Myrr

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An old spelling of the aromatic gum resin taken from certain trees and used in perfume, incense and medicine
2. A archaic variant of the fragrant, bitter resin obtained from Arabian and African trees, famed as a gift of the Magi
3. A historical way of writing the sweet-smelling tree resin burned as incense and used in ancient embalming

Etymology: Myrrh, the aromatic gum resin, reached English through Latin "myrra" from Greek "smýrna" (also "múrron"), and the Greek word was almost certainly borrowed from a Semitic language, probably related to Hebrew "mōr" and Arabic "murr", meaning "bitter." The resin was harvested from small thorny trees of the genus Commiphora, mainly in Arabia and the Horn of Africa, and its bitterness is the point: the sense of the name lives on in the taste of the gum itself. The word's oldest English use is in Old English, where it appears in religious texts, since myrrh is one of the gifts of the Magi in the Gospel of Matthew. That association with the nativity kept the word in circulation long after the resin itself was a regular trade good in medieval Europe, when it was prized for incense, perfume, and medicine.