Officinalis, officinale, or occasionally officinarum is a Medieval Latin epithet denoting organismsâÂÂmainly plantsâÂÂwith uses in medicine, herbalism, manufacturing, and cookery. It commonly occurs as a specific epithet, the second term of a two-part botanical name. Officinalis is used to modify masculine and feminine nouns, while officinale is used for neuter nouns.
The word literally means 'of or belonging to an ', the storeroom of a monastery, where medicines and other necessaries were kept. was a contraction of , from (gen. ) 'worker, maker, doer' (from 'work') + , , 'one who does', from 'do, perform'. When Linnaeus invented the binomial system of nomenclature, he gave the specific name officinalis, in the 1735 (1st Edition) of his , to plants (and sometimes animals or fungi) with an established medicinal, culinary, or other use.