asparagus

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“
Since the asparagus was added raw, we didn't pre-bake the crust so it could stand up to the time needed to cook those through.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun The tender young shoots of a Eurasian plant (Asparagus officinalis), eaten as a vegetable.
  2. noun Any of various perennial plants of the Old World genus Asparagus having leaflike stems, scalelike leaves, and small flowers.
  3. Word History
    The history of the word asparagus is a good illustration of one of the peculiarities of English etymology—one found in few other languages. After the rebirth of classical learning during the Renaissance, Greek and Latin achieved a lofty status among the educated. As a result, etymologists and spelling reformers of the 16th and 17th centuries tried to give English a classical look by Latinizing or Hellenizing the spelling of words that had Latin or Greek ancestry (and even some that didn't). For example, Medieval Latin had a word sparagus, from Classical Latin asparagus, that was borrowed into Middle English and rendered as sparage or, more commonly, sperage. Botanists were familiar with the proper Latin version asparagus, and their use of that term together with the efforts of the etymologists caused the Latin form to become more widespread, eventually supplanting sperage. Thus, it is difficult to say whether the Modern English word asparagus is a direct continuation of Middle English sperage or a borrowing directly from Latin, a difficulty one encounters with hundreds of other words whose spellings and even pronunciations were Latinized during this time. · The Latin form asparagus lives on in another guise as well; in the 1600s it was shortened in popular speech to 'sparagus, which became sparagrass, sparrowgrass by folk etymology.

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Examples

  • Later came difficulties; after successive dry summers the asparagus was attacked by a fungoid complaint, called by the growers “rust.” Instead of growing vigorously after the crop had been gathered—which is the time when the buds for next year's crop are developing on the crowns of the plants—and finally dying off naturally in beautiful feathery plumes of green and gold, it presented a dingy and rusty appearance, eventually turning black. —  Grain and Chaff from an English Manor
  • Since the asparagus was added raw, we didn't pre-bake the crust so it could stand up to the time needed to cook those through. —  Culinary in the Desert
  • I hear your asparagus is the finest in town. —  The Voice of the People
  • Your asparagus should be all of the same size. —  Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
  • Later came difficulties; after successive dry summers the asparagus was attacked by a fungoid complaint, called by the growers "rust." —  Grain and Chaff from an English Manor
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Late Middle English sperage, sparage, from Medieval Latin sparagus, from Latin asparagus, from Greek aspharagos, asparagos.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin asparagus, from Greek ἀσπάραγος, Attic ασφάραγος, asparagus; said to be of Persian origin. In Middle Latin by apheresis also sparagus, sparagi, later Italian sparagio, Old French esperage, later early modern English sperage, sparage, sperach. The Middle Latin form sparagus was in English altered by popular etymology into sparagrass and sparrow-grass (sometimes simply grass), which were until recently in good literary use.
 

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/æsˈpærəgəs/
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