Etymology

rosary

R1O1S1A1R1Y4

Today it means: Prayer beads, a string of beads used to keep track of repetitions in prayer, particularly of the Roman Catholic Marian prayer "Hail Mary" (Ave Maria). Full definition →

Middle English rosarie ← Latin rosārium
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromrosārium
  2. Middle English · inherited fromrosarie
  3. English todayrosary

From Middle English rosarie, from Latin rosārium, here in its sense as a garland of roses. The coin usage referred to the laurel wreath appearing on the obverse bust, as opposed to the bare head on the pollard. Doublet of Rosario and rosarium.

Words from the same roots

Latinrosārium all →

rosarium

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.