Re: [aroid-l] Etymology of AROID

From: "Ron" ronlene at adelphia.net> on 2002.10.16 at 21:46:26(9553) I feel honored to have evoked such intellectual discourse on what I supposed, was a simple question. Apparently, in order to find an answer, we had to leave the family Araceae and venture to a foreign family, Liliaceae. I don't think the Trillium flower bears to much resemblance to an "Aroid" flower. Ron P.S. I still hope someone can give me the names of the tubers that were sold at the Fairchild show by the Thai man. +More ----- Original Message ----- To: Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 1:52 PM Subject: [aroid-l] Etymology of AROID <= ARUM <= ARON Well, I've lost the earlier comments now, but here's the gist: A post noted that "aroid" derived from the Latin word "arum," which means lily. Either the same post or a response said that "arum" derived from the Ancient Greek "aron" (which is where etymological comments end in most dictionaries). Another post reasonably asked for the meaning of the Ancient Greek, "aron." Now, this is me: plant, the wake robin (Trillium erectum), the Ancient Greek word for which was "aron." Later, the Latin "arum" was generalized to include all lilies. Aroid, therefore, etymologically, means lily-like: "ar[um]" (lily) plus the suffix "-oid," which means "like or resembling." There's my best effort. Oh, the thrill and inescapable lure of pedantry. Ric _________________________________________________________________ Broadband? Dial-up? Get reliable MSN Internet Access. http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/default.asp

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.