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Origin and history of garlic

garlic(n.)

"onion like bulbous plant allied to the leek, known to the ancients and much used in cookery," Middle English garlek, from Old English garlec (West Saxon), garleac (Mercian), "garlic," from gar "spear" (in reference to the clove), see gar, + leac "leek" (see leek). Garlic-bread is attested by 1947.

Entries linking to garlic

gar(n.)

pike-like fish, 1765, American English, shortening of garfish (mid-15c.), from fish (n.) + Middle English gare, gore "a spear," from Old English gar "spear," from Proto-Germanic *gaisa- "spear" (source also of Old Norse geirr "spear; point of an anvil," Old Saxon, Old High German ger, German Ger "spear"), from PIE *ghaiso- "a stick, spear" (see goad (n.)). The fish so called for its long sharp snout. Compare Edgar, garlic.

leek(n.)

pungent bulbous culinary herb of the genus Allium, related to the onion, long the national badge of the Welsh, Old English læc (Mercian), leac (West Saxon) "leek, onion, garlic," from Proto-Germanic *lauka- (source also of Old Norse laukr "leek, garlic," Danish løg, Swedish lök "onion," Old Saxon lok "leek," Middle Dutch looc, Dutch look "leek, garlic," Old High German louh, German Lauch "leek"). No certain cognates outside Germanic; Finnish laukka, Russian luk-, Old Church Slavonic luku are said to be from Germanic. Also the final element in garlic.

garlicky(adj.)

1775, from garlic + -y (2). The -k- perhaps to preserve the hard -c-, but garlick was a former alternative spelling.

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    ail
    Middle English eilen, ailen, "trouble, afflict, harm," from Old English eglan "to trouble, plague, afflict," from Proto-Germanic *azljaz (source also of Old English egle "hideous, loathsome, troublesome, painful;" Gothic agls "shameful, disgraceful," agliþa "distress, affliction,
    clove
    "slice or small bulb forming together a large bulb, as of garlic," Old English clufu "clove (of garlic), bulb, tuber," from...
    onion
    The sense connection is the unity of the successive layers of an onion, in contrast with garlic or cloves....
    skeptic
    also sceptic, 1580s, "member of an ancient Greek school that doubted the possibility of real knowledge," from French sceptique and directly from Latin scepticus "the sect of the Skeptics," from Greek skeptikos (plural Skeptikoi "the Skeptics, followers of Pyrrho"), noun use of ad
    hanker
    c. 1600, "linger in expectation;" 1640s, "have a longing or craving for," of unknown origin. Probably from Flemish hankeren, related to Dutch hunkeren "to hanker, to long for," which is perhaps an intensive or frequentative of Middle Dutch hangen "to hang" (see hang (v.)). If so,
    explicit
    1610s, "open to the understanding, not obscure or ambiguous," from French explicite, from Latin explicitus "unobstructed," variant past participle of explicare "unfold, unravel, explain," from ex "out" (see ex-) + plicare "to fold" (from PIE root *plek- "to plait"). As a euphemis
    kismet
    "fate, destiny," 1834, from Turkish qismet, from Arabic qismah, qismat "portion, lot, fate," from root of qasama "he divided." From a nation of enthusiasts and conquerors, the Osmanlis became a nation of sleepers and smokers. They came into Europe with the sword in one hand and
    disdain
    mid-14c., desdeinen, "think unworthy or worthless, look upon with contempt," from Old French desdeignier "disdain, scorn, refuse, repudiate" (Modern French dédaigner), from des- "do the opposite of" (see dis-) + deignier "treat as worthy," from Latin dignari "to deem worthy or fi
    Jurassic
    "of or pertaining to the geological period between the Triassic and the Cretaceous," 1823, from French Jurassique, literally "of the Jura Mountains," between France and Switzerland, whose limestones were laid down during this geological period. The name was chosen by von Humboldt
    jumbo
    "very large, unusually large for its type," 1882, a reference to Jumbo, name of the London Zoo's huge elephant (acquired from France, said to have been captured as a baby in Abyssinia in 1861), sold February 1882 to U.S. circus showman P.T. Barnum amid great excitement in America

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