Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Delphinium
/dɛlˈfɪniəm/noun
A tall garden plant with spires of blue or purple flowers, also called larkspur.
The Greek roots
δελφίνιον
delphínion
larkspur plant
δελφίς
delphís
dolphin
Literally: “little dolphin”
The story of the word
Dioscorides named it in the first century for the unopened bud, which curves and tapers like a dolphin's head. Linnaeus kept the Greek name as the genus in 1753, so the resemblance one Greek physician noticed is now printed on seed packets worldwide. δελφίς is related to δελφύς, the womb, since the dolphin was recognised as a creature that bears live young.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
dolphinDelphi
In a sentence
The delphiniums went over in a single night of wind.