iris | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

18 entries found.

late 14c. as the name of a flowering plant (Iris germanica); early 15c. in reference to the eye membrane, from Latin iris (plural irides) "iris of the eye; iris plant; rainbow," from Greek iris (genitive iridos) "a rainbow;" also "iris plant" and "iris of the eye," a word of uncertain origin, traditionally derived from PIE root *wei- "to bend, turn, twist."

Iris was the name of the minister and messenger of the Olympian gods (especially of Hera), visibly represented by the rainbow (which was regarded as the descent of a celestial messenger). From the oldest parts of the Iliad the word is used of both the messenger and the rainbow.

The eye region was so called (early 15c. in English) for being the part that gives color to the eye; the Greek word was used of any brightly colored circle, "as that round the eyes of a peacock's tail" [Liddell & Scott]. Another sense in Middle English was "prismatic rock crystal." Related: Iridian; iridine.

iridescent (adj.)

1784, literally "rainbow-colored," coined from Latin iris (genitive iridis) "rainbow" (see iris). The verb iridesce (1868) is a back-formation. Related: Iridescently.

iridium (n.)

silver-white metallic element, 1804, coined in Modern Latin by its discoverer, English chemist Smithson Tennant (1761-1815) from Greek iris (genitive iridos) "rainbow" (see iris) + chemical ending -ium. So called "from the striking variety of colours which it gives while dissolving in marine acid" [Tennant]

*wei-

also weiə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to turn, twist, bend," with derivatives referring to suppleness or binding.

It forms all or part of: ferrule; garland; iridescence; iridescent; iris; iridium; vise; viticulture; wire; withe; withy.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Avestan vaeiti- "osier;" Greek itea "willow," iris "rainbow;" Latin viere "to bend, twist," vitis "vine;" Lithuanian vytis "willow twig;" Old Irish fiar, Welsh gwyr "bent, crooked;" Polish witwa, Welsh gwden "willow," Russian vitvina "branch, bough;" Old English wir "metal drawn out into a fine thread."

gladiolus (n.)

"wild iris," c. 1000, from Latin gladiolus "wild iris, sword-lily," literally "small sword," diminutive of gladius "sword" (see gladiator); the plant so called by Pliny in reference to its sword-shaped leaves. The Old English form of the word was gladdon. Form gladiol is attested from mid-15c.; the modern use perhaps represents a 1560s reborrowing from Latin.

flag (n.3)

plant growing in moist places, late 14c., "reed, rush," perhaps from Scandinavian (compare Danish flæg "yellow iris") or from Dutch flag; perhaps ultimately connected to flag (v.1) on notion of "fluttering in the breeze."

talaria (n.)

"winged sandals of Hermes (Mercury)" and often other gods (Iris, Eros, the Fates and the Furies), 1590s, from Latin talaria, noun use of neuter plural of talaris "of the ankle," from talus "ankle" (see talus (n.1)).

Japanese (adj.)

1580s, Iapones; see Japan + -ese. As a noun from c. 1600; meaning "the Japanese language" is from 1828. As nouns Purchas has Iaponite (1613), Hakluyt Japonian. The destructive Japanese beetle attested from 1919, accidentally introduced in U.S. 1916 in larval stage in a shipment of Japanese iris.

fleur-de-lis (n.)

also fleur-de-lys, mid-14c., from Anglo-French flour de lis "lily-flower" (see lily), from Old French, literally "flower of the iris," especially borne as a heraldic device on the royal arms of France. There is much dispute over what it is meant to resemble; perhaps an iris flower, or the head of a scepter, or a weapon of some sort. In Middle English often taken as flour delice "flower of joy, lovely flower" (hence Anglo-Latin flos deliciae); also flour de luce "flower of light" (as if from Latin lucem).

narcissus (n.)

type of bulbous flowering plant, 1540s, from Latin narcissus, from Greek narkissos, a plant name, not the modern narcissus, possibly a type of iris or lily, associated with Greek narkē "numbness" (see narcotic (n.)) because of the sedative effect of the alkaloids in the plant, but Beekes considers this folk-etymology and writes that "The suffix clearly points to a Pre-Greek word."

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