English
Image by mihail_stavrev78 on Pixabay · Pixabay License
officinalis
Sign in to saveOfficinalis, officinale, or occasionally officinarum is a Medieval Latin epithet denoting organisms—mainly plants—with uses in medicine, herbalism, manufacturing, and cookery. It commonly occurs as a specific epithet, the second term of a two-part botanical name. Officinalis is used to modify masculine and feminine nouns, while officinale is used for neuter nouns.
~3 min read
Article
4 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Species
- See also
- References
Officinalis, officinale, or occasionally officinarum is a Medieval Latin epithet denoting organisms—mainly plants—with uses in medicine, herbalism, manufacturing, and cookery. It commonly occurs as a specific epithet, the second term of a two-part botanical name. Officinalis is used to modify masculine and feminine nouns, while officinale is used for neuter nouns.
==Etymology== The word literally means 'of or belonging to an ', the storeroom of a monastery, where medicines and other necessaries were kept. was a contraction of , from (gen. ) 'worker, maker, doer' (from 'work') + , , 'one who does', from 'do, perform'. When Linnaeus invented the binomial system of nomenclature, he gave the specific name officinalis, in the 1735 (1st Edition) of his , to plants (and sometimes animals or fungi) with an established medicinal, culinary, or other use.