‖ xylobalsamum
(zaɪləʊˈbælsəməm)
Also 7 in anglicized form xylobalsame.
[L. (Pliny), ad. Gr. ξυλοβάλσαµον: see xylo- and balsam, balm. Cf. F. xylobalsame, † xilo- (Cotgr.).]
The fragrant wood of the tree Balsamodendron gileadense, which yields the resin called opobalsamum or Balm of Gilead.
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xviii. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 194 b/1 Balsamum is a tree..liche to a vyne..þe tre hatte Balsamum and þe stokke Xilobalsamum and the frute and þe sede Carpobalsamum and iuse Opobalsamum.] 1616 Bullokar Eng. Expos., Xylobalsamum, a sweet wood out of which balme droppeth. 1728 Chambers Cycl., Xylo-Balsamum, a Name which Naturalists, &c. give to the Wood of the Tree which yields that precious Gum known to the Latins by the Name of Opo-Balsamum, and among us by the Name of Balm of Gilead... The Xylo-balsamum is reputed good to strengthen the Brain, and Stomach. 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. V. 1060 Xylobalsamum, the commercial name of the odoriferous wood of Amyris gileadensis, which yields Mecca balsam. |