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asparagus--late O.E. sparage, from M.L. sparagus, from L. asparagus, Gk. asparagos,probably from PIE base *sp(h)er(e)g- "to spring up" (though perhaps from a non-Gk. source). Respelled c.1600 to conform with classical Latin. Sparrowgrass is 17c. folk etymology, persisting into 19c., during which time asparagus had "an air of stiffness and pedantry" [John Walker, "Critical Pronouncing Dictionary," 1791].

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15y ago

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