Whatās in a name?

Asparagus comes from the Greek word aspharagos meaning āsproutā or āshootā - new stalks of any plant tender enough to be eaten. An Old English word spere meant āspearā or ālong shaft with penetrating headā which is why the shoots of asparagus are called spears. In Middle English the plant was called sperage or sperach. It was even nicknamed āsparrow grassā but herbalists knew that its Classical Latin name was asparagus, the Roman version of the Greek word.
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