Frankincense

==Etymology==
The English word ''frankincense'' derives from the [[Old French]] expression {{lang|fro|franc encens}}, meaning 'true [[incense]]', maybe with the sense of 'high quality [[incense]]'.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frankincense (n.)|url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=frankincense |access-date=26 November 2023 |website=Etymonline}}</ref><ref name="OED1933_Frankincense">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Frankincense|date=1933|encyclopedia=The Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271841/page/n515/mode/1up|access-date=2021-07-04|edition=reprint 1978|volume=IV: F–G|page=512|language=en}}</ref> The adjective {{wikt-lang|fro|franc}} in Old French meant 'noble, true', in this case perhaps 'pure'; although ''franc'' is ultimately derived from the tribal name of the [[Franks]], it is not a direct reference to them in the word ''francincense''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frank |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/frank#etymonline_v_11874 |access-date=26 November 2023 |website=Etymonline}}</ref> 

The word for frankincense in the [[Koine Greek]] of the New Testament, {{lang-grc-koi|λίβανος|translit=líbanos|label=none}} (or {{lang-grc-koi|λιβανωτός|translit=libanōtós|label=none}}), is [[cognate]] with the name of [[Lebanon]] ({{lang-el|Λίβανος|links=no}}); the same can be said with regard to Arabic, Phoenician, Hebrew,<ref name="Brown1995" /> and {{lang-la|lĭbănus|label=[[Vulgar Latin]]}}.<ref name="LatinDict1879_libanus">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=lĭbănus|entry=II|encyclopedia=A Latin Dictionary|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3DLibanus1|access-date=2021-07-15|year=1879| veditors = Lewis CT, Short C |via=Perseus digital library, Tufts University|language=en}}</ref> This is postulated to be because they both derive from the word for 'white' and that the [[Spice trade|spice route]] went via [[Mount Lebanon]] ({{lang-grc-koi|Λίβανος|translit=Libanos|links=no}}).<ref name="Brown1995">{{cite book| vauthors = Brown JP |title=Israel and Hellas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSljjU2xlecC&pg=PA210|year=1995|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-014233-4|page=210}}</ref>
{{Lang-la-x-medieval|'''olibanum'''}} derived from {{lang|el|λίβανος}} or {{lang|la|libanus}}. The leading "''o''" may have come from {{Lang-la|oleum|translation=oil|link=none}}, or from the Greek [[Article (grammar)|article]] ''o-'' or Arabic article ''al-''.<ref name="OED1913_Olibanum">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Olibanum|date=1913|encyclopedia=The Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99996/page/n389/mode/1up|access-date=2021-07-04|edition=reprint 1978|volume=VII: N–Poy|page=103|language=en}}</ref> Other names include {{lang-ar|اللبان|al-lubān}}, {{lang-fa|کندر|kondor}}, {{lang-syr|בוּסמִין|busmin}}, {{lang-he|לבונה|ləvonā}}, {{lang-bn|লোবান, ধুনো|lōban, dhunō}}, {{lang-so|foox}},  {{lang-la|tūs|label=[[Classical Latin]]}}.<ref name="LatinDict1879_tus">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=tūs |encyclopedia=A Latin Dictionary |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D44%3Aentry%3Dtus |access-date=2021-07-15|year=1879| veditors = Lewis CT, Short C |via=Perseus digital library, Tufts University|language=en}}</ref>