אספסת

Hebrew

Etymology

Borrowed from Aramaic אַסְפַּסְתָּא (ʾaspastā) / ܐܰܣܦܷܣܬܳܐ (ʾaspestā, lucerne), from Akkadian 𒊍𒉺𒊍𒋾 (aspastu, presumably lucerne), from Old Median *aspāstiš (lucerne), from Proto-Iranian *HacwaHastiš (lucerne, literally horse-food) from Proto-Iranian *Hácwah (horse) + Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (related to eating) + *-tis, the Assyrians having it borrowed when modelling their cavalry after the Medes and thus taking over this name for a plant serving as horsefood, passing it to the Babylonian. So the most likely chain.

Noun

אַסְפֶּסֶת (aspéset) f

  1. alfalfa

References

  • אספסת” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language

Further reading

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