† ptomato-atropinen.
Origin: A borrowing from Greek, combined with English elements; modelled on a German lexical item. Etymons: Greek πτωματ- , πτῶμα , -o- connective, atropine n.
Etymology: < ancient Greek πτωματ-, πτῶμα fallen body, corpse (see ptomaine n.) + -o- connective + atropine n., after German Ptomatoatropin ( E. R. Kobert Compendium der prakt. Toxikologie (1887) 132, although perhaps attested slightly earlier: see below). Compare slightly later ptomatropine n., and earlier ptomaine n.Although slightly earlier use of the German word is suggested by the following quot., this has not been traced:1918 E. C. Dickson Botulism 12 Until 1886 when von Anrep (41) reported the isolation of a fixed base from the flesh of a sturgeon, to which he gave the name ‘Ptomato-Atropin’. In form ptomato-atropin after the German form.
Chemistry.
Obsolete.
1889 7 Dec. 1198/1 The resemblance [to atropine] is sufficiently striking to have caused..[Professor Kobert] to name the alkaloid ‘ptomato-atropine’.
1890 J. Cagney tr. R. von Jaksch v. 121 Mention should be made also of ptomato-atropin [Ger. des Ptomatoatropins], a basic compound, which has been discovered in the latter [sc. putrid sausage].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
n.1889