olibanum
Meanings
Plural: olibanums
Noun
- an aromatic gum resin obtained from various Arabian or East African trees; formerly valued for worship and for embalming and fumigation
- A gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense.
Origin / Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin olibanum, from Latin oleum libani, the first word meaning oil and the second from Ancient Greek λίβανος (líbanos, “frankincense (Boswellia sacra)”), from a Semitic source, compare Proto-Semitic *laban- (“white”). Cognate with Biblical Hebrew לְבוֹנָה (l'voná, “frankincense”), Arabic لبان (lubān, “frankincense”). (Compare benzoin for a similar process of metanalysis.) Doublet of oliban.
Synonyms
frankincense, gum olibanum, thus
Scrabble Score: 12
olibanum is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordolibanum is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
olibanum is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary