A plant whose green leaves are eaten as a vegetable.
Played on · Day 33 · word 5 of 5
A leafy word crossing borders
How spinach reached English
oldest first
Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.
Arabic
isfānākh
‘The plant’
into Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin
spinachium
‘The plant’
into Old French
Old French
espinaces
‘The plant’
into Middle English
Middle English
spinache
‘The plant’
became English
English
spinach
‘The plant or leaves’
The story of spinach
Medieval Latin spinachium lies behind Old French espinaces. An Anglo-French alteration precedes Middle English spinache and modern spinach.
The Anglo-French alteration is omitted because the entry does not provide a separate spelling. Arabic is given as an ultimate ancestor, not necessarily a direct donor to Medieval Latin; the Persian form is not supplied.