Wiktionary

heliotrope

See also: héliotrope

English

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WOTD – 12 July 2023

Etymology

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PIE word
*sóh₂wl̥
 
The purple scented flowers of the common heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens; sense 1.1).
 
A c. 1878 photograph of a surveying of a heliotrope (sense 4).[n 1]
 
A heliotrope (sense 6) or bloodstone.

The noun is borrowed from French héliotrope, from Latin hēliotropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”), from Ancient Greek ἡλῐοτρόπῐον (hēliotrópion, “European heliotrope (Heliotropium europaeum); bloodstone; solar clock, sundial”), from ἥλῐος (hḗlios, “the sun”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“the sun”)) + τρόπος (trópos, “a turn”) (from τρέπω (trépō, “to rotate; to turn”) (from Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns from verbs)) + -ῐον (-ion, diminutive suffix forming nouns).[1]

The French-derived spelling displaced Middle English elitrope, eliotropius, elitropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”) [and other forms],[2] from Old English eliotropus, from Latin hēliotropium (see above); and Old English siġelhweorfa, sōlsece, and sunnfolgend (“heliotrope flower”).

Sense 6 (“synonym of bloodstone”) is from the fact that a piece of the mineral placed in water is said to change the sun’s rays to a blood-red colour: see the 1601 quotation.[1]

The adjective is probably derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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heliotrope (countable and uncountable, plural heliotropes)

  1. (countable, botany, also figuratively) A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
    Synonyms: (obsolete) heliotropian, turnsole
    2. (specifically) A plant of the genus Heliotropium, especially the common heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens) which has clusters of purple flowers with a strong fragrance.
      Synonyms: cherry pie, garden heliotrope
    3. With a qualifying word: any of various plants resembling those of the genus Heliotropium.
  2. (uncountable) The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.
  3. (uncountable) A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
    heliotrope:  
    • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Bilocations”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 623:
      Kit woke to see looming over him the face of Dr. Willi Dingkopf, framed by a haircut in violation of more than one law of physics, and a vivid necktie in fuchsia, heliotrope, and duck green, a gift from one of the patients, […]
  5. (countable) An instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight for purposes such as signalling, or (surveying) triangulation (where the reflected light is detected by another surveyor positioned some distance away).
    (signalling): Synonym: (dated) sematrope
    (surveying): Synonym: helio
  6. (countable, historical) An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.
  8. (countable, uncountable, mineralogy) Synonym of bloodstone (“a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite”)

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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

See also

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Adjective

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heliotrope (comparative more heliotrope, superlative most heliotrope)

  1. Of a light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
    • 1904, Jerome K[lapka] Jerome, “Story the Sixth: ‘The Babe’ Applies for Shares”, in Tommy and Co., 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: Langton and Hall, →OCLC, page 232:
      "Lady in a heliotrope dress with a lace collar, three flounces on the skirt?" / "That's right, Mr. Bennett," agreed old Goslin. / "It's the Babe himself!" asserted Harry Bennett.
    • 1917 January, Zane Grey, chapter VI, in Wildfire, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 78:
      There was a ten-mile stretch of level ground, blown hard as rock, from which the sustenance had been bleached, for not a spear of grass grew there. And following that was a tortuous passage through a weird region of clay dunes, blue and violet and heliotrope and lavender, all worn smooth by rain and wind.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Notes

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  1. ^ From the B. A. Colonna collection, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S.A.

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Compare “heliotrope, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2023; “heliotrope, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “elitrōpe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading

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