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asparagus

uh-SPAR-uh-gus · noun

Ancient GreekLatinEnglish

Origin

Asparagus comes from Medieval Latin asparagus (also sparagus), itself from Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos), a variant of ἀσφάραγος (aspháragos).

Journey

The borrowed Latin/Greek term eventually displaced the native Old English word for the plant, eorþnafola. In some English dialects, speakers later reshaped the unfamiliar word into 'sparrowgrass,' an eggcorn that made it sound like something more familiar.

Related words

The facts don't point to any surviving English cognate beyond the word itself and its dialectal reshaping into 'sparrowgrass.'

More words

From Ancient Greek

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