The story
- Ancient Greek · derived fromΓένθιος
- Latin · derived fromgentiāna
- English todaygentian
Via Middle English from Latin gentiāna, which, according to Pliny the Elder, was named after Gentius (Ancient Greek Γένθιος (Génthios)), the last king of Illyria, who supposedly discovered the plant's medicinal benefits. This has been dismissed as folk etymology but the word may still ultimately be of Illyrian origin, as -an is a common suffix in Illyrian words.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.