sumac
/ˈs(j)uːmæk/ · noun
Meaning
- Any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Rhus and certain other genera in Anacardiaceae.
- particularly, one of species Rhus coriaria (tanner's sumac)
- Dried and chopped-up leaves and stems of a plant of the genus Rhus, particularly tanner's sumac (see sense 1), used for dyeing and tanning leather or for medicinal purposes.
- A sour spice popular in the Eastern Mediterranean, made from the berries of tanner's sumac.
- To apply a preparation of sumac to (an object), for example, to a piece of leather to tan it.
- Alternative form of soumak.
Etymology / origin
The noun is derived from Middle English sumac, asimac, simak, sumak, symak (“portions of the shrub Rhus coriaria, chiefly used for medicinal purposes”), from Anglo-Norman sumak, symak, and Old French sumac, or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin sumach, sumac, from Arabic سُمَّاق (summāq), from Classical Syriac ܣܘܡܩܐ (summāqā, “red; sumac”). The English word is cognate with Italian sommaco, sommacco, Occitan simac, Portuguese sumagre, Spanish zumaque. The verb is derived from the noun.
- zumaque(Spanish)→
- sumagre(Portuguese)→
- simac(oc)→
- sommaco(it)→
- ܣܘܡܩܐ(Classical Syriac)→
- سُمَّاق(ar)→
- sumach(la-med)→
- sumac(Old French)→
- sumak(xno)→
- sumac(enm)→
- sumac (English)
- Relations: inh, der, der, der, der, der, cog, cog, cog, cog
Related words
Descendant words
- sumakki(Finnish) (bor)
Sources
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