gentian

See also: Gentian

English

Gentiana brachyphylla, a gentian.

Etymology

Via Middle English from Latin gentiāna, which, according to Pliny the Elder, was named after Gentius (Ancient Greek Γένθιος (Génthios)), the last king of Illyria, who supposedly discovered the plant's medicinal benefits. This has been dismissed as folk etymology but the word may still ultimately be of Illyrian origin, as -an is a common suffix in Illyrian words.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛnt͡ʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnʃən

Noun

gentian (countable and uncountable, plural gentians)

1. (countable) Any of various herbs of the family Gentianaceae found in temperate and mountainous regions with violet or blue flowers.
   • 1956, Delano Ames, Crime out of Mind‎^[1], chapter 1:

     On the cover of the leaflet advertising the Alpenrose Gasthof in Zirl am Gurgl […] there is a decorative picture of a young woman. […] She has bright flaxen hair and laughing eyes of the same hue as the gentians in the meadow beyond the inn.

2. (uncountable) Dried roots and rhizome of European gentian (Gentiana lutea), used as a tonic.

Synonyms

• fieldwort

Derived terms

terms derived from gentian

• Alpine gentian (Gentiana nivalis)
• American gentian (Frasera spp.)
• Appalachian gentian (Gentiana austromontana)
• autumn gentian (Gentianella amarella, Gentianella heterosepala)
• bastard gentian (Gentiana acuta; Hypericum gentianoides)
• Bavarian gentian (Gentiana bavarica)
• bigleaf gentian (Gentiana macrophylla)
• bladder gentian (Gentiana utriculosa)
• blind gentian (Gentiana andrewsii)
• blue gentian (Gentianopsis crinita)
• bog gentian (Gentiana townsoni)
• Bohemian gentian (Gentianella praecox)
• bottle gentian (Gentiana spp.)
• bristly gentian (Gentiana plurisetosa)
• broadpetal gentian (Gentiana platypetala)
• brown gentian (Gentiana pannonica)
• Caucasian gentian (Gentiana paradoxa)
• Charleston gentian (Gentiana scopulorum)
• Chiltern gentian (Gentianella germanica)
• closed gentian (Gentiana andrewsii, Gentiana clausa, etc.)
• clustered gentian (Gentiana triflora)
• crested gentian (Gentiana septemfida)
• cross gentian (Gentiana cruciata)
• downy gentian (Gentiana puberulenta)
• dune gentian (Gentiana uliginosa)
• dwarf gentian (Gentianella spp.)
• early gentian (Gentianella anglica)
• Elliott's gentian (Gentiana catesbaei)
• European gentian (Gentiana lutea)
• explorer's gentian (Gentiana calycosa)
• field gentian (Gentianella campestris)
• five-flowered gentian (Gentiana quinquefolia)
• fringed gentian (Gentianopsis spp.)
• gentian blue
• gentian violet
• German gentian (Gentianella germanica)
• giant gentian (Gentianella cerina)
• great yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea)
• greater fringed gentian (Gentianopsis crinita)
• green gentian (Frasera spp.)
• harvestbells gentian (Gentiana saponaria)
• horse gentian (Triosteum spp.)
• Karawanken gentian (Gentiana froelichii)
• king's scepter gentian (Gentiana sceptrum)
• marsh gentian (Eustoma exaltatum, Gentiana pneumonanthe, etc.)
• Mendocino gentian (Gentiana setigera)
• moss gentian (Gentiana fremontii)
• mountain bog gentian (Gentiana calycosa)
• narrowleaf gentian (Gentiana linearis)
• New England gentian (Gentiana wissmannii)
• Newberry's gentian (Gentiana newberryi)
• pale gentian (Gentiana glauca)
• Parry's gentian (Gentiana parryi)
• pinebarren gentian (Gentiana autumnalis)
• plain gentian (Gentiana alba)
• pleated gentian (Gentiana affinis)
• prairie gentian (Eustoma spp.)
• purple gentian (Gentiana purpurea)
• purple-stalked gentian (Gentiana pedicellata)
• pygmy gentian (Gentiana prostrata)
• rough gentian (Gentiana scabra)
• round-leaved gentian (Gentiana orbicularis)
• showy gentian (Gentiana decora)
• slender gentian (Gentianella tenella)
• snake gentian (Nabalus serpentarius, syn. Prenanthes serpentaria)
• snow gentian (Gentiana nivalis)
• soapwort gentian (Gentiana saponaria)
• spotted gentian (Gentiana punctata)
• spring gentian (Gentiana verna)
• spurred gentian (Halenia spp.)
• star gentian (Gentiana cruciata)
• stemless gentian (Gentiana acaulis, Gentiana clusii)
• stiff gentian (Gentianella quinquefolia)
• striped gentian (Gentiana villosa)
• swamp gentian (Gentiana douglasiana)
• Tienshan gentian (Gentiana tianshanica)
• Triglav gentian (Gentiana terglouensis)
• trumpet gentian (Gentiana clusii)
• tufted gentian (Gentianopsis holopetala, syn. Gentiana holopetala)
• tulip gentian (Eustoma grandiflorum)
• white gentian (Gentiana alba)
• whitish gentian (Gentiana algida)
• willow gentian (Gentiana asclepiadea)
• wiregrass gentian (Gentiana pennelliana)
• yellow gentian (Gentiana alba (US), Gentiana lutea)
• “*gentian”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Translations

Any of various herbs of the family Gentianaceae

• Albanian: sanëz (sq) f, agnushe (sq) f
• Arabic: جَنْطِيَانَا f (janṭiyānā), كُوشَاد m (kūšād)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܓܶܢܛܝܢܳܐ m (genṭyānā)

• Asturian: genciana f
• Bulgarian: тинтя́ва f (tintjáva), тентя́ва f (tentjáva)
• Catalan: genciana f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 龍膽科／龙胆科 (lóngdǎn kē)

• Czech: hořec (cs) m
• Esperanto: genciano
• Finnish: katkero (fi)
• French: gentiane (fr) f
• German: Enzian (de) m
• Greek: γεντιακή f (gentiakí)

  Ancient: γεντιανή f (gentianḗ)

• Ido: genciano (io)
• Irish: ceadharlach m, lus an chrúbáin m
• Italian: genziana (it) f
• Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: gentiāna f
• Macedonian: сириштарка f (sirištarka)
• Mòcheno: sklopper
• Old English: feldwyrt f
• Ottoman Turkish: جنتیانه (centiyane), ییلان اوتی (yılan otu)
• Persian: کوشاد (fa) (kušâd), جنطیانا (jantiyânâ)
• Polish: gencjana f, goryczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: genciana (pt) f
• Quechua: phallcha
• Romanian: gențiană (ro) f
• Russian: гореча́вка (ru) f (gorečávka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сирѝштара f, генција́на f, срча̀нӣк m, лѝнцура m

  Latin: sirìštara (sh) f, gencijána (sh) f, srčànīk (sh) m, lìncura (sh) m

• Spanish: genciana f
• Tibetan: ཀྱི་ལྕེ་ནག་པོ (kyi lce nag po), སྤང་རྒྱན (spang rgyan)
• Turkish: centiyana, yılan otu
• Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: crwynllys m

The dried roots and rhizome of a European gentian

• Arabic: جَنْطِيَانَا f (janṭiyānā), كُوشَاد m (kūšād)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܓܶܢܛܝܢܳܐ m (genṭyānā)

• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: genciana f
• Azerbaijani: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: тинтя́ва f (tintjáva), тентя́ва f (tentjáva)
• Catalan: genciana f
• Esperanto: genciano
• Finnish: keltakatkeron juuri
• French: gentiane (fr) f
• German: Enzian (de) m
• Greek: γεντιακή f (gentiakí)

  Ancient Greek: γεντιανή f (gentianḗ)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: genziana (it) f
• Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: gentiāna f
• Persian: کوشاد (fa) (kušâd), جنطیانا (jantiyânâ)
• Polish: gencjana f, goryczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: genciana (pt) f
• Romanian: gențiană (ro) f
• Russian: гореча́вка (ru) f (gorečávka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сирѝштара f, генција́на f, лѝнцура m

  Latin: sirìštara (sh) f, gencijána (sh) f, lìncura (sh) m

• Spanish: genciana f
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish:

  Modern Turkish: centiyana, yılan otu

  Ottoman Turkish: جنطیانا (centiyana), ییلان اوتی (yılan otu)

References

• gentian on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Gentianaceae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Gentianaceae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• anteing, antigen