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AMBROSIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 800 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMBROSIA , in See also:

ancient See also:mythology, sometimes the See also:food, sometimes the drink of the gods. The word has generally been derived from Gr. a-, not, and See also:Ochres, mortal; hence the. food or drink of the immortals. A. W. Verrall, however, denies that there is any clear example in which the word &j4 pbaws necessarily means "immortal," and prefers to explain it as " fragrant," a sense which is always suitable; cf. W. See also:Leaf, Iliad (2nd ed.), on the phrase aµ(3pbo os iirrvos (ii. 18). If so, the word may be derived from the Semitic mbar (See also:ambergris) to which Eastern nations attribute miraculous properties. W. H. See also:Roscher thinks that both See also:nectar and ambrosia were kinds of See also:honey, in which See also:case their See also:power of conferring See also:immortality would be due to the supposed healing and cleansing power of honey (see further NECTAR).

Derivatively the word Ambrosia (neut. plur.) was given to certain festivals in See also:

honour of See also:Dionysus, probably because of the predominance of feasting in connexion with them. The name Ambrosia was also applied by Dioscorides and See also:Pliny to certain herbs, and has been retained in See also:modern See also:botany for a genus of See also:plants from which it has been extended to the See also:group of See also:dicotyledons called Ambrosiaceae, including Ambrosia, Xanthium and Iva, all See also:annual herbaceous plants represented in See also:America. Ambrosia maritima and some other See also:species occur also in the Mediterranean region. There is also an See also:American See also:beetle, the Ambrosia beetle, be-longing to the See also:family of Scelytidae, which derives its name from its curious cultivation of a succulent fungus, called ambrosia. Ambrosia beetles See also:bore deep though See also:minute galleries into trees and See also:timber, and the See also:wood-dust provides a' See also:bed for the growth of the fungus, on which the See also:insects and larvae feed.

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