soda English · revision 13257

− It is from Italian [[m|it|soda]], a kind of saltwort from which soda was obtained, or Medieval Latin soda,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) a word of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline) Barnhart, following Steiger, Hess and Corominas, derives it from Arabic [[m|ar|سُوَّاد|tr=suwwād]], a variety of saltwort exported from North Africa to Sicily in the Middle Ages, related to sawād, black, the colour of the plant.^(Barnhart 1988) An older theory traced it to Medieval Latin sodānum, a headache remedy, from Arabic ṣudā', a splitting headache;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) the SOED suggests Persian šūrak, saltwort, misread.^(SOED 2002) Etymonline also mentions Catalan sosa, attested from the late 13th century.^(Etymonline)