The story
- Ancient Greek · derived fromβαλσαμίνη
- French · derived frombalsamine
- Latin · derived frombalsamina“balsam plant”
- English todaybalsamine
From Latin balsamina (“balsam plant”) (perhaps via French balsamine), from Ancient Greek βαλσαμίνη (balsamínē). The Latin name of the unrelated balsam plant must have been applied to Impatiens balsamina soon after it arrived in Europe- Leonhart Fuchs referred to it as balsamina as early as 1542.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.