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 Antigua, and Mutio told them it
proceeded from the Plumeria Alba. The plant was re-named
Frangipani, and the distilled essence received the same name.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
