Smallage

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A plant with small leaves and edible roots and stems that grows wild in damp places, resembling cultivated celery but smaller in size
2. A species of wild celery characterized by slender stems and aromatic foliage, used historically as a pot herb and medicinal plant
3. A low-growing celery relative with divided leaves and a distinctive taste, traditionally gathered for culinary and medicinal purposes

Etymology: Smallage is an old English name for wild celery, and its name is a compound of two plain English words: "small" and "ache." In Middle English the word was "smalache," and "ache" there meant celery or parsley. The name is a kind of botanical shorthand, pairing the plant's slender, fine-leaved look with the older word for the herb. The word "ache" in this sense is a reminder that celery and parsley were once close relatives in English naming. Calling wild celery "small ache" marked it as the lesser, more bitter cousin of the cultivated herb, a distinction that a medieval gardener or herbalist would have recognized at once.

Synonyms: parsley