valerian

Meaning

Noun

• A hardy perennial flowering plant, Valeriana officinalis, with heads of sweetly scented pink or white flowers.
• More generally, any plant of the genus Valeriana.
• The root of Valeriana officinalis, used in herbal medicine.
• An extract of the dried roots of the Valeriana officinalis used in herbal medicine as a sedative.

Related

Similar words

• allheal, cat thyme

Origin

• From Old French valeriane or Medieval Latin valeriāna, a reinterpretation of what is found as German Baldrian after valeo or also the gentilic name Valerius, which is seemingly borrowed in the Dark Age period from the late 6^th to early 8^th century from Turkic or Proto-Mongolic, when the Pannonian Avars were direct neighbours to the Germans, notably also present in Hungarian bojtorján, ultimately from Proto-Mongolic, reflected as
  
• Middle Mongolian ᠪᠠᠯᠴᠢᠷᠭᠠᠨ᠎ᠠ, composed as ᠪᠠᠯᠴᠢᠷ + plant name suffix  ᠭᠠᠨᠠ,
  
• Mongolian балчиргана, composed as балчир + plant name suffix -гана.
• See Ottoman Turkish بالدران for Turkic cognates.