gnetum

noun

gne·tum ˈnē-təm

: any of a genus (Gnetum of the family Gnetaceae) of small tropical trees and woody vines that are gymnosperms with glossy elliptical leaves and fleshy ovoid seeds

As a member of the gymnosperms, gnetum does not have flowers.—

Harley I. Manner and Craig R. Elevitch

especially : a tree (G. gnemon) of Southeast Asia and Melanesia that typically reaches a height of 50 feet (15 meters) and is often cultivated for its edible seeds and leaves

… thin wafers made from pounded gnetum seeds and deep-fried until crisp. —

Linda Bladholm

see melinjo

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, a genus name, apparently a coinage by Linnaeus based on the specific epithet gnemon, borrowed from Ternate (Papuan language of Ternate in the Moluccas) ganemo

Note: The taxon Gnetum gnemon was introduced by linnaeus in Systema naturae … editio duodecima, tomus II (Stockholm, 1767), pp. 612, 637. Linnaeus refers to his own description of the plant in Mantissa plantarum, generum editionis VI et specierum editionis II (Stockholm, 1767), p. 125. He cites as the source of the information the description of the plant in Herbarium amboinense (Amsterdam, 1741), the posthumously published work of the botanist Georg Eberhard Rumpf or Rumphius (1627-1702). The text of Herbarium is written in Latin and Dutch in parallel columns. In a chapter devoted to the plant, Rumpf gives a variety of vernacular names: "op Maleyts, Baleys, en Bandaas Meninjo en Maninjo : in Ternaten ende de omleggende eylanden Gnemon, en Gnemo : op Amboins Utta Soä : op Macassers Culang, of eygentlyk Cylang Bantam : dog de Javanen noemen den boom Soo, en de vrugt Medinjo." ("… in Malay, Balinese and Banda [Austronesian language originally spoken on the Banda Islands] Meninjo and Maninjo : on Ternate and the adjacent islands Gnemon and Gnemo : in Ambon Utta Soä : in Makassar Culang or actually Cylang Bantam : but the Javanese call the tree Soo and the fruit Medinjo.") The name "op Amboins" refers to the indigenous languages of Ambon Island. Compare the form uta su'a [' = ɂ] "the edible parts of a gnetum tree" (uta "vegetable") in Asilulu, an Austronesian language of Ambon (see James T. Collins, Asilulu-English Dictionary, Jakarta, 2007). Javanese so and Asilulu su'a are presumably comparable to *suka "the tree Gnetum gnemon," given as proto-Malayo-Polynesian in R. Blust and S. Trussel, Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (online). Forms are cited from the Austronesian languages Simalur (Simeulue Island off the west coast of Sumatra), Tontemboan (northern Sulawesi), Bare'e (central and south Sulawesi), Manggarai (western Flores Island) and Kei (Moluccas). Compare melinjo. — The Latin genus name Gnetum is the invention of Linnaeus, presumably coined on the basis of Rumphius's gnemon. A somewhat unlikely possibility is that he took Greek derivation as a model: Greek has gnṓmōn and gnōtós as derivatives of gignṓskein "to come to know, recognize," so from gnemon, retained as the species name, Linnaeus might have produced Gnetum.