ἀσπάραγος

Forms

ἀσπάρᾰγος (aspáragos) m (genitive ἀσπᾰράγου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the later and non-Attic spelling of ἀσφάραγος² (aspháragos), which the grammarian Phrynichus gives as the Attic form; ἀσπάραγος is found in the comic poets, Theophrastus, Polybius and later writers.^[2][3][4] Beekes considers the word Pre-Greek, chiefly because of the variation between ⟨π⟩ and ⟨φ⟩.^[4][5] Bailly 2020 also calls it Pre-Greek.^[6]

Others compared it with σφαραγέομαι (spharagéomai, “to swell, burst”), σπαργάω (spargáō, “to swell, be full to bursting”) and Lithuanian spùrgas (“shoot”), with a prothetic ⟨α-⟩.^[2][7][8] Pokorny lists it under Proto-Indo-European *(s)p(h)ereg- (“to jerk, scatter, sprinkle”).^[9] Chantraine finds no demonstrable link with ἀσφάραγος¹ (aspháragos, “throat”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form with ⟨π⟩ is first found in the 4th-century BC comic poets Antiphanes and Aristophon, for the asparagus plant;^[3][10][11] the Attic form ἀσφάραγος² (aspháragos) is already in Cratinus in the 5th century BC.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word named the wild asparagus (Asparagus acutifolius) and then its edible shoots, as in Theophrastus and Plutarch.^[3][6][12] Nicander and Galen use it more generally for the young shoot of other plants, the first sprout from which the leaves unfold.^[3][12][6] Hesychius glosses it as the rough growth that springs from thorny plants.^[13]

Latin borrowed it as asparagus,^[14] and the English word comes from the Latin one.^[15] In medieval Greek a diminutive σπαράγγιον (sparángion) lost its first vowel when it was run together with the indefinite article, and this survives as Modern Greek σπαράγγι (sparángi).^[16][8]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Cratinus uses the Attic form ἀσφάραγος² (aspháragos) for the plant.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Antiphanes and Aristophon use the form ἀσπάραγος.^[3][10]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus describes the plant and its edible shoots.^[3][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses the form with ⟨π⟩, and Nicander applies the word to the shoots of other plants.^[3][10]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it in the Life of Caesar.^[12][17]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for the first shoot of a plant.^[12]
• 1100–1669 – Medieval Greek has the diminutive σπαράγγιον (sparángion), the source of Modern Greek σπαράγγι (sparángi).^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. Asparagus, especially the wild species Asparagus acutifolius; its edible shoots.^[3][6][18]
2. The young shoot of other plants.^[3][6][17]

Related words

• ἀσφάραγος² (aspháragos)
• Latin asparagus
• Modern Greek σπαράγγι (sparángi)
• English asparagus

Usage notes

Kriaras records a separate medieval adjective ασπάραγος (aspáragos) “undisturbed, unmolested”, formed from privative α- and the verb σπαράζω (sparázō).^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
7. ^ Bailly, Anatole (1901), Abrégé du dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
10. ^ a b c Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
11. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ a b c d Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
13. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
14. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
17. ^ a b Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
18. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
19. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr