| 释义 |
alexandersn. Origin: Apparently partly from a proper name. Partly a borrowing from French. Etymons: proper name Alexander; French alisander. Etymology: Apparently originally < the name of Alexander the Great (see Alexandrian adj.3); compare post-classical Latin petroselinum Macedonicum (4th cent.), petroselinum Alexandrinum (1616 or earlier), the plant being so named on account of its being endemic to Macedonia. In later use reborrowed < Anglo-Norman alisander, alissaundre, alsaundre, alesandre, alizaundir, Anglo-Norman and Middle French alexandre, alisandre, alisaundre, Middle French alissandere, alixaundre (12th cent. in Anglo-Norman; French †alexandre , †alisander , obsolete after the early 18th cent.) < Alexandre , Alisandre , Alisaunder , etc., the French form of the name of Alexander the Great (see above): see further Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch XXIV. at Alexander. Compare post-classical Latin alexandrinum (13th cent. in a British source), alexandria (14th cent. in a British glossarial source; also ?a1300 in the same source as quot. ?a1300 at sense 1), alexander (14th cent. in a British glossarial source), alexandrea, alexandrum, apium alexandrinum (all 15th cent. in British glossarial sources).The classical Latin name of the plant was holus ātrum , lit. ‘black vegetable’ ( < holus pot-herb (see oleraceous adj.) + ātrum , neuter of āter black: see atro- comb. form), with many variant forms (see Thesaurus linguae latinae at holus). An alternative etymology derives the French and English names of the plant < this classical Latin name, with folk-etymological alteration by association with the name of Alexander the Great. (In English, an early instance of this etymology appears in Philemon Holland's 1601 translation of Pliny.) With this hypothesis, perhaps compare an occasional post-classical Latin variant form olisandrum (5th cent.), although Thesaurus linguae latinae explains this as showing alteration after classical Latin coriandrum coriander n., so that any association with the name of Alexander the Great would appear to be secondary. Although the word is apparently attested earliest in British sources (mid 10th cent. in Old English and later in Anglo-Norman and British post-classical Latin), the fact that it is attested in other Romance languages besides French suggests it is not of British origin, even if it does not derive ultimately from classical Latin holus ātrum . Compare Italian (rare) lessandria , alessandrina (earliest as masculine: 14th cent. as lixandru (Sicily); 15th cent. as alisantrino (Rome); now regional) and also Catalan aleixandri , aleixandre , Sardinian lisandru , olisandru . Moreover, although the Old English word is usually assumed to denote horse parsley and this is indeed likely, there is no conclusive proof of this, as the word does not occur in unambiguous contexts, and other plant names exist which are ultimately derived from the same base; compare e.g. post-classical Latin alexandria type of ruscus (6th cent. in a translation of Dioscorides; compare Alexandrian laurel n. at laurel n.1 3c). In Old English the word inflects as a weak feminine (alexandre ); this may be by analogy with other (typically feminine) plant names of the weak (n -stem) declension, and allows no firm conclusions to be drawn about the gender of the hypothetical etymon. In the β. forms probably after plant names such as Old English centaurie centaury n., marubie Marrubium n., etc., although compare later post-classical Latin alexandria , Italian lessandria . Old English alexandria (one isolated attestation) is probably after the Latin feminine nominative singular ending (as in post-classical Latin alexandria ); alternatively (and perhaps less likely) it could be taken as showing a weak masculine. The γ. forms are probably after plant names in -s , e.g. rams n., ramsons n., cleavers n., bilders n., etc. the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > herb > [noun] > horse-parsley the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > stalk vegetables > alexanders or horse-parsley eOE (Royal) (1865) i. xlvii. 120 Wiþ þeorwærce wyrc to drence alexandre, sinfulle, wermod, twa cneowholen. eOE (Royal) (1865) iii. xii. 314 Nim merces sæd & finoles sæd.., petorsilian sæd, alexandran sæd, lufestices sæd. OE (2001) I. xxxi. 18 To godre bansealfe..elene, alexandrian moran, clufðung & clate. ?a1300 in S. G. Hamilton (1906) 185 Petusilum macedonicum, alisandre. a1350 in G. L. Brook (1968) 31 (MED) Wiþ alisaundre þareto, ache ant anys. ?a1425 (?1373) (1938) f. 3v Alexandrum, Alixsandur is an erbe that som men calliþ him stanmarche. (Harl. 221) 10 Alysaunder, herbe, or stanmarche, macedonia. 1573 T. Tusser (new ed.) f. 39v Herbes & rootes, for sallets & sawce. 1 Alexanders, at all times. 1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens 608 In Frenche Grand Ache or Alexandre..in English, Alexanders. 1597 W. Langham 11 Alysander the seedes drunke alone..dissolueth winde and griping in the body. 1669 J. Worlidge Kalendarium Rusticum in 277 Now sow..Sellery, Smallage, Allisanders. 1738 R. Bradley (ed. 2) 15 Allisanders, or Alexanders, are by some People used as a Sallad both raw and boyl'd... You must sow it in March; 'tis but in few Gardens. 1789 J. Abercrombie 102 Alexanders were sowed last autumn. 1813 C. Marshall (ed. 5) xv. 214 Alexander is a culinary plant, formerly much used, but has given way to celery. 1884 Dec. 362/2 The Parsley is of the same self-willed temper as the Angelica, Alexanders and Artichoke, which come up when they are ready and not before. 1908 18 June 565/2 Other ‘escapes’ growing on the safe cliffs are wild Cabbage, Alexanders—formerly used as a pot herb—and blue Salvia. 1973 C. A. Wilson vi. 196 As an alternative, beet leaves, lettuce leaves, alexanders,..and other greens could be puréed and eaten with a dressing of oil. 2008 21 Feb. (Extra section) 2/3 The book introduced readers to the delights of the now ubiquitous rocket, as well as ceps and alexanders. the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Umbelliferae (umbellifers) > [noun] > other umbellifers the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > medicinal and culinary plants > medicinal and culinary plant or part of plant > [noun] > angelica 1637 T. Morton ii. iii. The country there naturally affordeth very good pot-herbes and sallet herbes..as potmaioram, tyme, alexander, angelica..in very great abundance. 1789 W. Aiton I. 362 [Smyrnium] aureum... Golden Alexanders... Nat. of North America. 1821 9 156 Plants, which are indigenous to in the township of Middlebury, [Vermont, include]..Alexanders. 1831 21 384 Alexanders, an umbelliferous plant. 1898 W. A. Kellerman 249 Zizia cordata..Heart-leaf Alexanders.—Radical leaves mostly long-petioled, cordate or even rounder, crenately toothed. 1918 H. A. Gleason 81 Golden Alexander, Taenidia integerrima... Golden Alexander, Zizia aurea... Zizia cordata. 1969 E. Partridge 2 In the United States, alexanders (loosely, alexander) has, for some three centuries, designated the meadow parsley; we hear of ‘golden alexanders’ and ‘purple alexanders’. 1982 W. L. Heat Moon x. iv. 410 At Cincinnati, I looped the city fast on the interstate and came to Indiana 56, where corn, tobacco, and blue-sailor grew to the knee, and also wild carrot, fleabane, golden Alexander. 1988 27 Dec. 3/3 An American species [of angelica] is the great angelica (A. atropurpurea), commonly known as alexanders. 2009 S. T. Runkel & D. M. Roosa (ed. 2) 13 Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea) looks like a finely formed, more delicate type of wild parsnip (Thaspium). This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021). <  n.eOE |
