Everyday LifeGreek → English
Parsley
/ˈpɑːrsli/noun
A bright green herb with curled or flat leaves, used fresh in cooking.
The Greek roots
πέτρα
pétra
rock, stone
σέλινον
sélinon
celery, parsley
Literally: “rock celery”
The story of the word
The Greek name records where it grew: the σέλινον that comes up out of stony ground. English assembled its word from two separate borrowings, an Old English petersilie taken from church Latin and an Old French peresil brought by the Normans, which collapsed into one another during the Middle Ages. Greeks strewed the plant on graves as well as crowning athletes with it, so it carried funeral associations for centuries.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
petroleumpetrifycelery
In a sentence
Chop the parsley last so it keeps its colour.