alba

Meaning

Noun

• A type of lyrical poetry, traditionally Provençal, about lovers who must part at dawn.
• A white-flowered shrub rose of the hybrid Rosa × alba (nothospecies).
• A flower of the hybrid Rosa × alba.
• Plural of album

Origin

• First attested in 1821; borrowed from Occitan alba, ultimately from Latin albus ("white"); compare Spanish alba ("dawn").
• First attested in 1848; borrowed from Latin alba (the feminine form of albus) in the now-disused species name of binomial nomenclature Rosa alba (species) (it is now considered a hybrid and is accordingly called Rosa × alba).
• First attested in 1859; borrowed from Latin alba, the nominative plural form of album, whence the English album.