[Skr. sōma, = Zend haōma, Pers. hōm: see HOM.]
1. An intoxicating drink holding a prominent place in Vedic ritual and religion.
The soma was prepared from the juice of a plant that is commonly supposed to have been Asclepias acida or Sarcostemma viminale (or acidum).
1827. [see sense 2].
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 174/2. The soma, when properly prepared, is a powerful spirit.
1869. T. C. Barker, Aryan Civiliz., i. (1871), 3. From the Hindoo he [the fire-god] has the fermented drink called soma.
1872. Whittier, Brewing of Soma, iv. From tent to tent The Soma’s sacred madness went, A storm of drunken joy.
1876. Encycl. Brit., IV. 205/2. The soma … must have played an important part in the ancient worship, at least as early as the Indo-Persian period.
attrib. 1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 175/1. What else is this act of drinking the soma-juice but a kind of sacrament?
1874. L. J. Trotter, Hist. India, I. i. 4. He [Indra] delights in drinking the sacred soma juice.
1876. Encycl. Brit., IV. 205. Among the Vaidik rites the soma-sacrifices are the most solemn and complicated.
1895. A. Nutt, Voy. Bran, 1. 321. The immortality claimed by the soma devotee.
2. Soma plant, the plant yielding the soma-juice. Also ellipt.
1827. Colebrooke, in Trans. Royal Asiatic Soc., I. 455. The presenting of expressed juice of the sóma plant.
1866. Treas. Bot., s.v. Asclepias, The bruised stem and leaves of the Soma plant yield a juice [etc.].
1882. Cornh. Mag., June, 720. The soma plant, by which Indra conquers Vritra, or puts to flight demons.
