primulan.

Etymology: Originally < post-classical Latin primula denoting various flowers, especially the primrose (from 14th cent. in British sources), short for primula veris , literally ‘little firstling of spring’ (c1101 (see note below); frequently a1250–1538 in British sources) < primula , use as noun of feminine of classical Latin prīmulus first, earliest ( < prīmus prime adj. + -ulus -ule suffix) + classical Latin vēris , genitive of vēr ver n.¹ Compare ( < post-classical Latin primula veris ) Middle French primule de ver (15th cent. in an apparently isolated attestation in the source translated in quot. 1526), Italian primula vera (1522 in an apparently isolated attestation), both in sense ‘cowslip’. In later use after scientific Latin primula, genus name (1753); compare ( < scientific Latin) French primule (second half of the 19th cent. or earlier), Spanish prímula (end of the 18th cent. or earlier), Italian primula (1834), Dutch primula (second half of the 18th cent.), German Primel (1773), Swedish primula (1757), Danish primula, (now rare) primel (early 19th cent. or earlier), all in sense ‘primrose, cowslip’.Post-classical Latin primula veris occurs c1101 in Regimen Sanitatis Salerni, apparently in a list of plants supposed to cure paralysis: ‘Salvia, Castoriumque, Lavendula, Primula veris, Nasturtium, Armoracia, hæc sanant paralytica membra’. In this instance it appears to denote the cowslip, often called herba paralysis on account of its supposed healing powers against that illness (compare quot. 1526). However, both names appear also to have been applied to other plants, especially the field daisy ( Bellis), from an early date.