benzoin

From Middle French benjoin, from Catalan benjuí, from Arabic لُبَان جَاوِيّ (lubān jāwiyy, “Javanese frankincense”). The first word is from Proto-West Semitic *laban- (“white”), the second from جاوة (jāwa, “Java”) (from Javanese ꦗꦮ (jawa)).

The initial lu was probably lost because it was taken as the definite article in Romance. Compare oliban.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛnzəʊɪn/, /ˈbɛnzɔɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnzəʊɪn, -ɛnzɔɪn

benzoin (countable and uncountable, plural benzoins)

1. A resinous substance, dry and brittle, obtained from Styrax benzoin, a tree of Sumatra, Java, etc., having a fragrant odor, and slightly aromatic taste. It is used in the preparation of benzoic acid, in medicine, and as a perfume. [from 16th c.]
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     These following bodies do not draw: smaragd, achates, corneolus, pearl, jaspis, chalcedonius, alabaster, porphyry, coral, marble, touchstone, haematites, or bloodstone; smyris, ivory, bones, ebontree, cedar, cypress, pitch, softer rosin, camphire, galbanum, ammoniac, storax, benzoin, loadstone, asphaltum.

   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 112:

     Aromatics were used, too, especially in necromancy, and an old recipe of that sort comprises Musk, Myrrh, Frankincense, Red Storax, Mastick, Olibanum, Saffron, Benzoin and Labdanum.

   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 164:

     Nedde: In Arab countries, a mixture of various perfumes, with benzoin and amber predominating, is so called. This mixture, which is black in colour, is formed into a small cylinder and used aphrodisiacally.

2. (organic chemistry) An aromatic hydroxy ketone, 2-hydroxy-1,2-di(phenyl)ethanone, synthesized from benzaldehyde; any derivative of this compound. [from 19th c.]
3. The spicebush, Lindera benzoin. [from 19th c.]

• benjamin

• Benzion