Terebenthic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to, containing, or resembling turpentine, the resinous oil distilled from pine trees
2. Describing something made from or having the qualities of turpentine, the volatile oil obtained from pine resin
3. Having the character of turpentine, a sharp-smelling oily liquid derived from the resin of conifers

Etymology: Turpentine is named after a tree. The terebinth, a small Mediterranean and Near Eastern relative of the pistachio, yielded a sticky resin that the Greeks called "terebinthinē," and the Romans borrowed the term as "terebinthina." English turpentine descends from that resin name, and the tree's name still lies inside it. This adjective is a learned formation on the same root. It describes things made from turpentine, and it was coined in the same scientific way as many other chemical descriptors, by adding a Greek-derived suffix to a stem taken from an older name. The word therefore carries the tree's name, though the resin, not the tree, is what it now describes.