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 horse-food, passing it to the Babylonian. So the most likely chain.

Noun

אַסְפֶּסֶת • (aspéset) f

  1. (uncountable) alfalfa

References

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

Further reading

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