ribes

ribes

1. plural of riba

From Medieval Latin ribes (“currant”), from Arabic رِيبَاس (rībās, “Syrian rhubarb; currant”), from Persian ریواس (rivâs, “rhubarb”), ultimately from Proto-Iranian *(h)rabā́š (“rhubarb; fennel”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈri.bes/
• Rhymes: -ibes
• Hyphenation: rì‧bes

ribes m (invariable)

1. currant

• → Mòcheno: ribes

• bersi, serbi

From Arabic رِيبَاس (rībās, “Syrian rhubarb; currant”), from Persian ریواس (rivâs, “rhubarb”), ultimately from Proto-Iranian *(h)rabā́š (“rhubarb; fennel”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈriː.beːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈriː.bes]

rībēs n or f (genitive rībēs or rībis); indeclinable, variously declined, third declension

1. (Medieval Latin) currant
   • 1531 (written a. 1300), Ioannes Serapio Arabs, translated by Abrahamus Iudaeus et Symon Ianuensis, edited by Otho Brunfelsius, De Simplicibus Medicinis‎^[1], CCXXXI. De Ribes, page 155:

     DE RIBES [...] Ribes est frigida & sicca, stringit ventrem, extinguit choleram, acuitatem sanguinis.

     On the currant ... The currant is cold and dry; it constricts the belly [and] gets rid of cholera [and] sharpness of blood.

   • 1546, In Antidotarium Ioannis filii Mesuae Censura‎^[2], Lyon: apud Ioannem et Franciscum Frellonios fratres, CCVI. Rob de ribes &c., page 400:

     De Ribes. Ribes, sive (secundum Stephanum) Ribesum, non est hoc arbustum, cuius fructu in Italia falso pro vero ribes, omnes vtuntur pharmacopôlae.

     On the Currant. The Currant, or (according to Stephanus) Ribesum, is not that tree whose fruits all the pharmacists in Italy use falsely instead of the true currant.

   • 1549, Mesue, Grabadin, Quod est aggregatio vel antidotarium electuariorum & confectionum & aliarum medicinarum compositarum‎^[3], Venice: apud Iuntas, page 109:

     vocatur ubiq[ue] locorum syrupus seu iuleb de ribes[...]

     Syrup or julep of the currant is referred to in all parts [of this book]...

   • 1611, Daniel Sennert, Institutiones Medicinae‎^[4], archived from the original on 9 July 2025, liber V, pars III, sectio III, caput X:

     Frutus molliores, ut cerasa, baccae ribes, berber. mala armeniaca, persica, pyra moschatellina, et similia, quae molliora sunt, vel saccharo calente aut melle perfunduntur, vel iisdem immersa conquuntur, donec fructuum humiditate absumta saccharum et mel suam consistentiam recipiat; atque usui servantur.
     [...] paranturque inprimis e succo sine expressione parato, puriore et defecatiore cydoniorum, pomorum, pyrorum, ribium.

     Softer fruits, like cherries, currant berries, barberries, apricots, peaches, musk pears, and similar ones, which are softer, are soaked in hot sugar or honey, or are cooked [while] submerged in them, until the fruits' moisture is absorbed and the sugar and honey take on its consistency, and these are kept for use.
     ... and they are mainly prepared from unsqueezed, pure, and clarified juice of quinces, apples, pears, [or] currants.

When not indeclinable: Third-declension noun (i-stem).

• → Danish: ribs
  • → Icelandic: rifs
• → German: Ribisel (see there for further descendants)
• → Italian: ribes
  • → Mòcheno: ribes
• → Norwegian Bokmål: rips
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: rips
• → Translingual: Ribes

From Italian ribes, from Arabic رِيبَاس (rībās, “Syrian rhubarb; currant”), from Persian ریواس (rivâs, “rhubarb”), ultimately from Proto-Iranian *(h)rabā́š (“rhubarb; fennel”). Distant doublet of ruab (“potato”).

ribes m

1. currant

• “ribes” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.