rapunzel
rapunzel Lexical Profile
• noun
The heroine of a classic German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, who is imprisoned in a high tower by an enchantress and lowers her extraordinarily long golden hair so that others may climb up to her.
"The children's theater company staged a musical adaptation of Rapunzel complete with a twenty-foot braided wig."
A European bellflower (Campanula rapunculus) in the family Campanulaceae, bearing tall spikes of pale violet-blue, bell-shaped blossoms and formerly cultivated in kitchen gardens for its edible tuberous root and basal leaves.
"In traditional European gardens, rapunzel was prized both for its delicate blue flowers and for its sweet, parsnip-like roots."
The edible white tuberous root and tender basal leaves of the rampion bellflower (Campanula rapunculus), or the rosettes of corn salad (Valerianella locusta), eaten raw in salads or cooked as a root and leaf vegetable.
"The historical cookbook featured a winter salad dressed with olive oil and fresh rapunzel harvested from the cold frame."
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from German Rapunzel ('rampion' or 'corn salad'), from Middle Low German rapunzele, ultimately from Medieval Latin rapuncium, a diminutive of Latin rapum ('turnip'). The Brothers Grimm fairy tale took its title from the pregnant mother's intense craving for the rampion greens growing in an enchantress's walled garden.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.