soma (n.)

name of an intoxicant prepared from the juice of some East Indian plant and used in ancient Vedic ritual, 1785, in Wilkins's Bhagavad-Gita, from Sanskrit soma, from PIE *seu- "juice," from root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (see sup (v.2)). In Huxley's "Brave New World" (1932), the name of a state-dispensed narcotic producing euphoria and hallucination and social control.

also from 1785

Entries linking to soma

sup (v.2)

"to sip, to take into the mouth with the lips, drink or swallow with small mouthfuls," Middle English soupen, from Old English supan (West Saxon), suppan, supian (Northumbrian) "sip, taste, drink, swallow" (strong verb, past tense seap, past participle sopen).

This is from Proto-Germanic *supanan (source also of Old Norse supa "to sip, drink," Middle Low German supen, Dutch zuipen "to drink, tipple," Old High German sufan, German saufen "to drink, booze"). The Germanic word is from PIE *sub-, possibly [Watkins] an extended form of the root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (source also of Sanskrit sunoti "presses out juice," soma; Avestan haoma, Persian hom "juice;" Greek huetos "rain," huein "to rain;" Latin sugere "to suck," succus "juice, sap;" Lithuanian sula "flowing sap;" Old Church Slavonic soku "sap," susati "suck;" Middle Irish suth "sap;" Old English seaw "sap").

If this is correct, the two verbs sup are cognates out of Germanic, the other one via French. The noun meaning "a small quantity of liquid" is by 1560s.

Trends of soma

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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build

Middle English bilden, from late Old English byldan "construct a house," verb form of bold "house," from Proto-Germanic *buthla- (source also of Old Saxon bodl, Old Frisian bodel "building, house"), from PIE *bhu- "to dwell," from root*bheue- "to be, exist, grow." Rare in Old Eng

figure

c. 1200, "numeral;" mid-13c., "visible appearance of a person;" late 14c., "visible and tangible form of anything," from Old French figure "shape, body; form of a word; figure of speech; symbol, allegory" (10c), from Latin figura "a shape, form, figure; quality, kind, style; figu

anatomy

late 14c., "study or knowledge of the structure and function of the human body" (learned by dissection); c. 1400, "anatomical structure," from Old French anatomie and directly from Late Latin anatomia, from late Greek anatomia for classical anatomē "dissection," literally "a cutt

skeleton

bones of a body taken together," 1570s, from Modern Latin sceleton "bones, bony framework of the body," from Greek skeleton soma...

human

mid-15c., humain, humaigne, "human," from Old French humain, umain (adj.) "of or belonging to man" (12c.), from Latin humanus "of man, human," also "humane, philanthropic, kind, gentle, polite; learned, refined, civilized." This is in part from PIE *(dh)ghomon-, literally "earthl

body

Middle English bodi, from Old English bodig "trunk of a man or beast; the whole physical structure of a human or animal; material frame, material existence of a human; main or principal part of anything," related to Old High German botah, but otherwise of unknown origin. Not else

individual

early 15c., "one and indivisible, inseparable" (with reference to the Trinity), from Medieval Latin individualis, from Latin individuus "indivisible," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + dividuus "divisible," from dividere "divide" (see divide (v.)). Original sense now ob

mortal

late 14c., "deadly, destructive to life; causing or threatening death" (of illness, poisons, wounds, etc.); also, of persons or the body, "doomed to die, subject to death;" from Old French mortel "destined to die; deserving of death" and directly from Latin mortalis "subject to d

form

c. 1200, forme, fourme, "semblance, image, likeness," from Old French forme, fourme, "physical form, appearance; pleasing looks; shape, image; way, manner" (12c.), from Latin forma "form, contour, figure, shape; appearance, looks; a fine form, beauty; an outline, a model, pattern

from

Old English fram, preposition denoting departure or movement away in time or space, from Proto-Germanic *fra "forward, away from" (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic fram "from, away," Old Norse fra "from," fram "forward"), from PIE *pro-mo-, suffixed form of *pro

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updated on March 07, 2023

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Dictionary entries near soma

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solve

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solvitur ambulando

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Somalia

somatic

somatization

somato-

somatoform