balsam

See also: Balsam, bàlsam, and balšám

English

Alternative forms

• balsem, balsum, balsome

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin balsamum, from Ancient Greek βάλσαμον (bálsamon, “balsam”), of Semitic origin (Hebrew בושם (“spice, perfume”)); compare Old English balsam, balsamum (“balsam, balm”), Doublet of balm and desman. Not related to balsa.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: bôlʹsəm, IPA^(key): /ˈbɔːlsəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

balsam (countable and uncountable, plural balsams)

1. (chiefly UK) A sweet-smelling oil or resin derived from various plants.
2. (chiefly UK) A plant or tree yielding such substance.
3. (chiefly UK) A soothing ointment.
4. (chiefly UK, figuratively) Something soothing.

   Classical music is a sweet balsam for our sorrows

5. A flowering plant of the genus Impatiens.
6. The balsam family of flowering plants (Balsaminaceae), which includes Impatiens and Hydrocera.
7. A balsam fir Abies balsamea.
8. Canada balsam, a turpentine obtained from the resin of balsam fir.

Synonyms

• (sweet-smelling oil): balm
• (plant or tree): balm
• (soothing ointment): balm
• (something soothing): balm
• (flowering plant of the genus Impatiens): jewelweed, impatiens, touch-me-not

Derived terms

• Abraham's balsam
• balsamaceous
• balsam apple
• balsamarium
• balsam Canada
• balsamed
• balsam fir
• balsamic
• balsamical
• balsamiferous
• Balsamina
• balsamint, balsam-mint
• Balsam Lake
• Balsam Lake
• balsam of Acouchi
• balsam of aniseed
• balsam of Copaiba
• balsam of fir
• balsam of Gilead
• balsam of Mecca
• balsam of Peru
• balsam of saturn
• balsam of steel
• balsam of sulfur, balsam of sulphur
• balsam of Tolu
• balsam oil
• balsam pear
• balsam poplar
• balsamroot
• balsam-tansy
• balsam tree
• balsamweed
• balsam willow
• balsamy
• Canada balsam
• friar's balsam
• garden balsam
• Himalayan balsam
• imbalsamation
• Mecca balsam
• Peruvian balsam
• Tolu balsam
• true balsam
• Turlington's balsam
• Umiri balsam
• Wade's balsam
• wild balsam apple
• yellow balsam

 

Related terms

• balm
• balsamate
• balsamation
• Balsaminaceae
• balsamine
• balsamise, balsamize
• balsamitic
• balsamo
• balsamous
• balsamum
• opobalsam, opobalsamum
• xylobalsamum

 

Translations

sweet-smelling oil or resin derived from some plants

• Czech: balzám m
• Dutch: balsem (nl)
• Esperanto: balzamo
• Finnish: palsami (fi)
• French: pommade (fr) f
• Galician: bálsamo (gl) m
• German: Heilsalbe f, Trost (de) m
• Greek: βάλσαμο (el) n (válsamo)

  Ancient: βάλσαμον n (bálsamon)

• Ido: balzamo (io)
• Irish: balsam m
• Italian: balsamo (it) m
• Maori: pama, pāma, pōtama
• Middle English: bawme
• Polish: balsam (pl) m
• Portuguese: bálsamo (pt) m
• Romanian: balsam (ro) n
• Spanish: bálsamo (es) m
• Swedish: balsam (sv)

plant or tree yielding such substance

• Dutch: balsemboom (nl)
• Esperanto: balzamino
• Finnish: palsamipuu
• Greek: βαλσαμόδεντρο n (valsamódentro) (tree), σπαθόχορτο (el) n (spathóchorto) (plant)

  Ancient: βάλσαμον n (bálsamon)

• Ido: balzamo (io)
• Irish: balsam m, balsaimín m
• Middle English: bawme

soothing ointment

• Albanian: balsam (sq) m
• Arabic: بَلْسَم m (balsam), مَرْهَم m (marham)
• Armenian: բալասան (hy) (balasan)
• Azerbaijani: balzam
• Belarusian: бальза́м m (balʹzám)
• Bulgarian: балса́м (bg) m (balsám), мехле́м (bg) m (mehlém)
• Burmese: ဘမ်းပရုတ်ဆီ (my) (bham:pa.ruthci)
• Catalan: bàlsam (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 香脂 (zh) (xiāngzhī), 香膏 (zh) (xiānggāo), 香油 (zh) (xiāngyóu)

• Czech: balzám m
• Danish: balsam (da) c
• Dutch: balsem (nl) m
• Esperanto: balzamo
• Estonian: palsam (et)
• Finnish: palsami (fi)
• French: baume (fr) m
• Galician: bálsamo (gl) m, ungüento (gl) m, pomada (gl) f
• Georgian: ბალზამი (balzami)
• German: Balsam (de) m, Trost (de) m (metaphorical)
• Greek: βάλσαμο (el) n (válsamo)
• Hebrew: צֳרִי (he) f (tsori)
• Hindi: मरहम (hi) m (marham), मलहम (hi) m (malham), बाम (hi) m (bām), लेप (hi) m (lep), औषधि f (auṣdhi)
• Hungarian: balzsam (hu)
• Ido: balzamo (io)
• Indonesian: balsem (id)
• Irish: balsam m
• Italian: balsamo (it) m, unguento (it) m, pomata (it) f
• Japanese: バルサム (barusamu), 香油 (ja) (こうゆ, kōyu), (healing) 傷薬 (きずぐすり, kizugusuri)
• Kazakh: бальзам (balzam)
• Korean: 향유(香油) (ko) (hyang'yu), 발삼 (balsam)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: belsem

• Kyrgyz: бальзам (balzam)
• Latvian: balzams m
• Lithuanian: balzamas m
• Macedonian: балсам m (balsam)
• Malay: balasan (ms), balsam
• Maori: (hinu) panikiri
• Middle English: bawme
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: бальзам (mn) (balʹzam)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: balsam (no) m

• Pashto: مرهم m (marham)
• Persian: مرهم (fa) (marham), بلسان (fa) (balasân)
• Polish: balsam (pl) m
• Portuguese: bálsamo (pt) m
• Romanian: balsam (ro) n
• Russian: бальза́м (ru) m (balʹzám)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ба̀лзам m

  Roman: bàlzam (sh) m

• Slovak: balzam m
• Slovene: balzam (sl) m
• Spanish: bálsamo (es) m
• Sundanese: duyungson
• Swedish: balsam (sv) n
• Tajik: марҳам (marham), баласон (balason)
• Tatar: бәлзәм (tt) (bälzäm)
• Thai: ยาหม่อง (yaa-mɔ̀ng), หม่อง (th) (mɔ̀ng)
• Turkish: balsam (tr)
• Turkmen: balzam (tk)
• Ukrainian: бальза́м (uk) m (balʹzám)
• Urdu: مَرْہَم m (marham)
• Uyghur: مەلھەم (melhem)
• Uzbek: balzam (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhựa thơm
• Walloon: ôlmint (wa) m

figurative: something soothing

• Czech: balzám m
• Dutch: balsem (nl)
• Finnish: palsami (fi)
• German: Balsam (de) m
• Greek: βάλσαμο (el) n (válsamo)
• Ido: balzamo (io)
• Italian: balsamo (it) m
• Middle English: bawme
• Polish: balsam (pl) m
• Tagalog: pampalubag-loob

flowering plant of the genus Impatiens

• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 鳳仙花／凤仙花 (chńg-kah-hoe), 掌甲花 (chńg-kah-hoe), 指甲花 (zh-min-nan) (chńg-kah-hoe)

  Mandarin: 鳳仙花／凤仙花 (zh) (fèngxiānhuā)

• Danish: balsamin
• Dutch: balsemien (nl) m, springzaad (nl) n
• Esperanto: balzamino
• Finnish: palsami (fi), palsamikukka
• French: balsamine (fr) f
• German: Springkraut n
• Greek: βάλσαμο (el) n (válsamo)
• Hunsrik: Balsemin f
• Ido: balzamo (io)
• Japanese: 鳳仙花 (ja) (hōsenka), ホウセンカ (ja) (hōsenka)
• Korean: 봉선화(鳳仙花) (ko) (bongseonhwa), 봉숭아 (ko) (bongsung'a)
• Norman: belsaminne f
• Polish: niecierpek (pl) m
• Portuguese: balsamina f
• Spanish: balsamina f
• Welsh: ffromlys m

balsam fir — see balsam fir

turpentine from the resin of balsam fir — see Canada balsam

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Old Norse: ^{(please verify)} balsamr m

See also

• Impatiens on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

balsam (third-person singular simple present balsams, present participle balsaming, simple past and past participle balsamed)

1. (transitive) To treat or anoint with balsam.

Anagrams

• lambas, sambal

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay balsam, from English balsam, from Latin balsamum, from Ancient Greek βάλσαμον (bálsamon, “balsam”), of Semitic origin (Hebrew בושם (“spice, perfume”)).

• The word displaced balsêm, the loanword-cognate from Dutch balsem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbalsam]
• Hyphenation: bal‧sam

Noun

balsam (first-person possessive balsamku, second-person possessive balsammu, third-person possessive balsamnya)

1. balsam: a sweet-smelling oil or resin derived from various plants.

Alternative forms

• balsêm (superseded spelling)

Derived terms

• membalsam
• pembalsaman

 

• balsam kanada
• balsam kopaiba
• balsam mekah
• balsam oregon
• balsam peru
• balsam tolu

 

Further reading

• “balsam” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish balsam(m), balsaim(e), from Latin balsamum, from Ancient Greek βάλσαμον (bálsamon).

Noun

balsam m (genitive singular balsaim)

1. (medicine) balsam, balm
2. balsam (plant)

Declension

Declension of balsam (first declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative balsam balsaim vocative a bhalsaim a bhalsama genitive balsaim balsam dative balsam balsaim forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an balsam na balsaim genitive an bhalsaim na mbalsam dative leis an mbalsam don bhalsam leis na balsaim

Derived terms

• balsam buí m (“yellow balsam”)
• balsam gairdín m (“garden balsam”)
• balsam na manach m (“friar's balsam”)
• balsamach (“balmy”, adjective)
• balsamaigh (“embalm”, verb)
• balsamóir m (“embalmer”)

 

Mutation

Mutated forms of balsam

radical	lenition	eclipsis
balsam	bhalsam	mbalsam

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “balsam”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “balsam(m), balsaim(e)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Polish

Alternative forms

• balsanbalszam

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin balsamum. First attested in the 15th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /balʲsaːm/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /balʲsɒm/

Noun

balsam m animacy unattested

1. balm (any of various aromatic resins exuded from certain plants, especially trees of the genus Commiphora of Africa, Arabia and India and Myroxylon of South America)
   • Middle of the 15th century, Rozmyślanie o żywocie Pana Jezusa‎^[2], page 25:

     Tamo roskoszna wonia cinamona i balsama (cum nardo balsamus) i wszego roskosznego kwiecia

     [Tamo rozkoszna wonia cynamona i balsama (cum nardo balsamus) i wszego rozkosznego kwiecia]

2. wild mint, Mentha arvensis
   • 1900 [1478], Józef Rostafiński, editor, Symbola ad historiam naturalem medii aevi = Średniowieczna historya naturalna w Polsce. Ps 2‎^[3], number 2246:

     Balsam menta crispa

     [Balsam menta crispa]

3. basil thyme, Clinopodium acinos
   • 1900 [1472], Józef Rostafiński, editor, Symbola ad historiam naturalem medii aevi = Średniowieczna historya naturalna w Polsce. Ps 2‎^[4], number 731:

     Balsan menta

     [Balsan menta]

4. (attested in Lesser Poland) The meaning of this term is uncertain.
   • 1874-1891 [End of the 15th century], Rozprawy i Sprawozdania z Posiedzeń Wydziału Filologicznego Akademii Umiejętności‎^{[5], [6], [7]}, volume LIII, Krakow, page 65:

     Balsam balsamnis

     [Balsam balsamnis]

Related terms

nouns

• polski balsam

 

Related terms

nouns

• balsamita

 

Descendants

• Polish: balsam

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “balsam”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Alternative forms

• Balsamus, balzam, bałzam, bałsam (Middle Polish)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish balsam. Compare Kashubian balzam and Slovincian balzóm.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈbal.sam/

• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.sɒm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alsam
• Syllabification: bal‧sam

Noun

balsam m inan (related adjective balsamowy)

1. balsam, balm (sweet-smelling oil or resin derived from various plants)

   Hypernym: żywica

2. (cosmetics, medicine, pharmacology) lotion, balm (a low-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to skin)

   Synonyms: krem, mleczko, tonik

3. (historical, Egyptology) embalming substance
4. (figuratively) balsam, balm (something soothing)

   Synonyms: otucha, ukojenie

Declension

Declension of balsam

	singular	plural
nominative	balsam	balsamy
genitive	balsamu	balsamów
dative	balsamowi	balsamom
accusative	balsam	balsamy
instrumental	balsamem	balsamami
locative	balsamie	balsamach
vocative	balsamie	balsamy

Derived terms

adjectives

• balsamiczny

 

adverb

• balsamicznie

 

nouns

• balsam peruwiański
• balsamina
• balsaminka
• balsamista
• balsamka
• balsamodrzew
• balsamowiec
• balsamowiec właściwy
• jodła balsamiczna
• ocet balsamiczny

 

verbs

• balsamować
• nabalsamować
• zabalsamować

 

Further reading

• balsam in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• balsam in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “balsam, Balsamus”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• Dorota Adamiec (10.07.2018) “BALSAM, BALZAM, BAŁZAM, *BAŁSAM”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “balsam”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “balsam”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “balsam”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 88

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin balsamum. Appears since 17th century. Probably entered Romanian through multiple routes, with the most common form from Italian balsamo, or through use in old medicinal practice. A now archaic variant form valsam derived from Greek βάλσαμο (válsamo). Cf. also German Balsam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bal.ˈsam/
• Rhymes: -am
• Hyphenation: bal‧sam

Noun

balsam n (plural balsamuri)

1. balsam (clarification of this definition is needed)
2. unction, balm, salve, unguent

Derived terms

• bălsăma

Swedish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Swedish balsam, from Latin balsamum, from Ancient Greek βάλσαμον (bálsamon), likely from a Semitic source. Compare Hebrew בֹּשֶׂם (bōśem, “perfume”) and Arabic بَشَام (bašām).

Noun

balsam n or c

1. balsam (sweet-smelling oil)
2. hair conditioner

   Synonym: hårbalsam

3. (figurative) balm, balsam (something soothing)

   balsam för själen ― comfort

Declension

Declension of balsam

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	balsam	balsams
	definite	balsamet	balsamets
plural	indefinite	balsam	balsams
	definite	balsamen	balsamens

Declension of balsam

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	balsam	balsams
	definite	balsamen	balsamens
plural	indefinite	balsamer	balsamers
	definite	balsamerna	balsamernas

Derived terms

• balsamvinäger
• hårbalsam
• kylbalsam
• läppbalsam
• sprejbalsam

Further reading

• balsam in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• balsam in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)