A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Halo (Engl.), “a differentiated zone surrounding a central object; a zone usu. of lighter colored tissue characteristically surrounding the lesions in certain plant diseases esp. of bacterial origin; a circlet of flowers; the aura of glory” (WIII): corona,-ae (s.f.I), q.v., corona (Engl.), “a usu. colored circle often seen around and close to a luminous body (as the sun or moon) caused by diffraction produced by suspended droplets...” (WIII); halos,-onis (s.f.III), abl. sg. halone, ‘halo;’ nimbus,-i (s.m.II), q.v., abl. sg. nimbo, a halo, a cloud in general, the “bright cloud or cloud-shaped splendor which enveloped the gods when they appeared on earth” (Lewis & Short); cf. -stephanous: in Gk. comp. -stephanus,-a,-um (adj.A), 'crown;' halo [> Gk. stephanos (s.m.II) ‘crown’ > stephein to put round one's head, encircle, crown]; see cloud; see corona,-ae (s.f.I).

NOTE: the English word derives from Gk. (h)alOs (s.f.III) [spiritus asper]: disk of sun or moon, or shield, later ‘halo’; but also a threshing floor, grain on such a floor in a round shape, a serpent’s coil, a bird’s nest” (Liddell & Scott).

NOTE: in Latin “halos,-onis (s.f.III) = Gk. (h)alOs (a round threshing floor),a circle round the sun or moon, a halo, pure Lat. = corona,-ae (s.f.I” (Lewis & Short).

halo, to form or surround with a halo; encircle as if with a halo, haloing, haloed: halonatus,-a,-um (adj.A): halonate, “when a colored circle surrounds a spot” (Jackson).

halo-: see hal-.