English

Noun

amaracus ‎(uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Marjoram.
   • 1842, Tennyson, "Oenone", in The Lady of Shallot and other poems

     Then to the bower they came, / Naked they came to that smooth-swarded bower, / And at their feet the crocus brake like fire, / Violet, amaracus, and asphodel, / Lotos and lilies: and a wind arose, / And overhead the wandering ivy and vine, / This way and that, in many a wild festoon  / Ran riot, garlanding the gnarled boughs / With bunch and berry and flower thro' and thro'.

Latin

Alternative forms

• amāracum

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀμάρακος ‎(amárakos); compare Sanskrit मरुव ‎(maruva, “marjoram”).

Noun

amāracus m ‎(genitive amāracī); second declension

1. marjoram (Origanum majorana)

Usage notes

• Identification with Origanum majorana is uncertain, but O. m. var tenuifolium, native to Cyprus fits Pliny's description especially well. Other species of Origanum, such as O. onites, are possible.

Inflection

Second declension.

Derived terms

• (Medieval Latin): maiorana, majorana

References

• amaracus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• amaracus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “amaracus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• amaracus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers