Scaevola
/siːˈviːələ/noun
A genus of flowering plants in the family Goodeniaceae, commonly called fan flowers.
Did you know?Scaevola was named after Gaius Mucius Scaevola, the Roman hero who supposedly placed his right hand in a fire to prove his courage after an assassination attempt failed.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ska(i)w-
“A reconstructed root associated with the left side or something oblique”
Ancient Greek
Greek
skaios
“Left; awkward or unfavorable”
Classical Latin
Latin
scaevus
“Left-handed, left-sided, or ill-omened”
1st Century BCE
Latin
Scaevōla
“Little left-handed one; the cognomen of Gaius Mucius, the Roman hero”
18th Century
Botanical Latin
Scaevola
“A plant genus named in reference to the Roman Scaevola, especially its one-sided or hand-like flowers”
Modern English
English
scaevola
“A fan-flower genus of mostly Australian and Pacific plants”
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