Lentisk

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A shrub or small tree native to the Mediterranean region, known for its aromatic resin and shiny evergreen leaves used traditionally for medicinal and cosmetic purposes
2. An evergreen bush found primarily in Mediterranean climates, valued for producing a fragrant resin historically utilized in folk remedies and varnishes
3. A type of woody plant with glossy green foliage and a distinctive scented resin, common around the Mediterranean basin and employed in traditional ointments and perfumes

Etymology: The lentisk is a shrub, but its name traces back to a Latin word for a tree whose resin was prized in the ancient Mediterranean. The Latin "lentiscus" named the mastic tree, Pistacia lentiscus, and English took the word in more or less directly. The English form is a doublet of "lentiscus", meaning the two words descend from the same Latin source but reached English by different routes, one of them through a more direct borrowing and the other through a later, more learned adoption. That is the whole story the source supports: a plain borrowing from Latin, with the shrub's name preserved from the classical tree. The meaning has stayed fixed on the same aromatic Mediterranean plant from Latin onward.

Synonyms: mastic, pistacia lentiscus