in them, such as grass and hemlock.^(Johnson 1755) The verb is recorded from 1660 for grazing, and in cookery, to season with herbs, from 1922.^(OED 2026) The slang sense "marijuana" is recorded in South Africa in 1949 and became common in the 1960s;^(GDoS)^(Etymonline) Green's Dictionary of Slang links its use among Rastafarians to the religious role of the plant.^(GDoS) In English dialects the word was often ''yarb'' or ''yerb'', as in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Somerset, and ''herb of grace'' was a name for rue.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c1290 – a non-woody plant; a plant used for food, medicine or scent.^(OED 2026)

+ * c1384 – herbage, pasture plants.^(OED 2026)

+ * c1475 – spelling with ''h-'' becomes regular.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1660 – verb, to graze.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1662 – the leafy part of a plant.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1922 – verb, to season with herbs.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1949 – (slang) marijuana.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A plant whose leaves, seeds or flowers are used to give [[flavour]] to food, or in [[medicine]] or [[perfume]]: ''Basil and thyme are the herbs she grows most.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # (botany) A seed-bearing plant that does not form a woody stem and dies down at the end of the growing season.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # (slang) [[marijuana|alt=Marijuana]].^(Collins 2023)^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[herby]]

+ * [[herblike]]

+ * [[herbless]]

+ * [[cowherb]]

+ * [[herbed]]

+ * [[herbology]]

+ * [[potherb]]

+ * [[herb bennet]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[herbaceous]]

+ * [[herbage]]

+ * [[herbal]]

+ * [[herbarium]]

+ * [[herbicide]]

+ * [[herbivore]]

+ * [[herbivorous]]

+ * [[yerba]]

+ * [[wort]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In British English the word is pronounced with /h/, while in the United States it is usually pronounced without it, the older pronunciation.^(Collins 2023)^(ODE 2010)^(Barnhart 1988) Barnhart notes that even in the United States the ''h'' is sounded in ''herbicide'' and often in ''herbaceous''.^(Barnhart 1988) The Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary notes that the American name ''Herb'' is always pronounced with /h/.^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}