βάλσαμον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• βάρσαμον (bársamon), βλάσαμον (blásamon), πάλσαμον (pálsamon)

Etymology

Of Semitic origin, borrowed from Hebrew בָּשָׂם (bāśām, “sweet spice, sweet smell”), the consonant sequence in Greek being explained as an attempt of rendering שׂ (ś) sounding back then [ɬ]; the semantic development may later have been attached to Aramaic and Ancient North Arabian.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /bál.sa.mon/ → /ˈβal.sa.mon/ → /ˈval.sa.mon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bál.sa.mon/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.sa.mon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβal.sa.mon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈval.sa.mon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈval.sa.mon/

Noun

βᾰ́λσᾰμον • (bắlsămon) n (genitive βᾰλσᾰμου); second declension

1. Arabian balsam tree (Commiphora gileadensis)
2. balsam, the fragrant oil produced by this tree
3. costmary (Tanacetum balsamita)

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ βᾰ́λσᾰμον tò bắlsămon	τὼ βᾰλσᾰ́μω tṑ bălsắmō	τᾰ̀ βᾰ́λσᾰμᾰ tằ bắlsămă
Genitive	τοῦ βᾰλσᾰ́μου toû bălsắmou	τοῖν βᾰλσᾰ́μοιν toîn bălsắmoin	τῶν βᾰλσᾰ́μων tôn bălsắmōn
Dative	τῷ βᾰλσᾰ́μῳ tôi bălsắmōi	τοῖν βᾰλσᾰ́μοιν toîn bălsắmoin	τοῖς βᾰλσᾰ́μοις toîs bălsắmois
Accusative	τὸ βᾰ́λσᾰμον tò bắlsămon	τὼ βᾰλσᾰ́μω tṑ bălsắmō	τᾰ̀ βᾰ́λσᾰμᾰ tằ bắlsămă
Vocative	βᾰ́λσᾰμον bắlsămon	βᾰλσᾰ́μω bălsắmō	βᾰ́λσᾰμᾰ bắlsămă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of τὸ βᾰ́λσᾰμον; τοῦ βᾰλσᾰ́μου (Attic)

Derived terms

• βᾰλσᾰμέλαιον (bălsămélaion)
• βᾰλσᾰμῐ́νη (bălsămĭ́nē)
• βᾰλσᾰμῶδες (bălsămôdes)
• ὀποβᾰ́λσᾰμον (opobắlsămon)

Descendants

• → Arabic: بَيْلَسان (baylasān), بَلَسَان (balasān), بَلْسَم (balsam), بِلْسَام (bilsām), بَشَام (bašām)
  • → Amharic: በለሳን (bäläsan)
  • → Old Armenian: բալասան (balasan)
  • → Middle Armenian: պալասան (palasan)
  • → Ge'ez: በለሳን (bäläsan), በልሳን (bälsan), በለሶን (bäläson)
  • → Somali: bilsin
  • → Tigrinya: በለሳን (bäläsan)
• → Aramaic:

  Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: בלזמה, בלסנה

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: בלסמון

  Classical Syriac: ܒܠܣܡܘܢ, ܒܠܣܝܡܘܢ, ܒܐܠܣܡܘܢ

• → Latin: balsamum (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Armenian: բաղսամոն (bałsamon)
• → Old Georgian: ბარსაბონი (barsaboni)

Further reading

• “βάλσαμον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• βάλσαμον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• βάλσαμον in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “βάλσαμον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 198
• Leslau, Wolf (1991) “በለሳን”, in Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 97b