nasturtium

See also: Nasturtium

English

a nasturtium flower, Tropaeolum majus

Alternative forms

• nasturtian, nasturtion (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English nasturcium, from Old English nasturcium (“watercress”), from Latin nasturtium.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nasˈtɜːʃəm/, /nəsˈtɜːʃəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /næsˈtɝʃəm/, /nəsˈtɝʃəm/

Noun

nasturtium (plural nasturtiums or nasturtia)

1. The popular name of any of the plants in the Tropaeolum genus of flowering plants native to south and central America.
   • 1915, Robert W. Chambers, “Un Peu d'Amour”, in Police!!!‎^[1]:

     To me a nasturtium by the river brink is more than a simple flower. It is a broader, grander, more magnificent, more stupendous symbol. It may mean anything, everything—such as sunsets and conflagrations and Götterdämmerungs!

   • 1922, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “At the Bay”, in The Garden Party, London: Constable & Company, page 1:

     Drenched were the cold fuchsias, round pearls of dew lay on the flat nasturtium leaves.

2. A plant in this genus, garden nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus).

   Synonyms: monks cress, Indian cress

3. Any of the plants in the genus Nasturtium that includes watercress.

Derived terms

• garden nasturtium

Translations

plant of the genus Tropaeolum

• Arabic: كَبُوسِين (kabūsīn)
• Armenian: հնդկոտեմ (hy) (hndkotem)
• Basque: kaputxina
• Belarusian: настурка f (nasturka), капуцын m (kapucyn)
• Bulgarian: лати́нка (bg) f (latínka)
• Catalan: caputxina f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 旱莲草 (zh) (hànliáncǎo)

• Czech: lichořeřišnice (cs) f
• Danish: tallerkensmækker
• Dutch: Oost-Indische kers (nl) m or f, kapucijn (nl) m (Belgium)
• Esperanto: tropeolo
• Finnish: koristekrassi (fi)
• French: capucine (fr) f
• German: Kapuzinerkresse (de) f
• Italian: nasturzio (it) m
• Japanese: 金蓮花 (kinrenka), キンレンカ (kinrenka), 凌霄葉蓮 (nōzenharen), ノウゼンハレン (nōzenharen)
• Kashubian: rãplôcz m
• Plautdietsch: Kjrass m
• Polish: nasturcja (pl) f
• Russian: насту́рция (ru) f (nastúrcija), капуци́н (ru) m (kapucín)
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: kraska f

• Spanish: capuchina (es) f
• Swedish: krasse (sv) c
• Turkish: Latin çiçeği, altın çiçeği

Tropaeolum majus — see Indian cress

plant of the genus Nasturtium

• Bulgarian: пореч m (poreč), друмче n (drumče)
• Finnish: vesikrassi (fi)
• Middle English: nasturcium
• Spanish: capuchina (es) f
• Swedish: källfräne n

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

Translations to be checked

• Czech: řeřicha (cs)
• Italian: nasturzio (it) m, cappuccina (it) m, tropeolo m
• Māori: natahama
• Norman: capuchinne f
• Romanian: călțunaș (ro) m
• Spanish: berro (es), nasturcio

References

• “nasturtium, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2003.

Latin

Etymology

From nāris (“nose”) + torquere (“to twist”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [naːsˈtʊr.ti.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [nasˈtur.t͡si.um]

Noun

nāsturtium n (genitive nāsturtiī or nāsturtī); second declension

1. cress

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	nāsturtium	nāsturtia
genitive	nāsturtiī nāsturtī1	nāsturtiōrum
dative	nāsturtiō	nāsturtiīs
accusative	nāsturtium	nāsturtia
ablative	nāsturtiō	nāsturtiīs
vocative	nāsturtium	nāsturtia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: nastorciu
    • Gallurese: nastruzzu
  • Old Neapolitan: nasturçe
  • Sicilian: mastrozzu
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: *mastois, *nastois
    • Middle French: nastois
    • Walloon: mastouche f
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Occitan: *nastorç
    • Occitan: nastor
      • → Piedmontese: nastór
• West Iberian:
  • Old Leonese:
    • Asturian: mastuerzo
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: mestruzo, mestranzo
    • Portuguese: mastruço, menstruço
  • Old Spanish: mastuerço
    • Spanish: mastuerzo, nastuerzo
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian:
    • Campidanese: martuzzu
    • Logudorese: nastruttu
• Borrowings:
  • → Old English: nasturcium
    • >? Middle English: nasturcium, naisturcium, narstucium, narstuscium
      • English: nasturtium (archaic nasturtian, nasturtion)
  • → Catalan: nasturci
  • → Greek: ναστούρτιο (nastoúrtio)
  • → Middle French: nasturce, nasturtion
    • French: nasturce (obsolete)
  • → Middle French: naritort (calque)
    • French: nasitort
  • → Italian: nasturzio
  • → Old Occitan: nazitort (calque)
    • Occitan: nasitòrt
  • → Polish: nasturcja
  • → Spanish: nasturcio

References

• “nasturtium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “menstruço”, in Grande Dicionário Houaiss ‎^[2] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Antônio Houaiss, 2012, via UOL, etim.