gentian

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See also: Gentian

English

Gentiana brachyphylla, a gentian.

Etymology

Via Middle English from Latin gentiāna, which, according to Pliny the Elder, was named after Gentius (Ancient Greek Γένθιος (Génthios)), the last king of Illyria, who supposedly discovered the plant's medicinal benefits. This has been dismissed as folk etymology but the word may still ultimately be of Illyrian origin, as -an is a common suffix in Illyrian words.

Pronunciation

Noun

gentian (countable and uncountable, plural gentians)

  1. (countable) Any of various herbs of the family Gentianaceae found in temperate and mountainous regions with violet or blue flowers.
    • 1956, Delano Ames, Crime out of Mind‎, chapter 1:
      On the cover of the leaflet advertising the Alpenrose Gasthof in Zirl am Gurgl […] there is a decorative picture of a young woman. […] She has bright flaxen hair and laughing eyes of the same hue as the gentians in the meadow beyond the inn.
  2. (uncountable) Dried roots and rhizome of European gentian (Gentiana lutea), used as a tonic.

Synonyms

Derived terms

terms derived from gentian

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