dulcamara

See also: Dulcamara

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dūlcamāra.

Noun

dulcamara (uncountable)

1. (medicine, archaic) The dried young branches of the woody nightshade (Solanum dulcamara), formerly used as a diuretic, diaphoretic, sedative, and narcotic.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin dulcamāra. Compare Italian dolce (“sweet”), amaro (“bitter”).

Noun

dulcamara f (plural dulcamare)

1. woody nightshade

Noun

dulcamara m (invariable)

1. quack (charlatan doctor)

Latin

Pronunciation

• dūlcamāra: (Classical) IPA^(key): /duːl.kaˈmaː.ra/, [d̪uːɫ̪käˈmäːrä]
• dūlcamāra: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /dul.kaˈma.ra/, [d̪ulkäˈmäːrä]
• dūlcamārā: (Classical) IPA^(key): /duːl.kaˈmaː.raː/, [d̪uːɫ̪käˈmäːräː]
• dūlcamārā: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /dul.kaˈma.ra/, [d̪ulkäˈmäːrä]

Etymology 1

From dūlcamārus: as a noun, a substantivisation of its feminine forms; as an adjective, regularly declined forms.

Noun

dūlcamāra f (genitive dūlcamārae); first declension

1. (New Latin) Solanum dulcamara, bittersweet, bittersweet nightshade, bitter nightshade, blue bindweed, Amara Dulcis, climbing nightshade, fellenwort, felonwood, poisonberry, poisonflower, scarlet berry, snakeberry, trailing bittersweet, trailing nightshade, violet bloom, woody nightshade
   • 1784, Johann Gottfried Otto, Dissertatio de usu medico dulcamarae, main title:

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dūlcamāra	dūlcamārae
Genitive	dūlcamārae	dūlcamārārum
Dative	dūlcamārae	dūlcamārīs
Accusative	dūlcamāram	dūlcamārās
Ablative	dūlcamārā	dūlcamārīs
Vocative	dūlcamāra	dūlcamārae

Descendants

• Catalan: dulcamara, dolçamara (partial calque)
• English: dulcamara
• Italian: dulcamara
• Spanish: dulcamara

Etymology 2

Adjective

dūlcamāra

1. inflection of dūlcamārus:
   1. nominative/vocative singular feminine
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural neuter

Adjective

dūlcamārā

1. ablative singular feminine of dūlcamārus

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin dulcamāra.

Noun

dulcamara f (plural dulcamaras)

1. a vine in the nightshade family, bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara)

Further reading

• “dulcamara”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014