carpasum

Latin

Veratrum album, with which the Latin carpasum has been uncertainly identified

Alternative forms

• carpathum

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κάρπασον (kárpason, “white hellebore”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkar.pa.sum/, [ˈkärpäs̠ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkar.pa.sum/, [ˈkärpäs̬um]

Noun

carpasum n (genitive carpasī); second declension

1. an unknown poisonous plant, whose venom was held to be neutralised by a broth of sea-urchins; perhaps European white hellebore (Veratrum album)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Pliny the Elder to this entry?)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	carpasum	carpasa
Genitive	carpasī	carpasōrum
Dative	carpasō	carpasīs
Accusative	carpasum	carpasa
Ablative	carpasō	carpasīs
Vocative	carpasum	carpasa

Meronyms

• opocarpathon (the venomous juice of carpasum)

References

• “carpăsum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• carpăsum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 268/1.
• “carpathum” on page 279/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)