A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

dios,-a,-on (Gk. adj.): ‘heavenly,’ divine;, used of goddesses; of illustrious men or women, i,.e. ‘noble;’; excellent; (of things, esp. of the pwers of nature, ‘divine, awful, marvellous; as an adjective of Zeus” (Liddell & Scott); cf. L. dius,-a,-um (adj.A) = Gk. dios; of or belonging to a deity, divine (Lewis & Short); cf. Latin divus,-a,-um (adj.A);

dios-, “the first element in various compound names of plants, e.g. dios + anthos (s.m.I), “carnation, Dianthus inodorus” (Liddell & Scott).

Dios balanos, sweet chestnut, Castanea vesca( Liddell & Scott); Dios balanus (s.m.II): a kind of chestnut, perhaps the large sweet chestnut (ofPpliny)” (Lewis & Short).

Dios pneuma,-atis (s.n.III) = Gk. Dios pneuma, a species of rosemary (Lewis & Short).

Dios pyron (s.m.II): fruit of nettle-tree, Celtis australis; but dios-pyros (s.m.II) = lithospermon (s.n.II),, i.e. “gromwell, Lithospermum officinale” (Liddell & Scott).

Dianthus,-i (s.m.II), Linn. From dios, divine, and anthos, a flower; in reference to the fragrance of the blossoms, and the unrivalled neatness of the flowers. (Caryophyllacece). A truly beautiful and ornamental, genus, containing some of the most prized flowers we possess, on account of their beauty and fragrance; the foliage of the perennial kinds is also as green and vivid in winter as it is in summer” (Paxton); “Name from the Greek Dios, Jupiter + anthos, flower, i.e. Jove’s own flower” (Fernald 1950); “from Gk. ‘Di,’ of Zeus or Jove + anthos, flower. Caryophyllaceae” (Stearn 1996).

Diosma,-ae (s.f.I) Gr. dios, divine + osme, ‘fragrance, smell;’ “the bruised leaves have an exquisite smell. Rutaceae” (Paxton); “the leaves when crushed are very fragrant. Rutaceae” (Stearn 1996).

Diospyros (s.f.II), Persimmon, ebony. From Gk. diospyros, from dios, divine + pyros, wheat; “a name transferred to this genus with edible fruits. Ebenaceae” (Stearn 1996); species: Diospyros abyssinica, D. acuminata, D. buxifolia, etc. [> L. diospyros,-i (s.m.II), abl.sg. Diospyro = Gk. diospyros, “a plant, otherwise called lithospermon, ‘stone-crop’ of Pliny” (Lewis & Short)].

NOTE: genus classically masculine; feminine gender cf. Tokyo Code 1994: 62. 1.

NOTE: Paxton derived the name, not from pyros, q.v., the Greek word for ‘wheat,’ but (erroneously) from the Latin pyrus,-i (s.f.I): “From dios, divine, and pyros, pear; resemblance of the fruit” (Paxton); see pyrum,-i (s.n.II).

NOTE: some of the epithets of Diospyros appear to be in genera different from the fem.sg., this appears to be due to various nouns in apposition, such as D. chloroxylon, D. Ebenaster; D. Ebenus; D. Embryopteris, D. Melanoxylon, etc., some of which are previous generic names.