Brewer's: Frangipani

A powerful Roman family. So called from their benevolent distribution of bread during a famine.

Frangipani.
A delicious perfume, made of spices, orris-root, and musk, in imitation of real Frangipani. Mutio Frangipani, the famous Italian botanist, visited the West Indies in 1493. The sailors perceived a delicious fragrance as they neared Antigua, and Mutio told them it proceeded from the Plumeria Alba. The plant was re-named Frangipani, and the distilled essence received the same name.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content