ἰβίσκος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

  • ἐβίσκος (ebískos)
  • ἱβίσκος (hibískos)Koine

Etymology

Unknown:

  • possibly from a Celtic language such as Gaulish; however, no Celtic cognates are attested, so the Gaulish word may simply be a medium for a regional, Pre-Celtic or Pre-Italic substrate plant name.[1]
  • The word has been compared to ἰβηρίς (ibērís, pepperwort).
  • Furnée thinks that the word comes from Pre-Greek, where the variation ε/ι is frequent.

Pronunciation

 

Noun

ἰβίσκος • (ibískosm (genitive ἰβίσκου); second declension

  1. marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis)
    Synonym: ἀλθαία (althaía)

Inflection

Descendants

  • Latin: hibiscus
  • Latin: ibiscum
    • Old High German: ibisca
      • Middle High German: ibesche

References

  1. ^ Prósper, B. M. (2017). The irreducible Gauls used to swear by Belenos. Or did they? Celtic religion, henbane and historical misapprehensions. Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, 64, 221–292. https://doi.org/10.1515/ZCPH-2017-0007

Further reading