Frangipaʹni

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 Antigʹua, and Mutio told them it proceeded from the Plumeʹria Alba. The plant was re-named Frangipani, and the distilled essence received the same name.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.