English edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Medieval Latin olibanum, from Latin oleum libani, the first word meaning oil and the second from Ancient Greek λίβανος (líbanos, frankincense (Boswellia sacra)), from a Semitic source. See the Semitic root L-B-N لبن, meaning "white". Cognate with Biblical Hebrew לְבוֹנָה (l'voná, frankincense), Arabic لبان (lubān, frankincense). (Compare benzoin for a similar process of metanalysis.) Doublet of oliban.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

olibanum (countable and uncountable, plural olibanums)

  1. A gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense. [from 14th c.]
    • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 112:
      Aromatics were used, too, especially in necromancy, and an old recipe of that sort comprises Musk, Myrrh, Frankincense, Red Storax, Mastick, Olibanum, Saffron, Benzoin and Labdanum.

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