Etymograph

English

spinach

Spinach comes from Old French espinoche ‘spinach (vegetable)’, and goes back to Classical Persian اسفناج.

  1. Classical Persianc. 900–presentاسفناجispanāx, ispināxas اسپناخ
  2. Arabicc. 500–presentإِسْفَانَاخʔisfānāḵ
  3. Old Occitanc. 950–1500espinarc
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400espinoche‘spinach (vegetable)’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400spinache
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spinach
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2021spinach

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Classical Persianc. 900–presentاسفناجispanāx, ispināxas اسپناخ
  2. Arabicc. 500–presentإِسْفَانَاخʔisfānāḵ
  3. Old Occitanc. 950–1500espinarc
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400espinoche‘spinach (vegetable)’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400spinache
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spinach
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2021spinach

Earliest quotation: 2021, Gregory McNamee, Does spinach make you strong? Ask Popeye – and science: “Another option is to wash spinach and other leafy…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *spey- ‘thorn-like’

spike, spine, cusp, asp, spire, buckthorn, spigot, spica, aspic, 30 more

Today it means

noun A particular edible plant, Spinacia oleracea, or its leaves.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Classical Persian اسفناج / spinach

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