Plants with Arabic Names
simsim
السِّمْسِم
Sesamum indicum
Seeds pressed for oil. Its scientific name, Sesamum, is Greek, taken from an ancient Semitic word whose sister is Arabic simsim; and the Arabic word itself later reached Europe, as simsim in French and English.
- Source of the name
- From an Arabic word
- From the Arabic word
- simsim
- The word in European languages
- simsim
- Genus
- Sesamum
- Species shown
- Sesamum indicum
«والسِّمْسِمُ بالكسر: حَبُّ الحَلّ.»
Wadghiri (2/335) lists French simsim, simsime and semsem, and mentions "Open, Sesame" from the Thousand and One Nights; he cites Alphonse de Candolle's Origine des plantes cultivées that the word is "Semitic beyond doubt", the source of Greek sesamon, "which is why it is found in Arabic, Hebrew and Greek with slight changes in its letters".
Wiktionary lists English simsim as a synonym of sesame, quoting Richard Burton's Thousand Nights and a Night (1882–1885): "Open, O Simsim!"; English sesame is from Greek sḗsamon, from Aramaic, from Akkadian šamaššammū, "oil plant".
Krish Dulal, CC BY-SA 3.0
Click a card to see it full size; each has a download button for sharing.
Sources
- الجوهريّ، الصحاح ٥/١٩٥٤
- عبد العلي الودغيري، العربيّات المغتربات ٢/٣٣٥
- Wiktionary: simsim
- Wiktionary: sesame
Spotted a mistake, or have something to add?
Your note comes to us only; it is not published here. We read it, and if it holds we correct the card.
