Banian

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A species of fig tree notable for sending down roots from its branches that eventually become trunks
2. A large fig tree that produces aerial roots which grow down to the ground forming additional trunks
3. A tree in the fig family characterized by its extensive network of branches and aerial roots that develop into supporting trunks

Etymology: The tree gets its name from the merchants who sat beneath it. Portuguese traders borrowed "baniano" from Arabic "baniyān", which came from Gujarati "vāṇiyo", meaning "merchant", itself descended from Sanskrit "vāṇijá" and the older "vaṇíj". The name was first applied popularly to one famous tree near Bandar Abbas, the Persian port, under which the Bannians, Hindu traders settled there, had built a small pagoda. The word is a doublet of "bunnia", a term for a Hindu merchant or shopkeeper, so the two English words are cousins that split off from the same source. Over time the sense shifted from a community of traders to the tree that sheltered them, and the tree's own habit of sending down new trunks gave it a name tied to commerce rather than botany.

Synonyms: banyan