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Re: What is a Mimosa?

At 08:41 AM 5/30/98 +0800, Beverley wrote:

>In Spain, I have heard a child being accused of being "mimoso/a" when it
>was touchy, or as we would say, "grizzly". I understood this to come
>from the plant - or maybe it was the other way around?

According to Corominas's etymological dictionary, the verb "mimar" (to spoil
or pamper) and the noun "mimo" (pampering, or a cuddle) date back to the
1500s, and the derived adjective "mimoso/a", (as in "Es muy mimoso", he
loves/wants to be made a fuss of) was used in La Picara Justina (published
1605, perhaps already composed by 1582).  

As for the plant, Corominas says: "Mimosa 'sensitiva, planta' [Acad. ya
1817]: no se ha hecha bien la historia de este nombre, que en france's
aparece desde 1619, en ingle's en el siglo XVIII y en portugue's ya en
Bluteau (1715): si, como e'ste dice, es planta originaria de Ame'rica, el
latin bota'nico lo tomari'a del castellano o el portugue's, donde tendri'a
el sentido de 'melindrosa'; que sea derivado culto de _mimus_ 'histrio'n' no
es inconcebible, pero si' ma's difi'cil sema'nticamente, y adema's _mimosus_
no es palabra latina ni medieval (se halla solamente en glosas)."

My rough translation:  "The history of this name has not been well done.  It
appears in French from 1619, in English in the 18th century, and in
Portuguese in Bluteau (1715).  If, as they say, it is a plant which is
native to America, botanical Latin would get it from Spanish or Portuguese,
where it would have the sense 'fussy' or 'finicky'; that it is a learned
derivative of _mimus_ 'actor' is not inconceivable, but is more difficult
semantically; in addition, _mimosus_ is neither a Latin nor a medieval word
(being found only in glosses)."

My old OED gives 1732 as the date of its earliest use in English, and says
"modern Latin; apparently from Latin _mimus_".  However I tend to agree with
Corominas (and Beverley) -- namely that the plant name most likely does come
from the Spanish/Portuguese word.

But is Corominas right when he says that M pudica comes from America?  Sean?

John.
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