sclareia

Latin

Alternative forms

• sclarēa (in Walafrid Strabo)
• scarlēgia, sclarēgia

Etymology

From earlier hastula rēgia (“asphodel plant”) via loss of /h/, aphaeresis of the first /a/, syncope of /u/, dissimilation of /tl/ to /kl/, and merger of intervocalic /ɡj/ with /j/ (not necessarily all in that order). Attested in an appendix to Gargilius (which may represent a late interpolation) as well as a variety of ninth-century works. The semantic change may be due to the resemblance of the floral spikes of the clary sage to those of the asphodel.

Noun

sclarēia f (genitive sclarēiae); first declension

1. (Late Latin?, Medieval Latin) clary sage

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	sclarēia	sclarēiae
genitive	sclarēiae	sclarēiārum
dative	sclarēiae	sclarēiīs
accusative	sclarēiam	sclarēiās
ablative	sclarēiā	sclarēiīs
vocative	sclarēia	sclarēiae

Derived terms

• Salvia sclarēa (New Latin)

Descendants

• Italo-Western Romance:
  • Italian: scarleggia (archaic), schiarea, scarlea ⇒ sclarea (metathesis, perhaps via Latin influence, or simply borrowed from Latin)
  • Lombard: scarleza, sclareza
  • Venetan: scarlegia, scarleza
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: iscrareja (Nuorese), usciareu (Logudorese), scraria (Campidanese)
• → French: sclarée
• →? Old French: sclaree
  • → Middle English: clarie
    • English: clary
• → Proto-West Germanic: *skarlejā, *skaralejā
• → Proto-West Germanic: *sklaregā
• → Portuguese: esclarea
• → Spanish: esclarea

References

• sclareia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “hastŭla regia”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 4: G H I, page 394