Trade, money & letters

hyssop

The bushy herb dipped in blood at the first Passover is ʾēzōḇ in Hebrew. The Greek Bible called it hýssōpos, and the name passed through Latin into English and every church language of Europe from Gothic to Russian — in Spanish it even became the holy-water sprinkler — while Syriac carried it to Arabic and Persian as zūfā.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Biblical Hebrew to Modern Hebrew

From Ancient Greek to Gothic

From Ancient Greek to Syriac, Arabic, Persian

From Ancient Greek to Old Church Slavonic, Russian

From Latin to Old French, French

From Latin to Old Spanish, Spanish

From Latin to Italian

From Latin to Middle High German, German

From Latin to New Latin

800 BCEBiblical Hebrew

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