rhubarb
rhu·barb
noun
Origin
From Middle English rubarbe, from Anglo-Norman reubarbe (modern French rhubarbe), from Late Latin reubarbarum, rheubarbarum, rubarbera, rybarba, probably from Koine Greek ῥῆον βαρβαρικόν (rhêon barbarikón), from ῥῆον (rhêon, “rhubarb”) + Ancient Greek βαρβαρικόν (barbarikón), neuter of βαρβαρικός (barbarikós, “foreign; barbaric”) (English barbaric). There is also a Medieval Latin variant rabarbarum, which appears to be influenced by Ancient Greek ῥᾶ (rhâ, “rhubarb”), and gave rise to some of the forms in modern languages. The Ancient Greek variant term appears to have been folk-etymologically influenced by Ancient Greek Ῥᾶ (Rhâ, “the River Volga”), which is in the region from which the plant came to the Mediterranean. The ultimate origin of the Ancient Greek terms is, however, Proto-Iranian *(h)rabā́š (“rhubarb, fennel”). The word is cognate with Catalan ruibarbre, Italian rabarbaro, Dutch rabarber, German Rhabarber, Old Occitan reubarbe, Portuguese ruibarbo, Spanish ruibarbo.
Phrases
- Alaska wild rhubarb
- bastard rhubarb
- Batavian rhubarb
- Bucharian rhubarb
- Chinese rhubarb
- currant-fruited rhubarb
- desert rhubarb
- donkey rhubarb
Related words
Word family
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Parts
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.