English
cyclamen
Cyclamen comes from Latin cyclamīnos ‘cyclamen, sowbread, Cyclamen hederifolium or…’, and goes back to Ancient Greek κῠκλᾰ́μῑνος.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκῠκλᾰ́μῑνος‘Cyclamen graecum’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcyclamīnos‘cyclamen, sowbread, Cyclamen hederifolium or Cyclamen repandum’
- New Latinc. 1500–1900cyclamen
- Englishearliest quotation 1940same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκῠκλᾰ́μῑνος‘Cyclamen graecum’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcyclamīnos‘cyclamen, sowbread, Cyclamen hederifolium or Cyclamen repandum’
- New Latinc. 1500–1900cyclamen
- Englishearliest quotation 1940same form
Earliest quotation: 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens: “An expectant mother would avoid cyclamen, stepping over it…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos ‘circle, wheel’
through Proto-Hellenic *kúklos ‘circle, wheel’
bicycle, tricycle, encyclical, 6 more
through Ancient Greek κύκλος ‘circle, ring’
Today it means
noun Any of various primulaceous flowering plants, of the genus Cyclamen, widely cultivated as a houseplant, having decorative leaves and solitary flowers.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek κῠκλᾰ́μῑνος / cyclamen