LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · neuterthird declension

papāver

papāver n or m (genitive papāveris)
Classical[paˈpaː.wɛr]Ecclesiastical[paˈpaː.ver]

Meaning

  1. poppy
    “[...] “Hesperidum templī cūstōs, epulāsque dracōnī quae dabat, et sacrōs servābat in arbore rāmōs,“[The priestess was once a] guardian of the Hesperides’ temple [garden], and was keeping safe the sacred branches on the tree [that grew golden apples]: she used to give food to a dragon, sprinkling dewy honey and the sleep-inducing poppy.” (In other words, drugging its sweet food made the guard-dragon docile. See: hyperbaton.)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.484–486
    Summa papaverum capita dicitur baculo decussisse.It is said that he struck off the heads of the tallest poppies with a stick.27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 1.54
  2. seed
    , Tertullian, de Praescriptione Haereticorum, 35From the seed of the most delicious and grateful fig branches out the useless and deceptive wild fig.

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

flōs, ex cuius lacte somnus venit
papāver -eris (n) — in Metamorphoses I, ch. 23

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativepapāverpapāvera
papāverēs
genitivepapāverispapāverum
dativepapāverīpapāveribus
accusativepapāver
papāverem		papāvera
papāverēs
ablativepapāverepapāveribus
vocativepapāverpapāvera
papāverēs

păpāver, ĕris, n. (ante-class., m.) [etym. dub.; cf. root pa- of pasco, πέπαμαι],
I. the poppy.
I. Lit.: papaver Gallicanus, Cato ap. Charis. p. 64 P.: sesamum papaveremque, Plaut. Poen. 1, 2, 113; v. infra, prov.; Varr. ap. Non. 220, 11: luteum, Cat. 19, 12: spargens soporiferum papaver, Verg. A. 4, 486; id. G. 4, 131: Lethaeo perfusa papavera somno, id. ib. 1, 78: Cereale, id. ib. 1, 212: nigrum, Plin. 26, 8, 40, § 67; 20, 18, 76, § 198. —In plur.: summa papaverum capita, the heads of the tallest poppies, Liv. 1, 54, 6; Petr. poët. 132, 11.—Prov.: confit cito, Quam si formicis tu obicias papaverem, of any thing that quickly disappears, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 8.—
B. Transf., a kernel, seed: papaver fici, fig-seed, Tert. Praescr. 36.—
II. Trop.: dicta quasi papavere et sesamo sparsa, Petr. 1 fin.

Origins

Unknown. Manaster Ramer sees here a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ (“fire”). Some have tried to link it to pāscō (“to feed”), or to an imitative root *pap (“to swell”).

Descendants
  • Catalanababolfrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Catalanbabolfrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Portuguesepapoulafrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Portuguesepapoilafrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Spanishababolfrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Spanishbabaholfrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Spanishamapolafrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Spanishmapolafrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Spanishpapolafrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر
  • Spanishababafrom Arabic حَبَّبَوْر

Quick answers

What does papāver mean in Latin?
papāver, a noun, means “poppy; seed”.
What is the genitive of papāver?
The genitive singular is papāveris. papāver is neuter, third declension.
How do you pronounce papāver?
In classical Latin, [paˈpaː.wɛr]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [paˈpaː.ver].