Gilofre

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic name for the dried, aromatic flower bud of a tropical tree, used as a spice in cooking
2. An old term for the clove, the pungent dried bud prized in medieval cookery and spice trade
3. A medieval word for the fragrant spice made from the unopened flower buds of the clove tree

Etymology: "Gilofre" is an Old French and Middle English name for the clove spice, and its story runs through a plant that looks nothing like a clove on a shelf. The clove is the dried unopened flower bud of the tree "Syzygium aromaticum," and the French word came from Latin "caryophyllum," itself from Greek "karyophyllon," meaning "nut-leaf," a reference to the tree's leaves and fruit. English borrowed the spice under the form "clowe" and "clove," but the older form "gilofre" survived in Middle English, where it was used alongside the rest. The reason the spice took the shape of a flower bud is simple: a clove is literally the bud, picked before it opens and dried until dark brown. The Latin word "clavus," meaning "nail," gave the English "clove" its name, because the dried bud resembles a small, tapering nail. So the same spice carries two images at once, a nut-leaf in its Greek origin and a nail in its English one.