belladonna

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See also: Belladonna

English

Etymology

The belladonna plant, showing leaves and berries.

Borrowed from Italian belladonna (altered by folk etymology: bella donna (beautiful lady)) from Medieval Latin blādōna (nightshade), of Gaulish origin. The folk etymology was motivated by the cosmetic use of nightshade for dilating the eyes.

Pronunciation

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Noun

belladonna (countable and uncountable, plural belladonnas)

  1. A plant, Atropa belladonna, having purple bell-shaped flowers and poisonous black glossy berries.
    • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 112:
      Witches always anointed themselves with ointments before departing up the chimney to their Sabbaths. One such ointment was composed of Aconite, Belladonna, Water Parsley, Cinquefoil and Babies' Fat.
  2. An alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes used medicinally, containing atropine.
    • 1976 December 11, Tommi Avicolli, “The Middle Ages: Lest We Forget...”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 11:
      The elderly women who practiced herbalism and administered belladonna (a pain killer) to pregnant women were apt to be accused of witchcraft. The Medieval church was against the administration of belladonna because they believed women were meant to suffer pain in childbirth as a result of Eve's sin.
    • 2005 June 13, Edmund White, “My Women: Learning how to love them.”, in The New Yorker:
      Cathy teetered downstairs on very high heels, her hair swept up in a disintegrating “brioche”, her eyes glistening with belladonna drops.

Synonyms

Wikispecies has information on:

Wikispecies

Derived terms

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian belladonna (bella donna, literally beautiful lady), altered by folk etymology from Medieval Latin blādōna (nightshade), from Gaulish *blātōnā, blātunā, from Proto-Celtic *blātus (flower), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃tus, from *bʰleh₃- (blossom, flower).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌbɛ.laːˈdɔ.naː/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: bel‧la‧don‧na

Noun

belladonna f or m (plural belladonna's, diminutive belladonnaatje n)

  1. Synonym of wolfskers (deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna)

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian belladonna (bella donna, literally beautiful lady), altered by folk etymology from Medieval Latin blādōna (nightshade), from Gaulish *blātōnā, blātunā, from Proto-Celtic *blātus (flower), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃tus, from *bʰleh₃- (blossom, flower).

Pronunciation

Finnish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fi
  • IPA(key): /ˈbelːɑdonːɑ/,
  • Rhymes: -onːɑ
  • Hyphenation(key): bel‧la‧don‧na

Noun

belladonna

  1. belladonna, deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna)

Declension

Inflection of belladonna (Kotus type 10/koira, no gradation)
nominative belladonna belladonnat
genitive belladonnan belladonnien
partitive belladonnaa belladonnia
illative belladonnaan belladonniin
singular plural
nominative belladonna belladonnat
accusative nom. belladonna belladonnat
gen. belladonnan
genitive belladonnan belladonnien
belladonnain rare
partitive belladonnaa belladonnia
inessive belladonnassa belladonnissa
elative belladonnasta belladonnista
illative belladonnaan belladonniin
adessive belladonnalla belladonnilla
ablative belladonnalta belladonnilta
allative belladonnalle belladonnille
essive belladonnana belladonnina
translative belladonnaksi belladonniksi
abessive belladonnatta belladonnitta
instructive belladonnin
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of belladonna (Kotus type 10/koira, no gradation)

Synonyms

Further reading

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Etymology

Interpreted by folk etymology as bella (beautiful) +‎ donna (lady), from Medieval Latin blādōna (nightshade), from Gaulish *blātōnā, blātunā, from Proto-Celtic *blātus (flower), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃tus, from *bʰleh₃- (blossom, flower).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌbɛl.laˈdɔn.na/[1]
  • Rhymes: -ɔnna
  • Hyphenation: bel‧la‧dòn‧na

Noun

belladonna f (plural belledonne)

  1. deadly nightshade, belladonna (Atropa belladonna)

References

  1. ^ belladonna in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian belladonna (bella donna, literally beautiful lady), altered by folk etymology from Medieval Latin blādōna (nightshade), from Gaulish *blātōnā, blātunā, from Proto-Celtic *blātus (flower), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃tus, from *bʰleh₃- (blossom, flower).

Pronunciation

Noun

belladonna f (genitive belladonnae); first declension

  1. (New Latin) belladonna (Atropa belladonna)

Declension

Latin Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia la

First-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative belladonna belladonnae
genitive belladonnae belladonnārum
dative belladonnae belladonnīs
accusative belladonnam belladonnās
ablative belladonnā belladonnīs
vocative belladonna belladonnae

Synonyms

Descendants

Polish

belladonna

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian belladonna.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɛl.laˈdɔn.na/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔnna
  • Syllabification: bel‧la‧don‧na

Noun

belladonna f

  1. (literary) Alternative form of belladona

Declension

Further reading

  • belladonna in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • belladonna in Polish dictionaries at PWN