Cinnamon #
Illustration of Cinnamomum verum J.Presl. from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887)
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum J.Presl.) is a culinary and medicinal spice from the Lauraceae family,1 originating in the region(s) of Sri Lanka; SW. India.2 It is used for its bark and leaf, primarily for flavor; anti-microbial. Its aroma is described as sweet, fragrant, pungent, with a heat index of 3.3
| English | Arabic | Chinese | Hungarian |
|---|---|---|---|
| cinnamon | قرفة | 錫蘭肉桂 | fahéj |
Overview #
| id | cinnamon |
|---|---|
| species name | Cinnamomum verum J.Presl. |
| family | Lauraceae |
| part used | bark; leaf |
| macroarea | Asia |
| region of origin | Sri Lanka; SW. India |
| cultivation | Sri Lanka; Seychelles; Madagascar; India |
| color | warm yellowish-brown, cinnamon \sample{cinnamon} |
| botanical database | POWO |
Etymologies #
English cinnamon ‘cinnamon’, (Middle English sinamome, synamome), ca. 1430 < French cinnamome ‘cinnamon’, (earlier cynnamome; also c. cinamonde), 1211 < Latin cinnamōmum ‘cinnamon’, c. < Ancient Greek κιννάμωμον kinnámōmon ‘cinnamon’, later refashioned as kínnamon after Latin cinnamum/cinnamon, which partly influenced the current English form (of Semitic origin), c. ; cf. cognates Coptic kinnamomon < Semitic * qnmwn ‘cinnamon’, (probably a loanword from a non-Semitic language); cf. cognates Ancient Hebrew qināmōn; Judeo-Aramaic qnmw < ‘cinnamon’
Arabic دارصيني dārṣīnī ‘cinnamon’ < Persian دارچین dārchīnī ‘cinnamon’ [Chinese wood ], from Persian dār ‘wood’ + cīn ‘China’; cf. cognates Sanskrit dāru (PIE *dóru) < Pahlavi *dār ī čēnīg * dār ī čēnīg ‘cinnamon’, (cf. Armenian daričenik)
Arabic قرفة qirfa ‘cinnamon’ [bark, rind ], from qarafa ’to peel, bark, derind’; Semitic root q-r-f (related to root q-l-f); cf. Amharic kerefe
Names #
English #
| term | source |
|---|---|
| cinnamon | OED |
| Ceylon cinnamon | Van Wyk, 2014 |
| true cinnamon | Van Wyk, 2014 |
Arabic #
| script | term | literal | source |
|---|---|---|---|
| قرفة | qirfa | bark, rind | Wehr, 1976 |
| الدارصيني على الحقيقة | al-dārṣīnī ʿalā l-ḥaqīqa | the real darsini | Dietrich, 2004 |
| القرفة على الحقيقة | al-qirfa ʿalā l-ḥaqīqa | the real bark | Dietrich, 2004 |
| القرفة الأصلية | al-qirfat al-aṣliyya | the original bark | Wikipedia |
| القرفة السهيلانية | al-qirfat al-sihīlānīya | Sinhalese bark | Alam, 2011 |
| قرفة القرنفل | qirfat al-qurunful | the bark of clove | Dietrich, 2004 |
| دارصيني | dārṣīnī | Chinese wood | Wehr, 1976 |
Chinese #
| script | term | literal | source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 錫蘭肉桂 | xīlánròuguì | Ceylon-flesh-cinnamon | Wikipedia |
POWO. (2022). Plants of the World Online (Botanical Database). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ ↩︎
van Wyk, B.-E. (2014). Culinary Herbs and Spices of the World. University of Chicago Press, joint publication with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226091839.001.0001 ↩︎
Medicinal Spices Exhibit. (2002). UCLA Biomedical Library: History & Special Collections. https://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/biomed/spice/index.cfm?spicefilename=taste.txt&itemsuppress=yes&displayswitch=0 ↩︎