English
fritillary
Fritillary comes from Latin fritillus ‘dice-box, or possibly, checkerboard’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfritillus‘dice-box, or possibly, checkerboard’
- Englishearliest quotation 1869fritillary
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfritillus‘dice-box, or possibly, checkerboard’
- Englishearliest quotation 1869fritillary
Earliest quotation: 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago: “The Nymphalidae are a very extensive group, of generally…”
Every English word from Latin fritillus
Today it means
noun Any of several bulbous perennial plants, of the genus Fritillaria, having flowers with a spotted or chequered pattern.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fritillus / fritillary