Trade, money & letters

byssus

Byssus, the fine linen of the ancient world, goes back to a Semitic word for fibrous plants that survives as Hebrew/Aramaic būṣ. Greek býssos kept the name — it is the rich man's 'fine linen' in Luke, and so passed into Gothic, Ge'ez and Russian Bibles — and English now uses it mostly for the silky threads mussels anchor themselves with.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Ancient Greek to Gothic

From Ancient Greek to Ge'ez

From Ancient Greek to Old Church Slavonic, Russian

From Latin to Italian

3000 BCEProto-Semitic

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

byssus

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

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