neroli

/ˈnɪəɹəli/

Etymology

Borrowed from French néroli (“neroli”), from Nerola, a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, Italy. Marie Anne de La Trémoille, princesse des Ursins (1642–1722), Princess of Nerola but originally from France, is thought to have made neroli popular as a fragrance in her country of birth around 1670. The word is cognate with Italian (obsolete) nerola, neroli.

Why this word is great

NEROLI — [Noun] An essential oil distilled from the blossoms of the bitter orange or Seville orange (Citrus × aurantium subsp. amara), prized in perfumery for its intoxicating floral sweetness. From French néroli, from Nerola, a town in Italy, named after Princess of Nerola, Marie Anne de La Trémoille, who popularized the fragrance in France around 1670. Unlike "bergamot" (which bites with citrus and spice) or "orange blossom water" (which lingers, diluted, in pastries and tonics), neroli is the essence of the flower itself, unyielding in its richness. It is the sun-warmed groves of Seville at dawn, the ghost of a lover’s wrist after they’ve left the room, the way memory clings, sharp and honeyed, to the edges of forgetting. A scent so potent it outlives the blossom.

noun

  1. More fully neroli oil or oil of neroli: an essential oil distilled from the blossoms of the bitter orange or Seville orange (Citrus × aurantium subsp. amara) used to make perfumes.“NEROLY, a ſort of Perfume.”