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  Etymology of AROID
From: "Planter Rik" planterrik at hotmail.com> on 2002.10.16 at 17:52:18(9551)
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.

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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.
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From: "W. George Schmid" hostahill at bellsouth.net> on 2002.10.16 at 22:23:28(9555)
How in the world could the ancient Greeks have a word for a plant they did
not know existed. The wake robin is a North American plant and is not native
in any European area. Are we to believe that the ancient Greeks came to
America and named our wake robin, calling it aron? Theophrastus would really
have fun with this etymology. WGS

W. George Schmid

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From: "W. George Schmid" hostahill at bellsouth.net> on 2002.10.16 at 22:55:33(9556)
Hi Ric,
The entry you are referring to is in the Lewis and Short Latin Dictinary:
aros, also aron or arum = wake robin: Arum dracunculus Linn.: quod aron
vocant Plin. Unfortunately, Pliny referred to Arum dracunculus Linn. (not
wake robin = Trillium) that is now called Dracunculus vulgaris, a plant well
known to the ancient Greeks and native to the Central and Eastern
Mediterranean region. The common name wake robin is now exclusively used to
apply to our native trillium (RHS Index) so is not applicable in this case.
What we have here is Latin scholars colliding with botanists. The word aron
first appeared in Theophrastus (b.372 BC - the successor to Aristotle), who
wrote the two important botanical treatises in ancient times. One (On the
History of Plants) is the source of many of our modern scientific plant
names that was heavily referenced by modern botanist/namers like Linne.
W. George Schmid
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From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2002.10.17 at 10:09:51(9557)
The only hint that I can offer re: the tubers sold by Mr. Home at the
Fairchild show is that one set was Pycnospatha sp., these tubers were very
'flat', lighter colored and disc-like, a couple were actually blooming.
All the others were a grab-bag of take-a-chance plants as regards species, I
suggested to several friends that they purchase some of the elongate tubers,
as these had produced some nice vars. of Pseudodracontium in past years.
(shiny-smooth, well-marked petioles.)
Good luck,

Julius

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From: "Ron Iles" roniles at eircom.net> on 2002.10.17 at 11:22:52(9558)
Fellow Greeks

Begorrah! What a muckle about a fickle or more correctly is it a mickle
about a fuckle? Anyhow, Ye doth my barrel noisy make & remind me more of
pheasantry than pedantry. Aroid, aron, arum, arid? What matter in the
inflorescence of good words? And did your hear that today too "they"
launched a satellite to see black holes that don't exist now and even when
they did were too heavy even for light to escape from. Oh, woe me, I've
gone beyond the nuclear confines of my barrel. & an infinitive I've split.

Di.O'Jenees

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From: "W. George Schmid" hostahill at bellsouth.net> on 2002.10.17 at 14:00:36(9559)
Someone contacted me privately and asked me to keep it simple and post what
"aroid" translates to. In the sense of Theophrastus, who first published the
name aron (= Dracunculus vulgaris) in his The History of Plants it means:
Aroid = aron + oides = resembling Dracunculus vulgaris (not lily or
trillium). WGS

W. George Schmid

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From: "Planter Rik" planterrik at hotmail.com> on 2002.10.17 at 17:30:00(9560)
Personally, I enjoyed Mr. Schmid's display of erudition and passion, and I
will save his useful notes and conclusions.
I'm not a classics scholar or a botanist. I'm just handy with some common
reference works, which has its limitations.
But try me on 19th-century French poetry!

Rik

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From: "Planter Rik" planterrik at hotmail.com> on 2002.10.17 at 17:33:44(9561)
Reply-To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu
To:
Subject: Re: [aroid-l] Etymology of AROID <= ARUM <= ARON
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From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2002.10.17 at 21:00:22(9563)
In a message dated 10/16/2002 2:18:29 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
planterrik@hotmail.com writes:

> the Latin "arum" was more specifically applied to one

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