Asafetida

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A pungent resin derived from the root of a plant, traditionally used as a spice or for medicinal purposes
2. A strong-smelling dried gum extracted from certain plants, often employed in cooking and herbal remedies
3. A natural substance with a distinctive odor sourced from a plant, commonly used to flavor food and treat ailments

Etymology: Asafetida gets its name from two languages that met in its trade. The first half comes from Persian "azā" or "āzā", meaning "mastic," a word for a resin. The second half is Latin "foetida," the feminine form of "foetidus," meaning "bad-smelling." Medieval Latin joined them into "asafoetida," and English borrowed the word in the late Middle Ages. The name is blunt about the smell. The gum is pungent, with a sulphurous odour that many people find repellent raw, which is why the Latin half was chosen. In cooking, though, the smell mellows dramatically when the resin is fried briefly in oil, and it is used widely in Indian cuisine as a seasoning.