# absinthium
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English absinthium, from Latin absinthium, from Ancient Greek ἀψίνθιον (apsínthion). Doublet of absinthe.

### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /æbˈsɪn.θi.m̩/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

absinthium (uncountable)
* (now rare) Common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), an intensely bitter herb used in the production of absinthe and vermouth, and as a tonic. [First attested around 1150 to 1350.]
* The dried leaves and flowering tops of the wormwood plant.
* absinthe oil

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “absinthium”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 9.
* ↑ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 5

### Anagrams

* bismuthian

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* apsinthium, absynthium

### Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀψίνθιον (apsínthion, “wormwood”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /abˈsin.tʰi.um/, [äpˈs̠ɪn̪t̪ʰiʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /abˈsin.ti.um/, [äbˈsin̪t̪ium]

### Noun

absinthium n (genitive absinthiī or absinthī); second declension
* wormwood
** Apicius Caelius, De Re Coquinaria 1.3:Conditi Camerini praeceptis, utique pro absinthio cessante; in cuius vicem absinthi Pontici purgati terendique unciam, Thebaicam dabis, masticis, folii scripulos III, vini eius modi sextarios XVIII. Carbones amaritudo non exigit.2009 translation by Joseph Dommers VehlingRoman vermouth [or Absinth] is made thus: according to the recipe of Camerinum you need wormwood from Santo for Roman vermouth or, as a substitute, wormwood from the Pontus cleaned and curshed, 1 Theban ounce of it, 6 scuples of masitch, 3 each of [nard] leaves, costmary and saffron and 18 quarts of any kind of mild wine. [Filter cold] charcoal is required because of the bitterness.
* an infusion of wormwood sometimes masked with honey due to its bitter taste
* (figuratively) something which is bitter but wholesome
** c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 3.1.5:Sed nos veremur ne parum hic liber mellis et absinthii multum habere videaturBut I fear that this book will have too little sweetness and too much wormwood.

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | absinthium | absinthia |
| Genitive | absinthiī absinthī$^1$ | absinthiōrum |
| Dative | absinthiō | absinthiīs |
| Accusative | absinthium | absinthia |
| Ablative | absinthiō | absinthiīs |
| Vocative | absinthium | absinthia |
$^1$Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

#### Descendants

* Dalmatian:
** ascianz
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: assenzio
*** → Maltese: assenzju
* Padanian:
** Lombard: ascens
** Piedmontese: assens, ansens, insens
* Southern Gallo-Romance:
** Aragonese: ixenzo, xenzo, axenz, asensio
    Ribagorçan: xento, ixenso, asenso
** Occitan: aussent, aissent
    Gascon: eishent
    Provençal: ensens, insens, issens
    Vivaro-Alpine: uissent
* Ibero-Romance:
** Asturian: axenxu, asensio
** Galician: asente, asentes, asento, axenxo
** Portuguese: encenço, acinto, acintro
** Spanish: ajenjo

##### Borrowings

* → Catalan: absinti
* → Galician: absintio
* → Georgian: აბზინდა (abzinda)
* → Middle Dutch: absinthium
** → Dutch: absint
* → Middle English: absinthium
** English: absinthium
* → Middle French: absinthe
** French: absinthe (see there for further descendants)
** → Middle English: absinthe
*** English: absinthe
* → Middle Irish: aipsint
** → Irish: apsaint
* → Norman: absînthe
* → Occitan: absinti, absinta
* → Piedmontese: absent, absenta
* → Portuguese: absíntio
* → Spanish: absintio
* → Translingual: Absinthium

### References

* “absinthium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* absinthium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* “absinthium”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers