Everyday LifeGreek → English
Mint
/mɪnt/noun
An aromatic herb with cool-tasting leaves, used in cooking, tea and sweets.
The Greek roots
μίνθη
mínthē
mint
Literally: “the mint plant”
Follow a root:μίνθη1 word
The story of the word
Old English already had minte, borrowed from Latin menta, which had taken it from Greek mínthē. The Greek word is probably not Greek at all but inherited from the older languages of the Mediterranean, as several plant names are. Myth tells it differently: Minthe was a nymph loved by Hades and crushed underfoot by Persephone, who let her live on as something fragrant. The other English mint, where coins are struck, is a separate word from Latin moneta.
- How it travelled
- Pre-Greek → Ancient Greek → Latin → Old English
- First recorded
- Old English
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
mentholpeppermintspearmint
In a sentence
Mint takes over any bed you plant it in, so it lives in a bucket.