An aromatic plant whose underground stem is used as a spice.
Played on · Day 24 · word 5 of 5
A spice with a well-travelled name
How ginger reached English
oldest first
Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.
Greek
zingiberi
‘Ginger’
into Latin
Latin
zingiber
‘Ginger’
into Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin
gingiber
‘Ginger’
into Old English
Old English
gingifer
‘Ginger’
became English
English
ginger
‘The plant or spice’
The story of ginger
Follow z to g, then b to f, through this spice’s spellings.
Latin zingiber became Medieval Latin gingiber, which English borrowed as gingifer. Middle English altered that form on the way to ginger. Small changes at the beginning and middle hide a long borrowing history.
The cards select four forms, omitting Greek and Middle English as separate steps. The Pali relative cited by the dictionary is not treated as a direct donor.