bdellium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin bdellium, from Ancient Greek βδέλλιον (bdéllion), itself perhaps from Hebrew בְּדֹלַח (bdólakh), cognate with Akkadian 𒁉𒁺𒌨𒄷 (bidurḫu) or from Sanskrit भिदुर (bhidura, “something brittle, fragile, easily split or broken”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛl.iˌʌm/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛliəm/
• IPA^(key): /ˈb(ə)dɛliəm/ (nonstandard)

Noun

bdellium (countable and uncountable, plural bdelliums)

1. An aromatic gum-like balsam extracted from one of several species of tree in the genus Commiphora.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 2:10–12:

     And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

Derived terms

• African bdellium (from Commiphora africana)
• Indian bdellium (from Commiphora wightii)
• Sicilian bdellium (from Daucus carota subsp. hispanicus)

Translations

aromatic gum

• Greek:

  Ancient: βδέλλιον n (bdéllion), μάλδακον n (máldakon)

• Hindi: गूगल (hi) m (gūgal), गुग्गुल (hi) m (guggul)
• Maori: teriuma
• Sanskrit: गुग्गुल (sa) m (guggula), गुल्गुलु (sa) n (gulgulu)
• Tagalog: bedelyo

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βδέλλιον (bdéllion), see above.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈbdel.li.um/, [ˈbd̪ɛlːʲiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbdel.li.um/, [ˈbd̪ɛlːium]

Noun

bdellium n (genitive bdelliī or bdellī); second declension

1. bdellium
2. The plant itself.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	bdellium	bdellia
Genitive	bdelliī bdellī1	bdelliōrum
Dative	bdelliō	bdelliīs
Accusative	bdellium	bdellia
Ablative	bdelliō	bdelliīs
Vocative	bdellium	bdellia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

References

• “bdellium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• bdellium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.