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Origin and history of begonia

begonia(n.)

showy flowering plant native to warm regions, 1751, from French begonia (1706), named by French botanist Charles Plumier for Michel Bégon (1638-1710), French governor of Santo Domingo (Haiti) and patron of botany, + abstract noun ending -ia.

also from 1751

Entries linking to begonia

-ia

word-forming element in names of countries, diseases, and flowers, from Latin and Greek -ia, noun ending, in Greek especially used in forming abstract nouns (typically of feminine gender); see -a (1). The classical suffix in its usual evolution (via French -ie) comes to Modern English as -y (as in familia/family, also -logy, -graphy). Compare -cy.

In paraphernalia, Mammalia, regalia, etc. it represents Latin or Greek -a (see -a (2)), plural suffix of nouns in -ium (Latin) or -ion (Greek), with formative or euphonic -i-.

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    flower
    c. 1200, flour, also flur, flor, floer, floyer, flowre, "the blossom of a plant; a flowering plant," from Old French flor "flower, blossom; heyday, prime; fine flour; elite; innocence, virginity" (12c., Modern French fleur), from Latin florem (nominative flos) "flower" (source of
    blackmail
    1550s, "tribute paid to men allied with criminals as protection against pillage, etc.," from black (adj.) + Middle English male "rent, tribute." This is from Old English mal "lawsuit, terms, bargaining, agreement," from Old Norse mal "speech, agreement;" related to Old English mæ
    hector
    "to bluster, bully, domineer," 1650s, from slang hector (n.) "a blustering, turbulent, pervicacious, noisy fellow" [Johnson], 1650s, from Hector of the "Iliad," in reference to his encouragement of his fellow Trojans to keep up the fight. Earlier in English the name was used gene
    restaurant
    "an eating-house, establishment where meals may be bought and eaten," 1821, from French restaurant "a restaurant," originally "food that restores," noun use of present participle of restaurer "to restore or refresh," from Old French restorer (see restore). In 1765 a man by the n
    curtail
    late 15c., "restrict or limit," a word based on Old French courtault "made short," from court "short" (Old French cort, from Latin curtus, from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut") + -ault, a pejorative suffix of Germanic origin. From 1550s as "cut short, cut off the end of." General se
    distress
    late 13c., "circumstance that causes anxiety or hardship," from Old French destresse (Modern French détresse), from Vulgar Latin *districtia "restraint, affliction, narrowness, distress," from Latin districtus, past participle of distringere "draw apart, hinder," also, in Medieva
    pamphlet
    "small, unbound treatise," late 14c., pamflet, "brief written text; poem, tract, small book," from Anglo-Latin panfletus, which probably is a popular short form of "Pamphilus, seu de Amore" ("Pamphilus, or about Love"), a short 12c. Latin love poem popular and widely copied in th
    apocalypse
    late 14c., "revelation, disclosure," from Church Latin apocalypsis "revelation," from Greek apokalyptein "uncover, disclose, reveal," from apo "off, away from" (see apo-) + kalyptein "to cover, conceal" (from PIE root *kel- (1) "to cover, conceal, save"). The Christian end-of-the
    dilettante
    1733, "an admirer of a fine art, literature, science, etc., one who cultivates an art or literature casually and for amusement," a borrowing of Italian dilettante "lover of music or painting," from dilettare "to delight," from Latin delectare "to allure, delight, charm, please,"
    blatant
    coined 1596 by Edmund Spenser in "The Faerie Queen," in blatant beast, a thousand-tongued monster representing slander; perhaps primarily an alliterative word, but perhaps suggested by Latin blatire "to babble." It entered general use by 1650s as "noisy in an offensive and vulgar

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