ἄμωμον <Unspecified origin; Classical period>
👉 ἄμωμον n. – ‘black cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.) and/or other species; products of that plant (esp. ointment)’ (Arist., fr. 110; Thphr., HP 9.7.2; Dsc. 1.15; etc.); cf. the derivative ἀμωμίς, -ίδος f. ‘a plant similar to black cardamom (growing in Armenia)’ (Dsc. 1.15), as well as καρδάμωμον n. ‘true cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton)’ (since Thphr., HP 9.7.2) being a compound consisting of κάρδαμον n. ‘garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.)’ and ἄμωμον.
⚠ Cf. Thphr., HP 9.7.2: τὸ δὲ καρδάμωμον καὶ ἄμωμον οἱ μὲν ἐκ Μηδείας, οἱ δ' ἐξ ᾿Ινδῶν καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὴν νάρδον καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἢ τὰ πλεῖστα. – “Cardamom and black cardamom (corr. R.R.) some say come from Media; others say that these come from India, as well as spikenard and most, if not all, of the other species” (trans. A. Hort); Dsc. 1.15: κάλλιστον (scil. ἄμωμον) δέ ἐστι τὸ ᾿Αρμένιον, χρυσίζον τῇ χρόᾳ, ἔχον δὲ τὸ ξύλον ὑπόκιρρον, εὐῶδες ἱκανῶς. τὸ δὲ Μηδικὸν διὰ τὸ ἐν πεδίοις καὶ ἐν ἐφύδροις τόποις φύεσθαι ἀδυναμώτερον· ἔστι δὲ μέγα καὶ ὑπόχλωρον καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἁφὴν ἁπαλὸν καὶ ἰνῶδες τοῖς ξύλοις ὀριγανίζον <τε> τῇ ὀσμῇ. τὸ δὲ Ποντικὸν ὑπόκιρρον, οὐ μακρὸν οὐδὲ δύσθραυστον, βοτρυῶδες, πλῆρες καρποῦ καὶ τῇ ὀσμῇ πληκτικόν. – “The best (scil. black cardamom) is the Armenian, golden in color, having wood that is yellowish and quite aromatic. But the Median, because it grows on plains and on marshlands, is weaker; it is large, greenish-yellow, soft to the touch, with fibrous wood, and it smells like oregano. The Pontic is yellowish, neither tall nor hard to break, resembling grape clusters, full of fruit, and overpowering in scent” (trans. L.Y. Beck); Plin., NH 12.48-49: Amomi uva in usu est <ex> Indica vite labrusca, ut alii existimavere, frutice <t>ortuoso (...). nascitur et in Armeniae parte quae vocatur Otene et in Media et in Ponto. – “The clustered amomum is much in use; it is obtained from the Indian wild-vine, or as other people have supposed from a twisted shrub (...). It grows in the part of Armenia called Otene, and also in Media and in Pontus.” (trans. H. Rackham); Isid., Etym. 17.8.11: Nascitur (scil. amomum) in Syria et Armenia (...) – “It (scil. amomum) grows in Syria and Armenia (...).” (trans. A.S. Barney et al.). Moreover, cf. Str. 16.1.24; Jos., AJ 20.25; Plin., NH 16.135; Plaut., Truc. 540; as well as the expression Assyrium amomum in Latin poetry (Verg., Ecl. 4.25; Mart., Epigr. 8.77.3; Sil. It. 11.402).
🅔 An Oriental borrowing without a certain etymology. It is probably a Wanderwort that occurs also in some late Semitic languages with the same meaning: Syriac ḥəmāmā, Arabic ḥamāmā etc.; undoubtedly, these forms are independent from Greek, whereas, e.g., Syriac ʾamomon comes from ἄμωμον. Moreover, cf. the Dravidian words: Tamil ēlam ‘true cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton); cardamom’, Malayalam ēlam ‘cardamoms’; if they are really connected with Greek ἄμωμον, Syriac ḥəmāmā etc., one should suppose that, somewhere between India and the Mediterranean Sea, the word underwent an assimilation: l ... m > m ... m. Other connections proposed so far: 1. Akkadian amāmû ‘an eye cosmetic’; 2. Biblical Hebrew *ḥamōm from ḥ-m-m ‘to be warm etc.’; 3. Arabic *hamana (a miswriting for ḥamāmā?).
📖 Data: ALG: s.v. ḥamāmā; DED: 87; SL: 54 and 466. Ref.: cf. Boisacq 1916: 59; EDG: 96; Löw 1881: 169; Löw 1924-34: III, 497f.; É. Masson 1967: 50, n. 3; Zimmern 1917: 61, n. 3.