borrowed from Latin (New Latin as a genus name), borrowed from Greek órchis "testicle, orchid" (the latter sense from the testicle-like shape of the paired tubers of some species), going back to Indo-European *h3erǵh-i-, whence also, with differing suffixation and ablaut, Armenian orjik‛ "testicles," Albanian herdhe, Middle Irish uirge, Avestan ərəzi, Hittite arki- "testicle," ark- "mount, copulate (with)" and, as a suffixed noun derivative, Lithuanian er̃žilas (dialectal ar̃žilas) "stallion"
