Hordeum
/hɔːrˈdiːəm/noun
A genus of grasses in the family Poaceae that includes cultivated barley.
Did you know?Barley was central to ancient beer-making and ritual offerings, while Hordeum later became the formal genus name assigned by Linnaeus.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European, reconstructed
PIE
*ǵʰersdʰ-
“A cautiously reconstructed root associated with bristles or rough, projecting structures; its connection to hordeum is debated.”
Proto-Italic, reconstructed
Proto-Italic
*hordeom
“A term for barley, apparently referring to the grain’s bristly awns.”
Classical Latin
Latin
hordeum
“Barley, the cereal grass and its grain.”
18th Century
Neo-Latin
Hordeum
“Linnaeus’s formal botanical genus name for barley and related grasses.”
Modern English
English
Hordeum
“The accepted scientific genus name containing cultivated barley and several wild barley species.”